{"id":15167,"date":"2024-06-27T06:44:05","date_gmt":"2024-06-27T11:44:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ascsracing.com\/?p=15167"},"modified":"2024-06-27T06:44:05","modified_gmt":"2024-06-27T11:44:05","slug":"seth-bergman-evergreen-coffee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ascsracing.com\/news\/seth-bergman-evergreen-coffee\/","title":{"rendered":"Seth Bergman: Sprint Car Star, Coffee Connoisseur"},"content":{"rendered":"
Unlike most other national racing series, several competitors on the American Sprint Car Series National Tour have full-time jobs outside of racing that keep them busy during the week. For Seth Bergman, that job is operating Evergreen Coffee Company, a growing chain of coffee shops in the Tulsa area.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got coffee, we\u2019ve got alternatives to coffee we can do,\u201d Bergman said regarding Evergreen\u2019s offerings. \u201cAny sort of Red Bull drinks, smoothies, frappes, we sell this stuff called Lotus. You\u2019ve got to go there and just talk to the baristas and they can fill you in on all the secrets.\u201d<\/p>\n
Long before he ever dreamed of getting into the coffee business, the Washington native hit the road with the ASCS for the first time in 2009 after making his way through the karting, Mini Sprint and Limited Sprint ranks in the northwest. Following a rough rookie season in which he made just six Feature starts in 20 attempts, Bergman returned to local Sprint Car competition in 2010.<\/p>\n
The decision paid dividends, as Bergman was crowned the 2010 track champion in the 360 Sprint Car class at Grays Harbor Raceway before returning to the National Tour in 2011. The second go-round was a much bigger success, as Bergman became a regular visitor to Victory Lane in the years that followed, starting with his first triumph at Riverside International Speedway in 2012.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was racing full-time with ASCS,\u201d Bergman said. \u201cMy wife was traveling full-time with me and my daughter, we had a motorhome that we were living in.\u201d<\/p>\n
After seven years of living the RV life, Bergman decided to permanently relocate to Owasso, OK in 2018 to be right in the heart of 360 Sprint Car country. Shortly thereafter, Evergreen Coffee Company was born.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re both originally from the west coast, and the coffee scene out there is a little different, and we were having a hard time finding coffee that we liked,\u201d said the 21-time National Tour winner. \u201cWe just figured we would take a chance, start our own, and we did. And it just took off. It took off so much that it actually took me away from racing full time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bergman maintained a limited schedule from 2019 until 2023, with this season marking his return to the championship chase. On the nights Bergman did unload, he was as competitive as always, scoring three National Tour victories and more than a dozen regional wins during his time as a part-timer.<\/p>\n
His background as a Sprint Car racer is certainly unlike most other coffee shop owners, and he credits that difference as one of the reasons why the business was so successful so quickly.<\/p>\n
\u201cI try to run the business like I would a race team,\u201d Bergman said. \u201cEverything I\u2019ve ever learned is from racing. Just very detail-oriented, organized, try to run really nice shops. It\u2019s played a big part in our success for the coffee side of things.\u201d<\/p>\n
While Bergman\u2019s wife, Hailey, primarily handles social media, marketing, and other day-to-day needs, Seth is tasked with handling the mechanical side of the business in between his busy racing schedule. Anytime a coffee grinder requires a trip to the work area, he\u2019s the first on the scene.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf there\u2019s anything that needs to be worked on, or anything\u2019s broken, fixing stuff, making sure things are going smoothly,\u201d Bergman said. \u201cAny new construction we\u2019ve done, I\u2019ve been a big part of it. We just got done with a remodel of one of our places. That was going on during Speedweek, so that was hard. I hired it out, but we still have to oversee things, make sure things are going right.\u201d<\/p>\n
While a Sprint Car team and a coffee shop are as different as two businesses can be, Bergman works to ensure that the two support each other as much as possible. The revenue from Evergreen allows the race team to operate at full strength each weekend, while the race car is an important marketing tool for the business, especially when the tour comes close to home.<\/p>\n
\u201cMe and my family, we own the race team, we own our coffee shops, and I don\u2019t have a big headlining sponsor on the race team, so we just thought it would be cool to rep our own brand and have our coffee shops on the side of our car,\u201d Bergman said. \u201cIt should be a big hit for us this weekend.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bergman\u2019s next stop on the road to his first National championship will be Tulsa Speedway, located just a few miles away from his home and businesses. The current points leader will have two chances on Friday and Saturday night to park Evergreen\u2019s fastest billboard in Victory Lane in front of his neighbors and customers.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll of our coffee shops are like five miles away from the racetrack basically, no more than 10 miles,\u201d Bergman said. \u201cI think the atmosphere will be good, there will be a lot of race fans, should be a good car count. We\u2019ll have a lot of our employees and friends from home that will be out there, so it should be a cool weekend.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bergman encourages any locals and visitors in town for this weekend\u2019s festivities to stop by one of the shops for a quick sip before heading to the track. Just don\u2019t expect to find him behind the counter whipping it up for you.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not in there making coffee every day,\u201d Bergman said with a laugh. \u201cWe have our baristas that do all that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bergman and the rest of the National Tour stars will headline the Dirt Down in T-Town at Tulsa Speedway on Friday and Saturday, June 28-29. Admission for fans is priced at $25 per carload, with no limit to the number of people per vehicle. Can\u2019t make it to the track? Catch every lap live on DIRTVision<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Unlike most other national racing series, several competitors on the American Sprint Car Series National Tour have full-time jobs outside of racing that keep them busy during the week. For Seth Bergman, that job is operating Evergreen Coffee Company, a growing chain of coffee shops in the Tulsa area. \u201cWe\u2019ve got coffee, we\u2019ve got alternatives … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":237,"featured_media":15169,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[87,46,139],"regions":[21],"class_list":["post-15167","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-american-sprint-car-series","tag-seth-bergman","tag-tulsa-speedway","regions-ascs-national-series","infinite-scroll-item"],"yoast_head":"\n