From 2003: During a recent conversation with Dr. Dick Berggren, one of the captains of motorsports journalism, this reporter was somewhat surprised at how well versed and up-to-date the famed journalist and broadcaster was on the subject of current dirt Late Model racing. The Executive Editor of DICK BERGGREN’S SPEEDWAY ILLUSTRATED, a national ‘upstart’ magazine that was launched nearly four years ago and was greeted with overwhelming success, Berggren also serves as the pit road reporter for FOX Sports’ NASCAR Winston Cup television broadcasts.But you can just tell Berggren’s heart, first and foremost, belongs to short track racing. No one can fake the knowledge, excitement, respect and support for that important segment that he has and from where Berggren himself came as a former racer. And to that end, his SPEEDWAY ILLUSTRATED, which has always featured dirt track coverage, will debut their first short track cover story in the relatively short history of the publication with the January 2004 issue featuring Chub Frank.
Berggren also acknowledges that his publication’s dirt track coverage is well received from the readers.
“Oh yes because dirt is so much a part of American stock car racing,” stated Berggren. “You go through the National Speedway Directory and start counting up the number of dirt tracks there are far more dirt tracks in this country than asphalt tracks. And when you go to some of these facilities and you take a look at the quality of cars and quality of drivers and the action you see at these events. More of it becomes apparent why this whole thing is so popular. So yes, we get very positive reaction when we run dirt track stories.”
So with all of the subjects the editorial staff could have chosen to feature as their first short track cover feature, why Chub Frank?
“I watched him race and I was very impressed with his car control, I was very impressed with the way he handles himself,” Berggren flatly stated. “I was impressed with him top to bottom and he absolutely gets the job done in the race car and he handles himself incredibly well with other competitors and it just seemed to me as if this guy should be the story. And then you watch him race and see how incredibly good he is in these events. And why not? It’s a hell of a story!”
Berggren traveled to West Virginia Motor Speedway the first weekend in October and shadowed Chub Frank and his team over the weekend for the feature article and also speaking with such industry leaders like Scott Bloomquist, Mike Balzano, Rick Gross, Mike Farr and others, whose comments made the article.
Besides Frank’s obvious driving skills and talent, Berggren is also impressed with ‘Chubzilla’s’ public relations and marketing efforts.
“Just about everything Chub does, and the people who surround him, impresses me,” commented Berggren. “They just go one step beyond what everyone else does and they do it better.”
The January 2004 issue cover story, “How Chub Wins”, was written by Berggren and includes 16 photos spread throughout the 11-page article. The dramatic cover photo was taken by Rick Schwallie. The issue will be on newstands December 2. Persons unable to find the issue may phone 800-811-6188 to purchase a copy.
Berggren also gave high marks to the entire West Virginia Motor Speedway weekend as a whole when looking at the event, facility, cars, drivers and fans.
“My impression was it was just an incredibly good event,” said Berggren. “I liked the fact that it was a Renegade/Xtreme get together. I thought that was a very positive thing. The rest of it, I’m still trying to figure out how the hell those guys drive those cars (laughs)! You watch Chub or you watch (Scott) Bloomquist or Rick Eckert or any of those guys and those cars are so frickin’ cranked out of shape and you watch them and they are sideways and so violent.”
“I stood in the second turn with Rick Schwallie for a while, and I also stood outside the second turn, and just watching how out of control those things are it’s just an amazing thing to me as a former driver that they don’t have half of them on their lid in every feature event. It’s just really quite remarkable that they can keep them of their lid as much as they do.”
Back near the mid-1980’s Berggren rocked the dirt Late Model industry with at least three impacting, high-profile, in-depth articles on such subjects as the NDRA-STARS rivalry, the demise of the NDRA and in particular one case a revealing interview with the late Robert Smalley a scant two years after shutting the NDRA down. Berggren quickly chuckles at the mention of those days and is quick to point out how much the industry has changed regarding dirt Late Model racing.
“Well, it certainly has changed a tremendous amount,” responded Berggren. “It was exciting then but what I think we’re seeing now is so much more so. The bizarre chassis that these guys are running with the rear roll steer that causes the left front tire to pick up in the corners, we didn’t see that stuff in Robert Smalley’s era. But what we still have that we had at that time is a remarkable cast of characters. I mean you’ve got good guys and bad guys, you got young guys, you got old guys, you’ve got experienced people and rookies. Anything you would want to hang your hat on from the perspective of finding somebody or some team or some car to cheer for, or somebody to hate (laughs)!”
“t was there in Robert Smalley’s time and its there now. I think the difference between then and now is Robert Smalley had perhaps better methods of exploiting all of that. He was as you know an incredible showman and brought a certain sense of carnival to the events that he promoted which are absent today and which I frankly miss.”
“I think of the whole thing like the interviews he used to do on the front straightaway wearing that checkered vest of his and the near naked trophy women he had around and all the hoopla and excitement and all the stuff he generated is missing today and it shouldn’t be missing. Because the activity itself, the driving, the cars, the events, are all more exciting now than it was in Robert’s era. And I’d like to see some of that color return.”
After spending time recently around the dirt Late Model world, Berggren was asked what his assessment was of the long-term prospects for the sport.
“I think it’s very healthy at this point, especially dirt Late Model racing,” said Berggren. “There are some elements of dirt track racing that is in flux, like the deal with the DIRT group out of New York is a specific example of where they are in the process of a sale and there is a real flux there and I have real concerns where dirt Modifieds are going. IMCA on the other hand appears to be rock solid and they are doing extremely well and the majority of their deals are on dirt and that’s a great concept, it gives a lot of people a chance to race. I see the advent of crate engines as something that is going to happen very quickly, a lot of facilities are going to have them. I think the bottom line statement is, yes, dirt track racing is very healthy.”
With the magazine he co-founded going strong further signs of long term growth has come with the recent announcement that Bones Bourcier, SPEEDWAY ILLUSTRATED’s editor-at-large, was appointed to the magazine’s editorial board. Bourcier joins Berggren, Editor-in-chief Rob Sneddon, Director of Marketing Dave Ferrato, Publisher and CEO Robert Fernald and Vice President of Operations Jim Butler, in driving the editorial content and direction of the magazine.
In addition Berggren signed a new exclusive four year contract. As part of the new agreement Berggren will continue in his role as Executive Editor of SPEEDWAY ILLUSTRATED. He will take on an expanded role in the magazine’s business development and will concentrate on advertising sales while continuing to write his monthly column and features.
“It’s an unqualified success and in today’s environment a magazine that has survived for four years is something of a historic event,” related Berggren. “Something like 75% of all magazines fail within the first year of launch and we are nearing our completion of four continuous years of publishing SPEEDWAY ILLUSTARTED and we’re looking for about 40 or 50 more. So from that perspective it’s an unqualified success.”
As for further work in 2004 he will return to his role as the pit road reporter for FOX’s broadcasts of NASCAR Winston Cup racing.
“I’m going to be doing FOX television beginning with Rockingham,” revealed Berggren. “Unfortunately the NBC guys, it’s their turn to do Daytona. We hate to let that happen but that’s the way the contract is written so I’ll start at Rockingham working for FOX TV working from pit road and then I’ll also continue with SPEEDWAY ILLUSTRATED magazine. We generate a lot of frequent flyer miles, you can only imagine!”
So finally, does the good Doctor, a racer first and foremost, miss competing himself?
“I don’t miss it because I’m around it so much,” responded Berggren. “I miss driving the cars, certainly, I drove myself for 20 years and I never quite got over the idea I couldn’t do it anymore, even though that is the reality of the situation. The rest of it, once we get off the air with FOX I hit the road and I start hitting racetracks all over the country and get a chance to see a lot of people race. I get a very long season out of it as a result.”
“As a matter of fact last weekend I was at Homestead, the weekend before that at Irwindale, California, so I get around and I don’t miss it because I make it a point to be on an airplane virtually every weekend or on my motorcycle and off to see some races somewhere.”
For more information on SPEEDWAY ILLUSTRATED visit: http://www.speedwayillustrated.com
©2003-2008 Doc Lehman/Dirt America
Tags: Bones Bourcier, dirt late Models, Dr. Dick Berggren, NDRA, Speedway Illustrated, STARS, West Virginia Motor Speedway
