S2 E3 - Bugsy Stevens "It was all just automatic to me"
Vložit
- čas přidán 27. 11. 2020
- We sat down with the legend himself, Carl Berghman aka Bugsy Stevens. Recorded in the legendary Boehler racing shop were Len Boehler and Bugsy Stevens went on to win 3 national titles. Also hear from Lew Boyd, author of "The Soul of a Modified".
Enjoy episode 3 of the Bottom Shot podcast! - Hry
Watched Bugsy at Stafford every Friday Night in the 60's. Still a legend today!!!
Bugs, you were my favorite back in the late 1970's and 1980's. I always loved watching you and Freddy Dessario back then. I saw you at a bunch of races at Stafford, Seekonk, and Thompson.
Thank you Bugs! I have great memories of you in the Brady Bunch 00 and Ronnie Bouchard at Stafford and Thompson running side by side so many times! Fun to watch the wood chopper pinto!
I remember Bugsy competing at Lime Rock Park in both a modified and Trans Am car. That is where I first met him through my journalist friend Artie Maxim.
I had the privilege of racing with the Bug Man in '88 at Waterford Speed Bowl in the Pro Stock division, I followed him and he taught me how to get around there, Thanks Bugsy, you're one of my many heroes.
I was running a body shop on the Cape mid 80's and was at Seeconk every weekend. I started using Bugs salvage for parts and Bugsy was delivering parts to me for a while.I went to hus yard to pick up parts one day and Bugs says get in the car. I spent a day riding around Freetown to his daughters to see grandkids then a tour of Lenny's shop. Fun guy to hang with
So good to see Bugsy. He does not look like the guy I met at Lime Rock Park in CT 50 years ago. But maybe I do not look the same either. Just remember that he had the biggest hands. Thanks for the great memories Bugsy.
Bugsy is still Bugsy. Nice to see and hear him again.
Very kool vid. Watched it many of times, never gits old
Thanks! Wow Great interview! Was kind of tough to keep the old legend on topic.What a ride. Shoot, if I drove Dan Gurney's car @ Lime Rock... I'd work it into the interview somehow too!~!
(About Me: If I was a Bowman Gray Kid, grew up in Winston- Salem LOVED THE MODIFIEDS, there was just enough news & a few crossover races at Martinsville & N. Wilkesboro, where we could see these legends of speed even as a kid.) I'm so glad you are getting these guys on the record while these guys are still around. We didn't have the tech to get Richie Evans and Charlie J on the record as a podcast - nobody knew what one was.
Bugsy said it all when you asked him about modern day racing versus what it was like back in the good ole days! All tracks and drivers seriously need to hear what he shares right here! Especially, the part about the fans! Drivers of today make way too much $$$ and that's All they seem to be there for! Only times most interact with fans is when they're made to by sponsors and they're being paid for that and they'd be out of a sponsorship if they didn't do meet and greet type things! Racing has went to shit imho, compared to the good ole days! I was born in '68 and dad raced at Seekonk, in late model division! He also raced motorcycles all over New England and I grew up going to a track just about every weekend, sometimes we'd get to go to 2 a weekend, was either Waterford, Seekonk, Stafford or Thompson! Bet if yall could've gotten Bugs to tell which drivers he thought were dirty drivers, I know without a doubt he'd have said Bodine, for certain! I seen him do dirty driving shit all the time back then! Always pulled for Boehler's #3, there were so many great drivers back then too! I liked them all, both Bouchards, Cleary, Evans, and definitely Bugsy! I pulled up a video on www.edflemke.com/category/video/ where it shows a opening and ending clip of the 1968 Dogwood 300 at Martinsville, and Ed would've likely won, hadn't his engine let go on him and low n behold ole blue #3 and Bugsy took the win that day!
Once I started watching the Winston Cup cars and saw Dale Sr. in his black #3, I was a fan of his from the first time I saw him in that car, until the day we lost him at Daytona. I moved to Virginia in the early 1990s from RI, after my dads parents moved here to retire and get a small farm! I've been here ever since, all the NASCAR tracks down here were a main reason I chose to move down here, so I could go to them live and did back in the 90s! I'm only about 30 minutes up the road from Martinsville! The day Dale Sr. passed at Daytona, racing for me, died when he did! Haven't had any interest in racing since and ended up here by seeing a Dale Jr. Download just recently posted where he had Larry Mac on talking about the '98 Daytona he helped Dale Sr. to finally win. If it hadn't been for that, I'd likely never came across this video......I left a comment under that video about the good ole blue #3 and how that #3 has been with me as far back as the mid 1970s.
Like I said above, racing's went to shit and like Bugs said, $$$$ is the cause of it's downfall imho! That and technology, like he said, I totally agree with him 100%.....his reasons were spot on, especially when he said, "look at society"! He's 100% correct, Far too many operate only in their Egos and all bout, me, me, me, me, that has became a global problem! Like Bugs said how Mike was helping someone else when he lost his life! Just like all who knew Ed Flemke said he was always helping other drivers he actually raced against! Dale Earnhardt Sr. was the same way, I know that for a fact to be true, he helped a friend of mine that shared many stories how Dale helped him out plenty of times, when he had no $$$ and was trying to race in smaller division races on North Carolina, How many of these shit heads making millions today do that for another driver, or people in general? I've noticed over the past several years, if and when I have seen NASCAR events on TV, there's always plenty of empty seats! You never saw that back in the 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s and into the early 2000s!
Thanks for doing this and uploading it here on CZcams, brought back a huge blast from the past that was totally enjoyed here!
I agree about Geoff Bodine being a dirty driver.. he had more controversial finishes than I can count... His aggressive tactics were never appreciated by other racers on the track
Video was well enjoyed.
long live bugsy and ole blue
Video was well enjoyed.
A great interview, lots of laughs, from one of our favorite Northeast racing legends. Both books are highly recommended as well.
Totally agree.
Buggsie,Lenny Bolla,Fred Schultz,Bobby Sprauge,Joe Brady serious racecar guys!
"whooooooo I better check myself" Bugs!
I would have loved to ask him why he never raced at Riverside Park speedway... When so many of the greats used to race at Stafford on Friday night, Riverside on Saturday night and Thompson on Sunday night
The bugman is full of himself Flemke didn't want to go fast ? he is right he went just fast enough to win just look at his record. It seems he don't want to talk about Eddie
Video was well enjoyed.