By Jordan Delucia
CONCORD, NC (April 1, 2025) —
Over the winter, the 37-year-old Washington native, now residing in Owasso, OK, began completely overhauling his team’s equipment. Only weeks removed from finally achieving his longtime goal of clinching an American Sprint Car Series (ASCS) National Tour points championship, Bergman began the process of acquiring several new assets including a new truck and trailer, tools and other various working equipment, two brand-new Triple X Chassis and a new Rider Racing Engine.
In short, no expense was spared in the budget to ensure his best chance for a repeat as champion of the National Tour in 2025. So, why did he exchange his tried-and-true materials — that which propelled the No. 23 team to seven Feature wins on the Tour last season — for equipment much newer, yet less familiar?
“We won the championship last year, but we were by no means as — I feel like — as good as we could’ve been,” Bergman said. “There was a lot of things that we can correct and make a lot better, and I think I’m in the pursuit of that — just getting better.
“For us, we’re just kinda getting to a point where… we’re looking forward into the future too and just trying to make sure whatever it is we want to do, we’re built for it. We have the team in a spot to where we can do whatever we want to do, whether it’s race at a very high level with ASCS or whatever else.”
As the new assets began to arrive at the shop, Bergman and the team got to work, preparing the new cars and transporter for the 40-plus Tour races on their 2025 calendar. However, the volume of remaining work exceeded the available time before the season opener at Volusia Speedway Park, and the team decided to skip the event altogether.
“For us, it’s been a really, really busy offseason; we’ve definitely needed the time that we’ve had off to get everything where it needs to be,” Bergman said. “Just recently, we’ve gotten to a point where we feel like we’re ready.”
Despite missing the opening three races at Volusia, Bergman will still defend his championship as a member of the full-time ASCS roster in 2025. As announced in January, all drivers will have their worst points finish between January 30 and July 30 dropped from their championship points tally. Since the events at Volusia were counted as one race in the points standings, Bergman (and multiple other full-time drivers) used Volusia as his “drop” race.
Even at the height of his career, Bergman still reflects on his earliest seasons on the road, when his budget was tighter, and a national Sprint Car championship seemed like a pipe dream. But those closest to him know that his present-day racing luxuries were never an idea that spawned overnight.
“I think people look at it now and think one thing or another, but I’ve had these goals for a long, long time,” Bergman said. “For myself, it’s just been a steady, consistent effort over a long period of time. We’ve acquired things slowly over time. I’ve always made sure I’ve been putting in the work so I can do my part, so we can go to the track and get results.”
However, new equipment won’t be the only thing carrying the team into the future. A good team has experienced, knowledgeable crew members, and Bergman is making room for that as well.
“Honestly, we’re trying to build a very high-level Sprint Car team that is a good home for somebody,” he said. “Let’s say you have a very high-level mechanic, and he wants to be a part of a great race team. We’re trying to have a good race team to where we’re a good team to work for. We’re competitive, we have nice equipment, and we can go and get results as well.”
Last weekend, Bergman got his first taste of good results in the ASCS Sooner Region opener at Creek County Speedway on Friday and Enid Speedway on Saturday, posting runner-up finishes in both races with the new equipment.
“All-in-all, it was still — for me not being happy with where we were — we still raced for two wins, both nights,” Bergman said. “Ultimately, just ended up second. But it was a solid start to a lot of work that’s gone in over the off season. Everything performed well. It was good just to get everything to the track and run through the motions.”
In less than two weeks’ time, Bergman and the rest of the ASCS National Tour roster will get back into action — Saturday, April 12 at Salina Highbanks Speedway in Oklahoma — in what will be Bergman’s first National Tour event since he clinched the championship at Creek County Speedway in November.
With new equipment in-hand and a renewed commitment to chasing a championship, Bergman has never been more ready for the start of a new season.
“It’s a unique racetrack, given its high banks, and it creates some different racing that you wouldn’t always see on our average, run-of-the-mill racetrack,” he said of Salina Highbanks. “I think it’ll be a great racetrack to get the season started.”
Pre-sale tickets to see the ASCS National Tour at Salina Highbanks are on sale now at the link below and will also be available at the gate on race day. If you can’t be there to watch in person, stream every lap live on DIRTVision.