PAST CHAMPIONS – 2007
Dave Byrd and the Bob Strandwold Racing team celebrated their 2007 SRL Championship after the season finale at Altamont Raceway Park.
The below press release was from Dave Byrd Media Relations following his 2007 championship.
Dave Byrd Media Relations
October 15, 2007
TRACY, California — While the 2007 SRL racing season brought a record number of entrants, and one would think winning the championship over such a grand field of teams from throughout the southwest region of the United States would be an ultimate goal, to the Dave Byrd Racing faithful the biggest highlight of the 2007 racing season was winning the SRL touring championship over both bitter long time Stockton 99 Speedway home track rivals Steve and Jeff Belleto. Dave had been in a heavily disputed rivalry with the Belleto brothers at Stockton 99 Speedway for almost a decade, so rough at times it led to private sit down meetings with NASCAR brass.
Earlier in the 2007 season, and even after the Bob Strandwold Racing Team, that Dave drove for, had won at the Madera event, Dave still sat third in the drivers’ championship points, with Jeff leading the points and Steve in second. Over the next hand full of races, the team was able to move ahead in the points and led Steve by a slim five point margin going into the final event of the season being held at Altamont Raceway’s ½ mile oval.
When Dave’s car suffered a front suspension failure on lap 19, it appeared Steve would be able to beat Dave for the drivers’ championship. “It may sound a little cliché”, Dave was quoted as saying after the event, “but one thing we have learned over the years in nailing down previous (16 track and regional) championships was to never give up.” The team worked feverishly to wrap up bolting on the front suspension and when Steve’s engine started having trouble on lap 30, Dave’s team was mathematically right back in the game, if they could only get more laps in then Steve. “We had already lost several laps in the pits while repairing the front suspension”, explained Bob Strandwold team mechanic Jeff Strandwold, “but while Steve was limping around at a reduced speed, nursing his engine, our team amazingly hit right back on our set up during the repairs and we had sent Dave back on the track at full speed.” Dave was able to painstakingly chip away at the lap deficit he had to Steve.
Meanwhile Tracy Bolin, who started the evening third in points was seemingly having the SRL race of his life and had clearly put himself in a position to steal the championship. While dominating the lead of the race, Tracy’s car suffered its own mechanical failure.
It took a dramatic settling of the dust after the event for the scorers to triple check the results and declare Dave Byrd and the Bob Strandwold Racing Team 2007 SRL Champions! It may not have been the most glamorous way to wrap up a championship, but for Dave Byrd and a host of enthusiastic followers in the grandstands it was the ultimate culmination and the final chapter in that age old Byrd / Belleto rivalry. In the subsequent years following, Dave and the Belleto brothers have made peace, with Steve actually coming over and volunteering to help solve engine tuning woes at a Madera event.
For more information, race over to www.davebyrdracing.com <http://www.davebyrdracing.com>
Dave Byrd is partnered with: Performance Electrical, Strandwold Properties, Jack McCoy Enterprises, Freight Train Peters Racing Engines, Ringers Gloves, Team Chevrolet, Foletta Bros, Inc., Swendeman Hardware, and Bob Strandwold Racing.
About the Flashco SRL Southwest Tour Series: Celebrating its eighth season in 2008, the Flashco SRL Southwest Tour Series is a regional stock car series competing on paved ovals in the southwestern portion of the U.S. The series utilizes cars based on the former NASCAR Elite Division Series rulebook
