Why "Bergy?"

I have been asked by a number of people why I call my car Bergy. Back in the days before commercial sponsorships in auto racing, cars were assigned colors depending on their nationality. Italian cars were red, French cars were blue, German cars were silver, USA cars were white with a blue stripe, and British cars were green, like this stunning 1952 Aston Martin DB2.

One story holds that the first international race held in the British Isles was held in Ireland, since racing on public roads was illegal in England. To honor the Irish venue, the cars were painted green. That is one version of the story, and will do for now.

When Mazda created the Miata in 1989, it was conceived as a modern successor to the small British sports cars such as the MG and Lotus. To honor this legacy, Mazda released limited British Racing Green (BRG) editions in 1991 and 2001. My car is #771 of the 3,000 built in 2001.

Bergy is my pronunciation of the letters B, R, and G.