David Stremme - Early Life

Early Life

Stremme was born in South 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 first stock car victory came in the early 1990s at New Paris Speedway, while behind the wheel of his mother’s street stock ride. Once track officials realized that he was only 15 years old however, he was forced to temporarily give up driving.

Once he reached legal driving age, David moved to the Midwestern short tracks scene. David is an avid race car builder and has a great understanding of the cars he races. Being part of a racing family (father, mother, and brother) racing is his life. 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, David raced for the ISES Performance Group, Inc. The team was made up of David's racing friends and sponsored by Industrial Safety and Environmental Services, Inc. New cars were purchased and David initiated alliances with top suppliers of engines, chassis, and shock manufacturers.

In only his first start in a Kendall Late Model Series car completely assembled by David at Winchester Motor Speedway, he set a new track record and finished 4th in the race. Subsequent to this event an even larger strategy was set forth. Under the direction of Tris Gour, President, Industrial Safety and Environmental Services, Inc. a new car was purchased to compete in the NASCAR November Phoenix International Speedway race. The new car was completely built by David 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, Tris and David formed an alliance with Robert Hamke. Robert is a well renowned chassis builder, racer, and crew chief. Although the car built was not a Hamke Chassis, Robert accepted the opportunity to work with David and the crew. Robert accepted the challenge based upon reference from Performance Technologies (engine builders) and the owner of LeftHander Chassis. Robert 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. David led the majority of the race and was passed on the last lap coming out of turn three by Scott 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.

The local news media reported on this issue but only a financial penalty was given to Hansen. Although upset by the loss, the ISES Performance Group, Inc. and David had gained the respect of the Hansen Group. Scott later called upon David to race his car at the Winchester Motorspeedway due to a conflict with his racing schedule.

As respect to David, an old website still exists outlining his accomplishments. Although the site has not been updated in over 10 years, it is still a great tribute to all the accomplishments David has made. The website can be visited at http://www.isesracing.com.