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Porsche Club of America
The Northeast Region

Pit Pass

By Bill Chadwick
NOR'EASTER Online - March 2005
Northeast Region Logo

As I’m going to be in Sebring at the normal submission time I need to punch out this month’s column a little early this month. With everyone working on their cars or prepping for Sebring I don’t have much local news this month. So I’d like to tell you about possibly the greatest race car diver Massachusetts has ever produced
  
I remember my dad taking me to Seekonk Speedway when I was around eight or nine years old in 1964 or 65. He predicted a driver named Bugsy would win that night, and I remember I rooted for a guy named Bobby Sprague who was the other front runner because I liked his red car. That was maybe the first but by no means the last time I would have been better off following my dad’s advice. 
 
In February of 2004 I was out on the Sebring grid for qualifying on rain tires due to a quick shower. The session was delayed and the sun came out so I dashed back to my paddock to mount slicks. Who would motion for me to stay in the car as he pitched in helping my regular crewman with jacking and the impact wrench? None other than Bugsy Stevens, three time NASCAR National Modified Champion. I have gotten friendly with Bugs the last couple of years as he stops by my dealership to pickup parts from time to time. He has a winter place in Florida so I had mentioned we were racing in Sebring and if he felt like it to swing by and check out some road racing. After the session we gabbed for a while and then Bugs said “I’m going to look around, who knows maybe I can pick up a ride!!” The thing is I’m not sure he was kidding as he is no stranger to road racing having run Lime Rock and the Daytona road course regularly as part of the NASCAR tour.
   
Carl Bergman, (aka) Bugsy Stevens is the kind of person I think of as a “real race car driver”. Quick as hell, classy, almost never uses the chrome horn but won’t take any crap, always thinking and one who loves living life to its fullest. (Note: while in the Air Force he couldn’t race under his own name thus the alias which has stuck with him for life). I remember a recent NASCAR Featherlite modified tour event at Seekonk where many of the drivers were trying to project an image. The image that they thought would get them to Winston/Nextell cup. Hair combed just so, sparkling clean and pressed fire suits and ready to give a sound bite interview with all the right clichés. Why was Bugs “bugsy” Well one night after all the driver introductions on the front strait in front of the stands before the feature race he strolled over to a friend who was strapped in his car, puffing on his stogie Bugs held up a big pack of fire crackers for the front row of fans to see, then lit the fuse and dropped them in on his buddy’s lap! Then there was the time he came out and stopped at the flagger’s stand and waved the starter over to his car. When he arrived Bugs handed him a burlap sack. Naturally the starter opened it to look in and out flew a very upset chicken. The race was delayed as it took several people to corral the bird as five thousand race fans hooted in laughter. Yup never a dull moment with this guy!
  
Most of all this is the story of a driver, so how good was he? As a sample, in 1968 the year of his second NASCAR title Bugs ran 72 points races, he won 29 of them. This was in professional hard nosed racing, mostly short track bull rings. Bugsy was a believer in racing to win and the points will come, forty percent victories is a real testament to Bugs and his Owner-Mechanic Lenny Boehler. The way the points system was run then was that tracks all along the eastern seaboard were staging races that offered NASCAR points. You had to race a lot to have a shot at the title.
   
A typical week would see Bugs and Lenny running Catamount VT on Thursday, Stafford CT Friday, Norwood MA Saturday and Thompson CT on Sunday. Certain “big races” awarded double points so from time to time they would forgo the regular tracks to travel as far as Atlanta GA or Martinsville VA for the big double point’s races. Even though they were away chasing those big points’ races at times, this team won track championships at Stafford and Thompson besides the national title. As an aside, Bugs won that big race at Martinsville seven times during his career! I guess that 1968 season defines the type of drive it takes to be a champion. Bugs first raced locally at Seekonk Speedway in 1961, he was still winning Bush Pole awards in his last modified season in 1987. Just keeping his hand in racing once week he won the Pro-stock title at Seekonk in 1989. After thirty years he stopped racing regularly in 1991. God that’s a lot of left turns!! 
   
Here are a couple of excerpts from the book NASCAR commissioned on Bugsy by Bones Bourcier, which I also want to give credit to for many of the facts and figures quoted here.
   

 “Humpy” Wheeler, President Lowes Motor Speedway “Bugs was one of the best race drivers I have ever seen” “in 1970 I was working for a major tire company and on a whim I brought Bugs in to test for Chrysler at Charlotte’s 1.5 mile track. Chrysler was upset I did not bring in a big name Cup Car driver. They quieted down when Bugs broke the track record!”
  
Ron Bouchard NASCAR modified Champion and 1981 Winston Cup Rookie of the Year. “and the thing I noticed right away about Bugsy was that if he was fast enough to pass you, he’d pass you: he wouldn’t just rub his way by, ever. We had nights where we’d run 50 laps side by side and nose to tail and barely ever touch.”
   
When I talked to Bugsy about this story he didn’t pull any punches. “a lot of drivers saw Earnhart push people out of the way instead of passing them clean. Hhe got away with it and was successful. I think that did a lot to hurt good racing.” Bugs talked a lot about respecting his competitors. A lot of this had its roots in early years when the cars, cages and safety equipment were much less developed. A bad wreck meant you got hurt for sure. In his early years the way you got three inch wide harness straps was to go lift them out of scraped WWII fighter planes. If someone got crossed up in front of you or you tapped him by accident most everyone would back out of it and let the guy gather it up and then get back to racing. This was the way classy people raced. Racing like this I’m sure made it a lot more fun and got you invited to have a few beers after the race. 
   
We are so lucky today with the safety improvements that have been made all over the world in all types of racing. In my opinion it took a whole different level of intestinal fortitude to race through the 60’s and 70’s. There is no doubt the risk of serious injury or death was much higher a few years ago. Over the years Bugs lost four close friends to crashes. Imagine, these were deaths on 3/8 and 1/2 mile tracks right in front of you? During the 70’s wider and better tires combined with stiffer chassis overwhelmed the safety equipment. The major culprit in many of these deaths were the new tube frames were made so heavy and stiff that they didn’t crumple at all transferring all of the energy to the driver. It took a pretty tough guy psychologically and physically to be a champion during those years. 
   
During his career Bugsy suffered a cervical spine fracture, a lower spine fracture and too many broken noses and ribs to count. We let it go by saying he should have missed a lot more races than he did.
   
Mental and physical preparation was also a big part of his success. An all-star high school athlete Bugs was ahead of his time in maintaining a regular schedule at the gym to be at his best in the car. “It’s a fact of life if you’re tired your reaction slow down, the only way not to get tired is to be in shape.” He also stressed to me that when the other groups are on the track get out in the grand stands to watch and learn how the other guys are getting around the corners. 
  
If you would like to lean more about this local racing great go to http://www.coastal181.com/bookstore1.htm and go to the short track stock cars section
   
As I write this Bugsy is with his son in-law (the proud owner of a new 996 TT) at the Porsche Driving Experience at Barber Motorsports Park. I can’t wait to here how it went. But that will have to wait until next month!
   
The CVR Lime Rock club race has just appeared on the PCA Club racing web site http://www.pca.org/pca/clubrace/index.htm clear your calendar for April 29th and 30th it looks like this spring just got busier!
   
On a personal note preparations for our trip to Sebring are progressing well. Bill Pfister is hard at work getting our new 3.8 liter twin turbo motor installed along with some other goodies. We are sure to need everything we can get as it looks like a strong field this year. Some real “names” from the professional ranks will be joining us, such as Wolf Henzler and Dominik Farnbacher 1st and 7th in Porsche Super Cup respectively. I’d better follow Bugsy’s advice by watching and leaning from the best!! 
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