Seth Bergman’s Team ‘Stronger Than It’s Ever Been’ in ASCS Return
Photo by Emily Schwanke
CONCORD, N.C.—Seth Bergman will be the first to admit 2025 hasn’t gone the way he’d imagined when it began. But that’s all behind him now.
The Oklahoma resident by way of Snohomish, WA, last season finally reached the summit of the Sprint Car racing mountain he’d been trying to get up his entire career, winning the 2024 American Sprint Car Series (ASCS) national championship and defeating the country’s best 360 Sprint Car racers.
But 2025 has been a struggle. In his first six Series races, Bergman posted only two top-five finishes and recorded two DNFs. After his second DNF at Batesville Motor Speedway in June, he made the decision to divert from the Series schedule and forgo his championship title defense.
However, Bergman and his newly rejuvenated team broke the slump last weekend, returning to the Series roster at Electric City Speedway and ending up in Victory Lane. The Oklahoma Chiller No. 23 drove by current points leader Sam Hafertepe Jr. at the midway point of the race and held off all challengers to bank his first Series win since November 2024.
“That’s just kinda what we’ve been going through this year — getting back to where we know we need to be,” Bergman said. “I think these last few weeks have been a reflection of the work we’ve been putting in to get back to that point.”
A winner of 26 Series events in his career — 12 of which have come in the past four years alone, ranking him 10th on the all-time wins list — Bergman has become accustomed to performing well against the nation’s best 360 competition. When he went from seven Feature wins on the national circuit last season to none at any level through the first half of 2025, a deep sense of concern began to set in.
“It’s been frustrating for me because, obviously, you want to win races and we haven’t been doing that,” Bergman said. “But that’s what you go through as a race car driver. It’s not always gonna be what you planned for. You’ve just gotta stick it out through those tough times and really get smart and learn why you’re struggling and what you need to do to fix it and get where you need to be.”
He began the year looking as if he’d picked right up from where he left off in 2024, posting three-straight runner-up finishes in his first three events of the season — two in the ASCS Sooner Region season opener at Creek County Speedway and Enid Speedway in March before a third with the national Series at Salina Highbanks Speedway in April.
But then came a DNF due to mechanical failure while running third at Paducah International Raceway in May. Four races later, another DNF, this time at Batesville Motor Speedway in June after a blown tire caused damage that could not be repaired in time. Later in July, Bergman made the decision he would not attend the next Series events and instead trucked back to his native Washington to compete in several events at Skagit Speedway.
“We had DNFs this year and got behind in the points, and a lot of people when I left were saying, ‘Oh he’s just tired of getting his ass kicked and he can’t compete,’ which was not the case at all,” Bergman said. “It’s just that we had issues that we could see were going to affect us. We were already buried in the points standings and we just thought it would be best for our team to redirect and get back to a place where we know we need to be before we feel like we’re competitive enough to race for a championship.”
It was during his time back home that Bergman began to reassemble his operation and get the answers to his performance woes. He reunited with former crew chief Allen Terrell, who Bergman had worked with for several seasons in the past, joining already-present tire specialist Jake Lucero to take on the races at Skagit.
Together, the three put together finishes of fourth, third and seventh in two weekly 360 Sprint Car events plus the marquee Fred Brownfield 360 Nationals in July. The team also contested a night with a 410c.i. engine under the hood and finished second.
“I feel like our team is stronger than it’s ever been before with the personnel we have now,” Bergman said. “We have a great group of guys assembled that are working on the race car and really allowing me to just focus on driving it. It’s a huge help when I can show up to the racetrack and just focus on winning races and what it takes behind the wheel.”
With rejuvenated confidence, the team made the decision to hop back on the ASCS trail for both weekends in Montana. For extra help, Bergman recruited new car chief Connor Lee to the squad in time for the weekend at Big Sky Speedway.
“Between those three guys right there, we definitely have the help we need,” Bergman said. “Everybody is good at what they do.”
Right away, the product of the team’s synergy showed with back-to-back runner-up finishes in the two-day event. The following Friday at Electric City, Bergman stumbled a bit when a mid-race flat tire resulted in a 13th-place finish. But he kept the effort up on Saturday and finally got what he’d been searching for, beating Jason Martin and Hafertepe to the stripe to bank his first Feature win of the season.
“For me, it was just not losing that confidence and knowing how to win races, and that was a big deal last weekend,” Bergman said. “When we were in position to win, just reminding myself what it takes and knowing what it took to make the right decisions to ultimately go win the race.”
Looking ahead, Bergman and the team are set to be back in action Friday with the ASCS Sooner Region at Creek County Speedway before heading to 81 Speedway on Saturday and Eagle Raceway on Sunday for the second annual Stewart Alley Memorial.
With him are some lessons he’s learned from struggle in the past, which seem most applicable today.
“It’s taught me to stick with it,” Bergman said. “Just because you’re not getting results, your effort level doesn’t change. You’ve gotta put more effort into figuring out why and getting on the other side of it.
“Probably the most important thing is trying not to get too down on yourself and know that if you keep putting the work in the right way and keep trying to solve the problems, eventually you’ll get it figured out.”
The American Sprint Car Series is back in action Friday through Sunday, Sept. 5–7, at Lakeside Speedway, 81 Speedway, and Eagle Raceway. Tickets for all three events will be sold at the track on race day.
If you can’t be there, stream every lap live on DIRTVision.
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