In the Fast Lane: Racing helps family get back on track

Photo by Grant M. Haller / P-I
Sprint car driver Seth Bergman, center, talks with his dad, Steve, right, and crew member Ronnie Cox on the first day of the Jim Raper Memorial Dirt Cup on Thursday

The toughest decision Steve and Terri Bergman ever made wasn’t allowing their teenage son, Seth, to drive race cars. It was allowing him to drive race cars again.

For nearly two years after his sister, Ashley, 17, was killed while participating in a race car driving school at Yakima Speedway in 2001, Seth Bergman put his aspiring racing career on hold. It was partly a self-imposed sabbatical for the then-13-year-old while he worked through the intense anger and grief of losing his big sister, best friend and only sibling.

He also knew his parents couldn’t bear the thought of seeing him behind the wheel. The pain would be too overwhelming to inflict upon them.

Steve Bergman offered to buy his son the best bass boat on the planet if only the teenager would take up fishing. Terri reminded Seth what a talented baseball player he was. And what about soccer or basketball? Stamp collecting?

	Grant M. Haller / P-I
Snohomish driver Seth Bergman, 20, races his sprint car out of Turn 4 during a qualifying heat at the Jim Raper Memorial Dirt Cup at Skagit Speedway.

Anything, they figured, would be better than racing.

But racing has been a part of the Snohomish-based Bergman family for generations. It’s how the whole extended family spent its weekends and vacations — summers and holidays. And, up until May 3, 2001, the sport had provided only the fondest memories and happiest of times.

Seven long, heavy-hearted years later, Seth, 20, is doing a remarkable job helping the family heal, reminding his parents of the good times — and that it is OK for them to feel OK.

His success — including the 2006 rookie of the year crown in the Northern Sprint Tour — has finally put smiles on their faces, even if it will never fully fill the void in their hearts.

This weekend, Bergman will be among 50 of the region’s best sprint car drivers competing in the Jim Raper Memorial Dirt Cup at Skagit Speedway.

“A lot of people don’t understand why my parents let me back in the race car, but it is the only thing my family has known,” said Bergman, who leads the championship standings in the Northwest Division of the National Sprint Car Series.

“I always knew I wanted to get back in the car. With what happened to my sister, I’d like to make it for her and me. It was her dream, too. She’s always with me. I talk to her and say prayers before I go out. It’s just a different way of her being around.”

Bergman’s resolve — and his parents’ — was put to the test Thursday night when he crashed on the first lap on the B-Main during Dirt Cup opening night. His car hit the wall and flipped half a dozen times.

Bergman never lost consciousness, but was taken to the hospital, where doctors found a fractured vertebra in his upper back. The medical staff left the decision to race up to him. And he returned to action Friday night.

“I’m sore, but I’m ready to race,” Bergman said.

As for his parents, who were in the pits watching on Thursday … “My mom handled it better than I thought she would,” Bergman said. “We’ve gone over it before. We know what the risks are and it’s just part of the sport. They back me 100 percent.”

It’s that kind of determination and passion that made Bergman’s ultimate return to racing years ago inevitable. But it hasn’t been easy.

Steve vividly remembers Seth’s first race back — a mini-sprint class race at Deming Speedway in 2003 when his son was only 15.

“We were so worried about him,” said Steve, who is now able to laugh a little about the experience. “We put a HANS device (a safety item that supports the head and neck) on him, a neck brace, we strapped him in there so tight. … We really went overboard. People that didn’t know about Ashley were just staring at us wondering what we were doing.

“Finally we figured out we had to ease up a bit on that.”

In the beginning, winning a race was nearly as hard emotionally as losing one. But the Bergmans realized that with Seth’s talent and uncommon will to succeed through difficult circumstances there would be lots of winning in the future.

	Grant M. Haller / P-I
Seth Bergman is escorted off the track by rescue personnel after crashing his Sprint Car at Skagit Speedway. His car hit the wall and flipped numerous times. Bergman suffered a fractured vertebra.

“I still have a tough time celebrating at the race track,” said Steve Bergman, who was in the grandstands during Ashley’s accident.

“I had the worst day of my life at a racetrack, so it always feels like mixed emotions. But I have to say Seth’s first win (the A-Main feature at Cottage Grove, Ore., in 2006) was good medicine for us. It made things a lot better. I am very proud of him, especially after everything we’ve been through.”

The experience has certainly strengthened the family’s bond.

Through the Ashley Bergman Memorial Foundation they have continued the sense of community their daughter showed throughout her all too brief life. They used funds raised through the foundation to build homes for the homeless and used it as a platform to push for stricter safety regulations at driving schools.

Largely thanks to their efforts, the Washington Legislature enacted the Ashley Bergman Safety Act in 2004, becoming the first state in the nation to require racing schools to be licensed and that an ambulance and certified paramedic be on site. Neither condition was met at the speedway when Ashley had her accident.

And slowly, often painfully, the Bergmans have re-established themselves as fixtures on the Northwest racing scene.

Their Snohomish business, Corridor Electric, sponsors Seth’s cars and it’s a family road trip each weekend to support his racing — just as it was once before.

“Some of these tracks that Seth races at now, are places where Ashley found so much happiness and joy,” Terri said. “I try to keep that focused in my mind when we are there.”

Many of Bergman’s competitors are unaware of the circumstances that have brought him to this point in life. But you can bet he will be a fan favorite this weekend at Skagit. He usually is — an inspiration to those who appreciate what he’s been through.

He chose to continue down the harder path when it would have been much easier to change course.

Yet even after enduring such a life-altering experience, Bergman doesn’t feel as if he’s carrying a burden, but an angel.

The rear wing on his No. 23 sprint car carries a giant, red “A” with wings — a tribute to Ashley and his late grandfather, Sarge Bergman, a popular Northwest racer.

“When Seth gets out of that car after he’s had a great run and he’s got that big ol’ grin on his face and he tells me, ‘That was the best, Mom,’ it just warms my heart and it makes me smile,” Terri Bergman said, her voice cracking with emotion.

“I know he’s connected with Ashley. And she would be so happy we didn’t just throw all his dreams away. She’d be happy knowing we’re finally finding joy in bringing Seth happiness.”

And vice versa.
HTML clipboardWritten by HOLLY CAIN – Seattle PI