Dave Byrd rolled into Las Vegas on November 1st for the Go Live Stream TV Network 100 SRL Southwest Tour Race. The big season ending race weekend was held at the 3/8 mile "Bullring" at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
With 22 of the West Coast’s best race teams on hand, Dave mastered qualifying, turning a "Fastest Qualifier” award winning time of 14.760 seconds. Good sportsmanship of the SRL showed as drivers and crew members came over to congratulate the popular veteran. After the celebration died down, Dave shared his secret.
“I knew I had an awesome set up and I have to admit I had a little help,” Shared Dave. “I had been told by local racing expert, Thane Alderman, where to put the car. I just had to go for it and hope with new tires it would stick. There’s this fine line with this track and you really have to have the car working and then hit that line exactly,” explained Dave. “The hardest part was holding on to the steering wheel with my fingers crossed,” laughed Dave!
Starting from the back row of the 4 car Trophy Dash, Dave raced to a highly contested second place finish.
The main event did not go quite as well. As the fastest qualifier, Dave drew for a 10 car invert for the start of the main event. Dave was patiently bidding his time, taking care of the car and slowly progressing from his 10th place starting position. He was running in the seventh position on lap 59, when a spin on the track, by one of Dave's fellow competitors stacked up the field. With several cars piling up in turn two, Dave thought he had the wreck cleared. He was slowing up and turning down below the other cars involved, when the #1 Strandwold Properties Chevy Monte Carlo was drilled from behind. The momentum from the hit, not only shoved Dave into the pile up, but he ended up with the car on two wheels, with the bottom of the car resting on top of the 4 car of Greg Voight. Dave's teammate Craig Raudman ended up stuck against the side of Dave's car.
After a little work to separate the cars, Dave was able to drive to the pits. The body and suspension damage to Dave’s car wasn't too extensive, but a sizable hole was located in the radiator, bringing the memorable weekend and the 2008 season to an end. In the final analysis, Dave was credited with a 17th place finish, which combined with Fastest Qualifier points was enough to advance the team one position, from 8th to 7th, in the final SRL Southwest Tour points standings. Since the team missed a complete event earlier in the season, they were happy to have at least salvaged a decent top ten finish in the point standings.
The race can be replayed by interested viewers, at their convenience, by visiting the race sponsors website of golivestream.tv
The final event on the 2008 Dave Byrd Racing schedule is the SRL Southwest Tour Awards Banquet to be held on December 6th, 2008 at Buck Owen's Crystal Palace in Bakersfield, CA. The banquet is open to all those who are interested.
For more information, race over to 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, Bob Strandwold Racing, Jim & Pam Garcia.
