Robert Bergamin saw his dreams come true when he successfully clinched the 2022/2023 Summit Racing Equipment Sportsman Series Australian Championship for Super Gas, with consistency proving the key to his success.

How did you get into drag racing?

I was probably 10 or 12 years old when I first was exposed to it. I wasn’t really into ball sports, and I used to watch my older cousins’ friends race their cars and my dad then brought me to the drags when I was 12 years old at Adelaide International Raceway. It just blew my mind as a young kid watching them go down the track. I knew right then that I wanted to do that. I just loved it; the atmosphere, the noise, the smoke from the tyres, I just loved everything about it. In the 90s when I was in my late teens I took my VG Valiant two door coupe out for the first time, it ran around 13 seconds on the quarter mile. I started doing street meets, just having fun, while making the car faster over the years to end up running 10s on nitrous oxide down the strip. Around 2012 I started getting more serious about it, changing cars in 2014 to the VF Coupe that I have now.

Now that some time has passed, has it sunk in that you are the 2022/2023 National Champion?

It took a good month for it to really sink in, but it has now. I go home at night and walk into my lounge room and see the big old gold Christmas Tree sitting there and it is just awesome.

What does it mean to you to have achieved the championship?

It really does mean the world to me. I would see the other championship winners in the rule book and always wanted to do that, and now I have. It really is a massive achievement for me, to have that Christmas Tree. It takes a lot of effort, but it just shows if you put your mind to it, you can do it, and it really means the world to me.

How long have you been pursuing the championship, and how does it feel now to have achieved it?

I only started in Super Gas last season after having raced in Super Sedan, and this was my first full season. At the beginning of the previous season, I ran a 6.300 and I thought, wow, we could have some potential here, so we really gave it a go in the second season to see if we could take it home.

What are your plans for the upcoming season? Are you planning on defending the title, and how confident are you of being able to go back-to-back?

I definitely want to run again this coming season and try and defend it. I am not going to change anything on my car, I am going to leave it as it is. I am fairly confident of being able to go back-to-back. I reckon I could take it again, but now that the other Super Gas guys can see that someone can win with a car with no throttle stop that is basically a street car put on the track, I know they will be trying even harder now, so I will have to try harder myself. Everyone is going to be chasing it.

Why do you choose to compete in the Super Gas category?

My car was running 6.3 in Super Sedan, so I thought I would jump over to Super Gas and see what it was like, and once I had a taste of it with the pro tree, I loved it, and I couldn’t get enough of it. It is no messing about, you get to that line, and it is heads up racing, bang and you are off, it is great. My car doesn’t have a throttle stop or any other electronics on it to run the 6.30, so I actually run the car flat out, so it makes it even more exciting to be going up against the other Super Gas cars that are much faster but use throttle stops to slow the car down. I feel privileged to be in the Super Gas class. The Super Gas guys are a great bunch of people, and it has been a really good season.

Do you have plans to try other classes? Why/why not?

If I am not racing Super Gas, I am racing in Super Sedan. My car isn’t fast enough to do the other classes. I did try Super Street once with this car, but I had to slow it down too much.

What was your favourite event of the 2022/2023 season and why?

To be honest with you, I haven’t really got a favourite one as every one I have been to has been great. Portland was exciting for me as I made it to the semi-final and that is when I knew I had a good chance of the championship. And then I went on to Mildura where I was the runner-up.

What has been your highlight of your Super Gas career to date, aside from taking out the title?

A massive highlight for me was starting out running in Super Gas and qualifying first with a 6.35, then a 6.31 and then a 6.3009 which put me as the top qualifier for the meeting. A perfect 6.300 time is a real highlight and something I am very proud of.

Who would you like to thank for the roles they have played in your title season?

I definitely want to thank the Bergamin Brothers Racing crew – Tony, Bill, my brother Frank, and my son Nicholas. I tell you, all the times I have run with my 14-year-old son with me, he gives me so much confidence and it is just fantastic to have him there with me. I also want to thank my wife Antoinette – she supports me in the background where no one sees – as well as my sponsors, Pete’s Classic Cars and South Coast Automatics, and Bergamin Brothers Racing.

Thanks also to all of the track officials throughout the series, and especially to Dean who does the track prep at Mildura, as well as Summit Racing Equipment and ANDRA. Everyone plays a part in this, everyone has a piece of the puzzle to make it all work, and I am so thankful for their efforts.

I really hope we can continue to see the younger generation jumping on board and getting involved in drag racing, it is such a great sport, clean, fun and very safe. I love being involved in this sport and it is a sport that I hope the next gen take on.

For the complete listing of ANDRA champions, please click here