In the case of the current driver interview on
TheSouthernDriver.com, the web page title should read "Meet a Real
Transplanted Southern Driver." ;) Our fearless leader, Steve Bertok, moved to South Carolina from Toledo when he was 13 years old. After attending the 1999 Petit Le Mans on a whim, some years later, he became supremely interested in sports cars. Although Steve has worked in the automotive industry since his teens, he was a PBA bowler before racing cars. After the '99 Petit Le Mans and a few other ALMS events, Steve responded to an email that I (Becca) sent to a local car club in June 2000, just after I had returned from les 24 Heures du Mans. The email was an invite to a Flagging and Communications Seminar that I was hosting at my parents' home. South Carolina Region needed some new workers, and Steve just happened to be one of the guys who responded. We quickly became friends, started dating about 4 months later, and well, the rest is history. ;) You see, my dad, Julian Watson, is a former rally driver, and my mom, Barbara, worked as a navigator and course marshal; so as you can tell, I've grown up in the Sports Car Club of America. It's a little known fact around the paddock that I was into SCCA racing long before Steve. I attended my first race, the legendary Chimney Rock Hillclimb, when I was just four weeks old (yep
that's me; notice the classic Road Atlanta hat).
After winning all sorts of awards and championships in the SeDiv's Solo II program, Steve was ready to move up. Steve and I started work on a Spec Miata shortly after we began dating, and he went to drivers' school in 2002, one month before our wedding. Ah, if only Steve had gotten into racing earlier in life. Steve is an amazing driver! He's patient. He learns the course, the car, his opponents. He may not be at the front of the pack early on, but he's going to get there! He's fast in anything! Steve was having so much fun in the Spec Miata, that I wanted to join in.
I went to Driver's School in 2004 and ran a few races before becoming pregnant later in the year. I got back into racing just six weeks after MariKate was born in March 2005 and ran until 2007. After taking a hit in the driver's door and fracturing my wrist, I dropped out. It wasn't the wrist fracture...after all, I managed to complete the pass I was attempting when I was hit and raced again the following day before making it to a doctor's office on Monday. ;) However, with my poor feet condition and constant physical therapy, the broken wrist was, in my mind, a hint to perhaps take up a job behind the wall, rather than the wheel. Having had complete reconstruction on both feet, well, it tends to mess things up all around and driving racecars is not necessarily the safest of sports. It's not like I took up knitting, but I took a safer post as Steve's Crew Chief, Team Communicator, and Team Photographer...and Team Chef and Team Nurse; you get the idea. haha! I thoroughly enjoy all of it! We're up to five team drivers now so it's lots of fun! As mentioned in
The Southern Driver article, our daughter, MariKate, who will turn five this year is Dada's number one cheerleader and crew member! She has so much fun at the track! She takes care of Dada, our other drivers, crew members, etc. She helps change tires too, all while wearing pink and the cutest pig tails around (or "doggie ears" as we call them).
In 2006, Steve stepped out of his longtime salvage-parts-sales job to make Panic Motorsports into a business. As you know, we offer Mazda Miata and RX-7 parts...sometimes too; Porsche, Volvo, etc. We are looking to expand our offerings soon with new car makes and models (perhaps the Mini) but for now, we're remaining focused on Mazda parts, Spec Miata prep, streetcar service, etc. We have a web store, an Ebay store, and clients can order direct by calling 803.261.7629 or visiting our shop in West Columbia.
Steve's racing has brought home a few Driver of the Year Awards and two Carolina Cup Pro Series Spec Miata Championships (2008, 2009). The new season starts in three weeks, with Steve and his crew gearing up to make a three-peat for the 2010 CCPS season. However, if you ask Steve, all of his races this year are testing for Panic to make its strongest run ever at the 13 Hour Charge of the Headlight Brigade at Virginia International Raceway in November. Panic has had the right mix of car and drivers the past few years, only to be knocked out by electrical gremlins, freak metal failures of differential components, etc. This year, we're going to make it to the podium!
Racing is such an enormous part of our lives. It's not only our business, passion, and pleasure, but it's our livelihood, our family's enjoyment, and pure fun! My parents, our daughter, our friends; SCCA is our second family, and we wouldn't have it any other way! I am so proud of Steve! I thank him for his help and support during my many physical trials. I thank him for being a wonderful Father. I support his decision to take a leap of Faith and start his own business, and I am proud to help him in that. It hasn't all been cherries and feathers, but it's certainly been a fun ride, and I can't wait to see what the future holds!
Thank you, thank you, thank you to Ted Theodore, our dear friend and proprietor of
TheSouthernDriver.com, for interviewing Steve. Quite obviously, reading the interview this morning and seeing all of the photos got me on a kick about how Panic Motorsports came about. It's so much more than just a business. :)
