Meet the owners...
Steve Bertok, President and Co-Owner
Automotive Interests: Spec Miatas, road racing, LS1 swaps, and muscle cars
Education: Midlands Technical College - Business
Years in Road Racing: 20
Total Years in Automotive Parts, Service, etc: 34
Affiliation: South Carolina Region-SCCA and NASA SouthEast
Duties: Lead wrench, race director, instructor, Spec Miata driver
Website: www.panicmotorsports.com
Dream Car: McLaren F1
Stats: Charter Panic member, 30+ years in automotive parts sales, Former
Drag Racer, 2001 SCR A-Prepared Autocross Champion, 2002 SCR and
SeDiv Street Modified Autocross Champion, 2003 SCR Driver and Mechanic
of the Year, 2008 SCR Driver of the Year, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2015, and 2016
13 Hour Charge of the Headlight Brigade Spec Miata winner, 2014 13 Hour
Charge of the Healight Brigade Spec Miata podium P2, 2008, 2009, and 2011
Carolina Cup Pro Series Spec Miata Champion, Nov 2018 winner of the
Mazda Motorsports Spirit of Mazda Award, 2019 SCCA Runoffs T4 competitor
Meet Panic's employees...
|
Used miata parts, aftermarket parts, mazda rx7, Spec Miata prep, miata repair and more!
(c) 2007-2020, Panic Motorsports.
Updated: 20 March 2020
Becca Bertok, Marketing Director and Co-Owner
Automotive Interests: Sports car racing as a whole
Education: Univ. of South Carolina - Integrated Marketing Communications
Years in Road Racing: 30+
Affiliation: South Carolina Region-SCCA
Duties: PR, Marketing, and Race Communications
Website: www.panicmotorsports.com
Dream Car: 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO
Stats: Charter Panic member, Artist, Original race track brat, 1997
Performance Driving School at Road Atlanta, 2000 24 Hours of Le Mans
course marshal, 2001 D-Stock Autocross Champion, Crew Chief
extraordinaire, Former F&C official, Spec Miata driver, SCR-SCCA board
member, and a continuous Charcot-Marie-Tooth warrior #cmtstrong
Our team is comprised of a bunch of GearHeads who like to hang out at the racetrack on the weekends. We have racers, autocrossers, workers, and crew...all dedicated to making a weekend at the track a fun and safe event.
|
Jonathan Black, tech and race strategist
Automotive Interests: Corvettes, classic
Thunderbirds, and hot rods
Education: Univ. of South Carolina - History
Joined Panic in: 2009
Affiliation: SCR-SCCA
Hobbies: Target shooting, hunting, club racing
Spec Miatas and the occasional Champ Car
Endurance Racing
Established Sept 2006
The original idea for Panic Motorsports was, as the story goes, drawn up on a bar napkin about 20 years ago by Steve and a few gearhead
friends. Panic became more than just an idea in 2000 when Steve met Becca at an event she was hosting to train new Sports Car Club of
America (SCCA) Course Marshals. Becca's dad is a former rally driver, and she grew up around sports car racing, so when Steve told her about
Panic and how they wanted to put something together, Becca helped to organize the team. Soon there was a logo, then a web site, then T-shirts,
and well, the list goes on.
Panic quite simply started as a group of friends who competed in autocross (SCCA Solo 2) and worked club races on the weekend. By 2002,
Panic was well known across the Southeast and often called upon to staff races from Road Atlanta to Daytona. 2002 was also the year Steve
and Becca built their first Spec Miata, got married, and Steve attended drivers' school at Roebling Road Raceway; the start of a very successful
club racing career.
Steve had always wanted to own his own business, and after more than 15 years in the auto parts industry, he took a leap of faith and opened
Panic Motorsports, LLC in September 2006. Panic's original focus was salvage Miata parts to feed the growing Spec Miata class; keeping in mind
a goal to move into race prep and car builds. With his racing and parts contacts, Steve's salvage business soon outgrew the garage behind the
Bertoks' home and into the first of two shops. In the past ten years, we've added customers, friends, staff, and purchased a large facility, Panic's
current location in West Columbia, SC, where we currently have three aspects to the business:
- Miata MX-5 race car builds, prep, maintenance, and arrive-and-drive programs including trackside and crew services (Spec Miata, T4,
Spec MX-5)
- Dyno tuning for the following programs: Hydra EMS, MegaSquirt, ECU Tek, and AIM
- Salvage and Aftermarket parts for the Mazda Miata MX-5, RX-7 (rotary and LSx swaps), Nissan 240sx, and Z-cars
Panic clients and crew attend more than 30 race weekends per year and have brought home many race wins and championships. Panic has
dominated the Southeast's endurance racing series with five wins in the Spec Miata class of the 13 Hour Charge of the Headlight Brigade at
Virginia International Raceway, as well as multiple Endurance Championship Racing (ECR) and Carolina Cup Pro Series (CCPS) events.
Ben Thrailkill, tech and fabricator
Automotive Interests: 240sx guru and pretty much
anything that goes fast
Education: NASCAR tech grad, Nissan specialist
Joined Panic in: 2015
Affiliation: MBdrift and Street Life Skids
Hobbies: Drifting with the Turnt Motorsports
Team, hunting, fishing, and making things go fast
There's a lot of Panic in the news, but only one we want to read about. Check us out...
|