| David Stremme | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Stremme in 2011 | |||||||
| Born | (1977-06-19)June 19, 1977 (age 48) South Bend, Indiana, U.S. | ||||||
| Achievements | 2020World Short Track ChampionshipUMP Modified Winner 2008Winchester 400 Winner | ||||||
| Awards | 2002ASA National Tour Rookie of the Year 2003 NASCARBusch Series Rookie of the Year | ||||||
| NASCARCup Series career | |||||||
| 200 races run over 9 years | |||||||
| 2014 position | 43rd | ||||||
| Best finish | 24th (2007) | ||||||
| First race | 2005USG Sheetrock 400 (Chicago) | ||||||
| Last race | 2014AAA 400 (Dover) | ||||||
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| NASCARO'Reilly Auto Parts Series career | |||||||
| 146 races run over 7 years | |||||||
| 2011 position | 112th | ||||||
| Best finish | 10th (2004) | ||||||
| First race | 2003Pepsi 300 (Nashville) | ||||||
| Last race | 2011Ford 300 (Homestead) | ||||||
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| NASCARCraftsman Truck Series career | |||||||
| 4 races run over 3 years | |||||||
| Best finish | 56th (2008) | ||||||
| First race | 2006Kroger 250 (Martinsville) | ||||||
| Last race | 2011Fast Five 225 (Chicagoland) | ||||||
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| Statistics up to date as of September 28, 2014. | |||||||
David Andrew Stremme (born June 19, 1977) is an American professionalstock car racing driver and race car builder.
Stremme was born inSouth Bend, Indiana. His racing roots can be traced back to Midwestern short track racing, where he followed in the footsteps originally cast by his great-uncle in the 1950s. Stremme's father, mother, and brother also raced before him. His first stock car victory came in the early 1990s at New Paris Speedway, behind the wheel of his mother's street stock ride. Once track officials realized that he was only fifteen years old however, he was forced to temporarily give up driving.[citation needed]
Once he reached legal driving age, Stremme returned to the Midwestern short track scene. During his career, he earned 24 feature wins, two Rookie of the Year titles and two track championships in just four years. From the local tracks, Stremme became a winner in the Kendall Late Model Series and soon joined American Speed Association (ASA), where he was named the 2002 ASA Rookie of the Year.
During 1998, 1999, and 2000, Stremme raced for ISES Performance Group, Inc. The team was made up of Stremme's racing friends and sponsored by Industrial Safety and Environmental Services, Inc. The team purchased new cars, and Stremme initiated alliances with top suppliers of engines, chassis, and shock manufacturers. Stremme's experience building race cars gave him a greater understanding of their performance, which proved an advantage for a young racer.
In his first start in a Kendall Late Model Series car, atWinchester Speedway, Stremme set a new track record and finished fourth behind the wheel of a car he had assembled himself. Subsequent to this event, Stremme and his ISES team set forth an even larger strategy. Under the direction of ISES, Inc. President Tris Gour, the team purchased a new car to compete in the NASCAR NovemberPhoenix International Raceway race. The new car was completely built by Stremme with help from friends. It was the first time the team had ventured significantly far away from home.
As a budget did not allow for crew chiefs or fabricators, Gour and Stremme formed an alliance with Robert Hamke. Hamke is a well renowned chassis builder, racer, and crew chief. Although the car built was not a Hamke Chassis, Hamke accepted the opportunity to work with Stremme and the crew, and accepted the challenge based upon reference from Performance Technologies (engine builders) and the owner of LeftHander Chassis. Hamke had a great respect for the owner of LeftHander. In addition, Performance Technologies had built several engines for both chassis builders (Hamke and Lefthander) clients.
While at Phoenix, the team qualified fourth and led several laps during the race. Stremme led the majority of the race and was passed on the last lap coming out of turn three byScott Hansen. Subsequent to the race, it was found that Hansen was disqualified as his car was equipped with an illegal carburetor spacer plate giving him an unfair horsepower advantage.[citation needed]
The local news media reported on this issue but only a financial penalty was given to Hansen.[citation needed] Although upset by the loss, the ISES Performance Group, Inc. and Stremme had gained the respect of the Hansen Group. Hansen later called upon Stremme to race his car at Winchester due to a conflict with his racing schedule.


After signing adriver development contract withChip Ganassi Racing, Stremme started fifteenth in his Busch Series debut atNashville Superspeedway in April 2003, driving the No. 1 Dodge forPhoenix Racing, and finished seventh in the race. He finished fourteenth in both of his next two starts, before coming to 6th atNazareth Speedway. He led 32 laps in that race, which were the first in his career.
He finished 4th after starting 3rd at Nashville in June, and duplicated the result at theMilwaukee Mile. He had a tenth at Kentucky and a ninth at Memphis. Stremme's worst finish that year was a 31st at Dover. Due to a contract obligation, Finch hadJamie McMurray back in the car for the final two races, and Stremme moved toBraun Racing for the remaining two races. Stremme led 48 laps at Rockingham, finishing fifth, and additionally drove the No. 30 Sport Clips Dodge home in 14th. His strong finishes in his part-time schedule was enough to secure him the 2003 Busch Series Rookie of the Year award, despite competing in only 18 of the 34 races.
Stremme raced in the No. 32TrimSpaDodge Intrepid in2004. Stremme started 4th and finished 6th in the season opener atDaytona International Speedway. Despite winning his first career pole at Milwaukee, and finishing that up with a second, Stremme's team began to run mid-pack with a handful of top-tens mixed in. Braun Racing then made the announcement that they were going to replace Stremme withShane Hmiel, who was just coming off a suspension. Ganassi then made a deal withFitzBradshaw Racing to secure Stremme a ride. For the remainder of the 2004 season, Stremme was to replaceCasey Atwood in FitzBradshaw'sU.S. Navy-sponsored No. 14 Chevrolet. For the next season, FitzBradshaw's team would begin running Dodges and Stremme would be retained to drive the No. 14 full-time. In2005, Stremme posted five top-five finishes and finishing thirteenth in points, when it was announced he would run full-time in the Nextel Cup Series.

In June 2005, Stremme made his Cup debut in2005 driving Ganassi's R&D No. 39 NavyDodge atChicagoland Speedway. He started 31st and would finish sixteenth in his debut. He also had finishes of 42nd at Richmond and Miami, and a 36th at Charlotte. Ganassi announced Stremme would go to the Cup series, driving the No. 40Coors Light Dodge in2006.
In 2006, Stremme had a best finish of eleventh atNew Hampshire International Speedway andHomestead-Miami Speedway. He finished 33rd in points after missing both road course races that season. In addition, he made hisCraftsman Truck Series debut atMartinsville Speedway, finishing 32nd in the No. 04 Dodge forBobby Hamilton Racing. In addition, he won his first careerARCA RE/MAX Series race atMichigan International Speedway, driving the No. 61Hantz Group Dodge forRusty Wallace. Despite solid equipment with Ganassi, Stremme failed to notch a single top-ten in 34 races.
Stremme followed up his disastrous rookie season with another poor season in 2007. He started 2007 starting sixth in the 49th annualDaytona 500 and went on to finish eleventh. Three weeks later he would get his best career start, second in theUAW-DaimlerChrysler 400 atLas Vegas Motor Speedway. In theSamsung 500 atTexas Motor Speedway he would get his first career top-ten finish. Two weeks later, he would follow that up with a career best finish, eighth in theAaron's 499 atTalladega Superspeedway. During that season, Stremme shared driving duties of the No. 41Wrigley Dodge Charger in the Busch Series with Ganassi teammateReed Sorenson. It ran numerous paint schemes includingWrigley's Spearmint,Doublemint,Juicy Fruit, andWinterfresh. He was able to get his second career Busch pole at Nashville but ended up eleventh in the race. In addition, he drove a part-time schedule in the No. 22Supercuts Dodge forFitz Motorsports.





He was replaced in the No. 40 Dodge byDario Franchitti in 2008 after the 2007Indy 500 Champion was signed to drive in Sprint Cup. Stremme returned to the Nationwide Series driving forRusty Wallace Racing, in the No. 64 Atreus Homes & Communities Chevrolet. He was originally scheduled to run a handful of races, withChase Austin andMax Papis driving the rest of the year, but after starting the season in the top-fifteen in points, the schedule was modified to allow him to run every race except the road course events. He had five top-fives and sixteen top-tens, on his way to an eleventh-place points finish. In the latter portion of the year, Atreus left the team, andAVIS, Loan Star Title Loans, and thePenske Corporation became the team's new primary sponsors. He drove the No. 15 Hyprene ErgonToyota Tundra in two Truck races that season as well, in addition to returning to the No. 40 Sprint Cup team, filling for the injured Franchitti at Talladega.
In 2009, Stremme signed to drive the No. 12 car for Penske Racing full-time in the Sprint Cup Series, replacing Ryan Newman who moved to the No. 39 car forStewart Haas Racing. The team lost its sponsor whenVerizon Wireless bought Alltel, thus negating the grandfather clause. The car was blanked similar to the Penske used in the IRL, censoring theirPhillip Morris USA sponsorship with "Team Penske". Stremme nearly won the2009 AMP Energy 500 running near the front for the lead, but a green-white checkered ruined his day, causing him to run out of gas. Throughout Stremme's season for Penske, he did not score a single top 10. Stremme was released from the contract with Penske on November 3, because their new driver for 2010,Brad Keselowski, was finished with his prior contract agreements withHendrick Motorsports. He missed the Texas and Phoenix races and failed to qualify for the Homestead race driving for James Finch in the No. 09 car.
Stremme attempted sixteen races withLatitude 43 Motorsports in 2010, failing to make five. Stremme attempted a select number of races with newly formed Inception Motorsports in the No. 30 Chevrolet in 2011, along with a limited Nationwide Series schedule withML Motorsports. He ran in the Sprint Cup Series for 2012 with Inception Motorsports, switching to Toyotas.[1]
For 2013, Stremme returned to the No. 30, nowSwan Racing Company, with the exception of theDaytona 500 whereMichael Waltrip drove the car, renumbered for the event with No. 26.[2] Unlike Inception Motorsports, where Stremme was a start and park driver, Swan Racing has full sponsorship.
In theCamping World Truck Series inauguralrunning of theMudsummer Classic atEldora Speedway, Stremme served as the spotter forKen Schrader.[3]
After only recording four top-twenty finishes in the first 26 races in 2013, Stremme was released by Swan Racing following the September race at Richmond International Raceway, being replaced byCole Whitt.[4]
Stremme was signed byCircle Sport to run the No. 33 beginning at theSTP 500 at Martinsville.[5] He attempted twelve races before being released, and has not raced in NASCAR since then.
In 2014, Stremme founded Lethal Chassis, a dirt modified builder.[6]
Stremme is married to Ashley Stremme, a model whose career in that included being Mrs. North Carolina and then Mrs. United States in 2016. She has also competed in the Better Half Dash (a charity race featuring NASCAR drivers' wives driving go-karts on the infield mini-oval atCharlotte), winning the 2013 race. She also hosts two racing radio shows, Slingin' Dirt (onMotor Racing Network) and Winged Nation.[7][8]
(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time.Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)
* Season still in progress
1 Ineligible for series points
| Year | Team | Manufacturer | Start | Finish |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Chip Ganassi Racing | Dodge | 32 | 28 |
| 2007 | 6 | 11 | ||
| 2009 | Penske Championship Racing | Dodge | 24 | 33 |
| 2012 | Inception Motorsports | Toyota | 42 | 37 |
| NASCAR Camping World Truck Series results | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Team | No. | Make | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | NCWTC | Pts | ref |
| 2006 | Bobby Hamilton Racing | 04 | Dodge | DAY | CAL | ATL | MAR 32 | GTY | CLT | MFD | DOV | TEX | MCH | MLW | KAN | KEN | MEM | IRP | NSH | BRI | NHA | LVS | TAL | MAR | ATL | TEX | PHO | HOM | 83rd | 67 | [26] |
| 2008 | Billy Ballew Motorsports | 15 | Toyota | DAY | CAL | ATL | MAR | KAN | CLT | MFD | DOV | TEX | MCH | MLW | MEM | KEN | IRP | NSH 13 | BRI 9 | GTW | NHA | LVS | TAL | MAR | ATL | TEX | PHO | HOM | 46th | 262 | [27] |
| 2011 | RSS Racing | 27 | Chevy | DAY | PHO | DAR | MAR | NSH | DOV | CLT | KAN | TEX | KEN | IOW | NSH | IRP | POC | MCH | BRI | ATL | CHI 34 | NHA | KEN | LVS | TAL | MAR | TEX | HOM | 109th | 01 | [28] |
(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time.Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)
| ARCA Re/Max Series results | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Team | No. | Make | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | ARMC | Pts | Ref |
| 2003 | Chip Ganassi Racing | 77 | Dodge | DAY | ATL | NSH | SLM | TOL | KEN | CLT | BLN | KAN | MCH | LER | POC | POC | NSH | ISF | WIN | DSF | CHI | SLM | TAL 21 | CLT | SBO | 151st | 125 | [29] | |
| 2006 | Chip Ganassi Racing | 40 | Dodge | DAY | NSH | SLM | WIN | KEN | TOL | POC 40 | 91st | 285 | [30] | ||||||||||||||||
| Rusty Wallace Inc. | 61 | Dodge | MCH 1* | KAN | KEN | BLN | POC | GTW | NSH | MCH | ISF | MIL | TOL | DSF | CHI | SLM | TAL | IOW | |||||||||||
| Achievements | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | NASCAR Busch Series Rookie of the Year 2003 | Succeeded by |