Allen Berg

Nationality:	Canadian	Races Entered:	9
Date of Birth:	1 August, 1961	DNQ/DNPQ:	-
Team:	Osella (1986)	Best Result:	12th, Germany, 1986

BIOGRAPHY

Before Formula One

In some ways, it seems unfair to lump all the people who have been profiled on this site together, without dividing them further. For amongst them there have been those who paid their way into F1 with very little talent to recommend them, but also those whose ability has taken them to great success in other forms of racing. Perhaps there is also a category for those who encountered setbacks along the way, yet whose passion for racing kept them going, regardless of the arena. A Canadian driver from Vancouver, Allen Berg, may just fall into this category. On the face of it, several difficult F1 outings for the modest Osella team in 1986 may not have been all in F1 that a runner-up in the British F3 Championship might have aspired to. But that Berg regrouped and carved out a niche for himself in Mexico, during a long and successful stint racing there in the 1990s, is a testament to his racer's spirit.

Berg, as do most drivers, started his career in karts. He was Junior Champion in the Alberta Kart Championship in 1979, and was Senior Champion the year later. He also started racing in Canadian Formula Fords from 1980, and in 1981 he came 2nd in the championship. The same year he placed 3rd in the North American Formula Ford championship on his way to being named Deutsche Automobile Club Driver of the Year. It was already clear that here was a driver for the pundits to keep an eye on. In 1982 he moved up to the North American Formula Atlantic championship, and was crowned Rookie of the Year. During the off-season, at the beginning of 1983, he went down under to race in Australia and New Zealand in the Winter Pacific Series, better known as the International Formula Pacific Tasman Championship, or simply, the Tasman Series. Although this competition had lost some of its lustre since its heyday in the 1960s, it was still a much-coveted title.

He won the prestigious Lady Wigram Trophy, the past winners of which included Sir Jack Brabham, Sir Stirling Moss, Bruce McLaren, Jim Clark and Sir Jackie Stewart, and also took the flag at Calder by a mammoth 58 seconds, only to be penalised a heartbreaking one minute for creeping at the start. However, it did not stop him from marching to the title, and on the back of this success he was offered a ride in British F3 for 1983 by Neil Trundle Racing, to drive their Ralt RT3 Toyota. Moving to Britain was a tough transition, especially being in a single-car team. So half-way through the season he was picked up to drive a similar car by Eddie Jordan Racing as team-mate to Martin Brundle. This was, of course, the season famous for the ding-dong battle between Brundle and Ayrton Senna, eventually settled in the Brazilian's favour. Berg managed a little bit of glory though, taking victory at Silverstone, and 3rd places in another race at Silverstone, and at Oulton Park, to place 5th overall with 32 points.

At the end of the year, he returned to Australia to race in the Australian GP at Calder for Formula Atlantics, only to encounter brake problems all weekend, such that the pedal would go to the floor throughout the race. But instead of giving up and retiring (having flown 26 hours just to get to the event), he plugged on and finished 11th, a few laps adrift of winner Roberto Moreno. But he could, at least, look forward to the 1984 British F3 season, where he was one of the favourites for the title. Staying with EJR, he was the only frontrunner using the down-on-power Toyota engine, and though Berg didn't win a race, he did end up second in the series behind Johnny Dumfries, and became the Canadian Driver of the Year. He started the year with consecutive 2nd places at Silverstone and Thruxton, and had further runner-up finishes at Donington (twice), Silverstone (twice), Spa and Brands Hatch. There were also 3rd places at Zolder, Silverstone and Zandvoort, and he ended up with 67 points to Dumfries' 106.

In August that year Berg had also made an appearance in sports cars, in a 1000km race at Mosport, where he drove a Lyncar MS83 Ford for the Lyncar Motorsports team. He was teamed up with Greek driver Costas Los in the car, which retired when it ran out of fuel. According to Berg himself: "There was no fuel strategy. We actually qualified 2nd in class and we led the class for most of the race. I don't think the team actually expected to finish! This was perhaps the ugliest race car ever built, but it was fast." Berg's consistent efforts perhaps should have been rewarded with some kind of decent drive in 1985, but, in a sign of things to come, no offers came his way except for a seat in the Mexican Formula K Championship, in which he took 3 wins and 2 podiums in the series' five races. Although Gilberto Jiminez won the title in his CDD Lider/Chrysler, perhaps it wasn't such a bad move after all, because the following year, the Canadian found himself with the chance of a lifetime.

Formula One

Midway through 1986, when Marc Surer was injured in a rally crash, German driver Christian Danner moved from Osella to take his seat. That allowed Berg to gather together the sponsorship to take the vacant Osella drive alongside Piercarlo Ghinzani in the Alfa Romeo turbo-powered FA1F chassis. His debut outing in Detroit netted him his career best grid position of 25th out of 26, ahead of Huub Rothengatter's Zakspeed, even though he was 10.3 seconds off Senna's pole time. His race ended with electrical problems. At Paul Ricard he drove a newer FA1G, but retired with a blown turbo, and for the next round at Brands Hatch, when he had the latest FA1H at his disposal, he was involved in an opening lap collision with Danner, Ghinzani and Jacques Laffite, although in truth he was merely caught up in an large accident that had started well in front of him. In Germany, back in the FA1F as parts ran low, he was 14.9 seconds off Keke Rosberg on pole, but this no doubt had more to do with the Osella cars.

Ghinzani was only half a second quicker, and the Italian was 5.5 seconds slower than the man in front of him! But this was the race where Berg recorded his first (and ultimately best) finish, in 12th and last spot, 4 laps down. Then in Hungary, Berg was 2.5 seconds slower than Rothengatter in front of him and 11.3 seconds away from pole. He suffered another turbo failure in the race. In Austria, he was even further behind, a full 2.2 seconds behind Ghinzani and 12.6 slower than Teo Fabi, but he had another electrical problem early. For the Italian GP he was temporarily replaced by local youngster Alex Caffi, who brought with him a big sponsor, and thus the opportunity for Berg to compete in the remaining events without having to bring money to the team. But when he came back in Portugal, he started a very rare 27th, by virtue of the fact that the new AGS team had entered one car for Ivan Capelli. With the support of all the other teams, he was allowed to race as a 27th starter by virtue of the fact that his car had been a regular in the World Championship.

Berg eventually finished 13th and last, 7 laps down, and 3 laps down on Jonathan Palmer in the Zakspeed, who was 12th. Improving a little bit for the final two rounds, Berg finished 16th in Mexico, albeit 7 laps down on Gerhard Berger, the Austrian taking his maiden victory. Then in Adelaide, despite being only 8.8 seconds off Nigel Mansell's pole time in qualifying, he ended a troubled race some 21 laps down, having completed 61 of 82 laps. He wasn't classified. But these bare results hardly tell the story of what was constantly a struggle under difficult circumstances. As he has told F1 Rejects: "As the budgets at Osella were so tight, we never did one single day of testing. After the Brands Hatch incident, the team was so tight financially they limited my track time at the following races to save the motors for the race. We actually went to some events with only one spare motor between two cars. In practice I usually was given 10 to 15 laps."

His limited time in the car made life very tricky, as he explains: "On one occasion I had 6 laps to learn the track prior to qualifying. I was visiting most of these tracks for the first time. This was the turbo era, where the boost would get turned up and horsepower increased greatly for about 4 laps. We had 2 sets of qualifying tyres which greatly improved grip but were only good for 2 laps. This changed your brake reference points and corner entry speeds and was very hard to judge until you gained sufficient experience in a F1 car." Other factors, particularly the cumbersome Alfa turbo, also conspired to ensure that Berg could not achieve much by way of results: "I recall at some circuits the difference in top speeds between my car and the Hondas and BMW powered cars was over 40kph, simply down to brute horsepower." Nevertheless, Berg pays tribute to the work ethic of his mechanics: "The team worked extremely hard with the poor conditions we faced, just to be there for the race weekends."

Such were the limitations the Osella team faced, Berg was often asked to drive to finish and not risk damaging the car, because there were no spare parts for repairs. Needless to say, he never had a spare car at his disposal, and often did not run at all on the Saturday to conserve parts. "At one race when I had an off in practice on Friday, the factory had to fabricate a wishbone and airfreight it up for us to race on Sunday." Clearly, at the end of the day, the problems encountered by both driver and team came down to one thing: money. "I spent the whole season seeking corporate sponsorship. I would fly to Canada immediately after a Grand Prix, make phone calls, knock on doors and give presentations, then fly back for the next race, sometimes with the money, many times without. Osella really worked with me in this regard. The amount I needed to bring to the team in sponsorship for the season was actually less than a Formula 3 budget. Even this amount was very difficult to find and it was an enormous effort to meet my commitments."

After Formula One

Berg's valiant efforts in the Osella had caught the attention of some team bosses, and he also had several companies willing to back him, so his F1 career should not have ended after 1986. But that sponsorship was contingent on there being a Canadian GP in 1987, and when that was cancelled, Berg found himself left in a lurch. As he says, "I was determined that I had the ability for F1 and simply was not interested in other forms of racing." But, sadly, Formula One never came knocking again. As a result, he only raced sporadically from 1987 to 1989. In 1987 he made an appearance in the World Sportscar Championship at Silverstone, where he drove a Porsche 962C for the famous Kremer Racing outfit with Volker Weidler and Kris Nissen, but the car retired with accident damage. He tested the new XJR-9 for the TWR Jaguar IMSA operation at Daytona late in 1987 at Taladega, and was close to being offered a race drive for Le Mans when the team bosses decided they wanted an American (and apparently Canadian was not close enough!).

Berg then dabbled in Trans-Am in 1988, and 1989 saw an attempt at the Daytona 24hrs, where he drove a Porsche 962 with Bernard Jourdain, Oscar Manautou and Andres Contreras. Although they were classified 18th they had retired with fan belt trouble. Come 1990 though, and Berg's career was grinding to a halt as the F1 dream evaporated. Enter Fred Rodgers, Eddie Jordan's lawyer and the man who later fatefully introduced Perry McCarthy to the Andrea Moda drive, who now put Berg in touch with Richard Lloyd. Lloyd, a sportscar team owner, teamed Berg with John Watson and Bruno Giacomelli for the Le Mans 24hrs in a Porsche 962C, and the trio finished 11th. A month later, Lloyd hired Berg to race for him in the Japanese Sports Prototype Championship for the Alpha Cubic With RLR team, alongside Chiyomi Totani. But Totani wrote off the car in practice, and subsequently sued Lloyd for mechanical negligence even though telemetry showed that it had been driver error!

The damage to Lloyd's reputation had been done, though, and that was the end of the Alpha Cubic program in Japan. Nevertheless, Lloyd still had two World Sportscar Championship races left at Montreal and Mexico City, and was looking to install Berg alongside regular driver Manuel Reuter, but in one of those twists of fate Berg suffered a motorcycle accident, broke his hand, and was out for the rest of 1990. Lloyd gave the drive at Montreal to Steven Andskar, and the Mexico drive to ... Perry McCarthy. As the entries to the WSC dwindled in 1991, Lloyd was one of those who withdrew, and so for 1991 Berg had to look elsewhere for a drive. His versatility ensured he found it racing tin-tops, in the DTM in Germany, where he drove a BMW M3 sponsored by Tic-Tac for a privateer team, but it was not competitive against the factory-backed cars. But then it became apparent that the team was not going to find the funds to continue into 1992, Berg was forced to go on the move again. It was at this point that an offer from Marlboro changed his career direction.

Marlboro offered him a chance to go back across the Atlantic, back to the Americas, and race in one of the cars they were sponsoring in Mexican F2, in what were essentially Formula Atlantic cars. The choice was easy, for as Berg himself says, "There were big grids and big sponsorships and the drivers were well paid." Thus he left Europe, and made the Mexican motor racing scene his home for the next decade. In 1992, he settled in quickly came third in the Mexican F2 championship for his Marlboro team. He went two better in 1993, and winning the series outright in his Ralt/Chrysler. Taking three wins at Saltillo, Aguascalientes and Queretaro, Berg became the only non-Mexican winner ever of that title. That year he also competed in the Mexican Prototype championship, recording one runner-up finish in Mexico City with F. Guerrero. In 1994, he placed 2nd in Mexican F2 with another 3 wins at Queretaro, Aguascalientes and San Luis Potosi, and he also won the last round of the Prototype championship, with J. Morales.

But in that 1994 Mexican Prototype series, Berg came up against an unheard-of youngster who was proving to be quite a precocious talent. His name was Juan-Pablo Montoya. Recalls Berg: "In 1994 Montoya was racing in the prototype series and I had some great battles with him. I remember his first race, he blew everyone away with his speed in qualifying. 16 year old kid, nobody knew his name! The prototypes were very fragile and if you pushed, they usually broke. Montoya always pushed, and so did I ..." But for 1995, Berg decided to race in Mexican F3 instead, sensing that this was closer to a European form of racing. He joined the Montana team and came 3rd, despite wins at Guadalajara and Monterrey. Then in 1996, he switched to the Coca-Cola team and fell to equal 4th after only one win in a series dominated by Britons Derek Higgins and Rod MacLeod, and which featured another ex-F1 driver, Ulsterman Tommy Byrne. By his own admission, Berg made some poor decisions with the teams he drove for in these two years.

However, come 1997 Berg was in the right place at the right time, and with 2 wins, 3 pole positions, 3 lap records and 4 fastest laps in six events, he became Mexican F3 champion. He continued in the series in 1998, as well as doing some pre-season testing for the new Indy Lights Panamericana series. But for 1999, Dick Simon Racing offered him a chance to race in the Indy Racing League, Simon had already raised 75% of the budget, and a website heralding the IRL tilt was generated. But when Berg was unable to come up with the remaining 25%, the opportunity, sadly, went begging. So it was back to Mexican F3 with Team Canel, and in 2000 it looked as though he would continue in the series. Though, to some, being mired in Mexican F3 may seem like going nowhere, but Berg was now a veteran of the series, and the passion for racing still burned bright. But two weeks before the first race, it was made clear to Berg's sponsor that the promoters of the series would somehow ensure the Canadian did not win the title! As Allen tells us, "You guys could run a website on all of the crazy things that happen in Mexican racing."

Thus Berg spent the first part of 2000 without a drive, but he ended up competing in the last four rounds of the Indy Lights Panamericana series (also known as the Formula de las Americas). With a 6th, a 4th, an 11th and a 13th, he finished 13th overall with 22 points. But this was, in reality, a toe-in-the-water exercise, as Berg prepared for a new stage in his career: team ownership. For 2001, he was linking up with fellow Panamericana driver Peregrino Guerrero to run four cars, two each in the Panamericana series, and in Mexican F3. For the F3 team he signed brothers Jorge and Eduardo Figueroa to drive, but in the Panamericanas, he himself teamed up with Waldemar Coronas. He dominated the series in his Lola T96 Chevrolet, winning at Aguascalientes, Guadalajara (twice) and Zacatecas, and with victory in the latter he sealed the title with a round to spare and 145 points already on the board, and, going out as a victorious driver/constructor, promptly retired from racing to concentrate on team ownership. He then watched Coronas win the last round, as his team took 5 out of 10 wins.

Apart from team ownership, he also briefly expanded into race driver training with the Formula X school in Mexico. Having been offered shares in the school, he became chief instructor and set up their driver training programs, but left after only one year when the shares weren't forthcoming. On the other hand, Berg also found himself involved in things he didn't want to be in. For several years, the Prolong engine treatment product milked his name in ads in Mexico, even though they had been a sponsor of his for only one race! Leaving the Mexican racing scene, in 2002 he returned up north, starting the Scuadra Fortia team based in San Diego to run in the Formula Toyota Atlantic championship, a Champ Car feeder and support category. Running both Coronas and Eduardo Figueroa, the former took seven top-10 finishes including a best of 4th, and also recorded the team's best qualifying performance of 3rd. Both cars were generally competitive and ran consistently in the top five, but both drivers also had a tendency to fall off the racetrack.

In 2003, Berg picked up Frenchman Romain Dumas to drive alongside Figueroa, as well as Mexican sponsor Gigante, the same company backing Michel Jourdain, Jr. in Champ Cars. However after the first race Gigante withdrew, and the team was practically forced out. However, Scuadra Fortia has since continued, now in the Fran Am 2000 North American Pro Championship Series, a new open-wheeler category, where it ran promising young Canadian driver Remy Maltais. Otherwise, in 2003 Berg left to do consulting work for other Atlantic teams, and pursue other new business opportunities. After all, he has his successes in Mexican racing to recommend him, as well as the fact that he is a former Formula One driver. For however difficult the Osella experience was, he will always be one of the exalted few who can claim to have been a Grand Prix driver.

We would like to thank Allen very much for his time and contribution to the preparation of this profile.

CAREER SUMMARY

Before Formula One
1979	• Alberta Junior Kart Championship, 1st overall.
1980	• Alberta Senior Kart Championship, 1st overall. • Competed in the Canadian Formula Ford Championship.
1981	• Canadian Formula Ford Championship, 2nd overall. • North American Formula Ford Championship, 3rd overall. • Deutsche Automobile Club Driver of the Year.
1982	• North American Formula Atlantic Winter Pacific Series, 1st overall, Rookie of the Year.
1983	• International Formula Pacific Tasman Championship, 1st overall. • British F3, 5th overall, 1 win, 32 points in a Neil Trundle Ralt RT3 Toyota, and an Eddie Jordan Racing Ralt RT3 Toyota. • Australian GP, 11th place.
1984	• British F3, 2nd overall, 67 points in an Eddie Jordan Racing Ralt RT3 Toyota. • World Endurance Championship, 1 start in a Lyncar MS83 Ford with Los. • Canadian Driver of the Year.
1985	• Mexican Formula K Championship, 3 wins.
Formula One
1986	• Osella FA1F/FA1G/FA1H Alfa Romeo turbo, 9 entries.
After Formula One
1987	• World Sportscar Championship, 1 start in a Kremer Porsche 962C with Weidler and Nissen. • Tested for the TWR Jaguar IMSA team.
1988	• Competed in Trans-Am.
1989	• IMSA, 1 start at Daytona in a Porsche 962 with Jourdain, Manautou and Contreras.
1990	• Le Mans 24hrs in a Richard Lloyd Porsche 962C with Watson and Giacomelli. • Japanese Sports Prototype Championship, 1 entry in an Alpha Cubic With RLR Porsche 962C with Totani.
1991	• DTM, 25th overall, 3 points in a Team Tauber BMW M3.
1992	• Mexican F2, 3rd overall for the Marlboro team.
1993	• Mexican F2, 1st overall, 2 wins in a Marlboro Ralt Chrysler. • Competed in the Mexican Prototipi Championship.
1994	• Mexican F2, 2nd overall, 3 wins. • Mexican Prototipi Championship, 1 win.
1995	• Mexican F3, 3rd overall for the Montana team, 97 points.
1996	• Mexican F3, 4th overall for the Coca-Cola team, 67 points, 1 win.
1997	• Mexican F3, 2 wins.
1998	• Competed in Mexican F3. • Pre-season testing for the Indy Lights Panamericana Series.
1999	• Competed in Mexican F3 for Team Canel.
2000	• Formula de las Americas, 4 rounds, 13th overall, 22 points.
2001	• Co-owned the Berg-Guerrero team in Formula de las Americas and Mexican F3. • Formula de las Americas, 9 starts, 1st overall, 145 points, 4 wins for the Berg-Guerrero team. • Chief race driving instructor for the Formula X company.
2002	• Formed the Scuadra Fortia team to run in Formula Toyota Atlantic.
2003	• Team Owner of Scuadra Fortia team, in Formula Toyota Atlantic and the Fran Am 2000 North American Pro Championship Series.

Back to Career Summary
Back to Full Biography
Back to Picture Index

http://www.f1rejects.com
email@f1rejects.com