Dave Reed Doubles Down To Pursue Two Championships in Spears Southwest Tour

Craig Raudman (2) and Austin Reed (14) side-by-side at Kern Raceway (Photo by Amanda Perryman)

Reed, CEO of Advanced Memory, a company that manufactures high reliability computer memory for critical applications like the military, has operated Dave Reed Racing and entered cars in various race series around the West Coast since 1993, including NASCAR Craftsman Trucks, K&N NASCAR Pro Series West, Legends, Mini Outlaws, and even local Late Model.

Promising young driver Ricky Schlick, who had raced for Reed in 2016, has had the opportunity to move to another team to compete in a full-season of the SRL for 2017, so Reed was faced with a choice. Continue to run different drivers for a few events each or concentrate on a single driver and work toward not one, but two championships. He chose the more difficult but potentially more rewarding route.

Craig Raudman will be the full-time driver of the #2 car (Photo by Roger Seymour Photography)

There’s also a long-term relationship between Reed and Raudman that dates back to 1994, which is clearly to their benefit. Raudman is also well-known as an ace crew chief on short track cars, which can do nothing but improve the team’s ability to set-up the car quickly.

Raudman may be best known for his victory in the short-lived LA Street Race that was part of the NASCAR Featherlite Tour Series at the time, beating out both series regulars as well as some big name drivers attracted by the prestige of the event and large purse on offer. The event ran for just three years and Raudman nearly won the first two as well.

The chassis that Craig Raudman drove to fourth, under construction (Photo by Craig Raudman)

Reed is pulling out all the stops toward his double championship quest. He’s fielding two new Straight Rail chassis cars from Victory Circle, in Bakersfield. Not only does Reed’s team benefit from having their chassis builder intimately familiar with all the tracks in the series, but with Bakersfield so central geographically to the tracks, if there’s crash damage to the frame that needs to be repaired in the jig, it’s a fast turnaround. Reed is also having a third car built by Bond Suss Racing in Charlotte.

For filters, Reed has been a loyal partner with K&N for 15 years.

“We have been fortunate to be able to tour their facilities several times and it is truly is an amazing facility,“ Reed said. “ K&N has the best quality out there not to mention the people behind the products.”

The K&N logo proudly displayed on the rear of one of Dave Reed's cars (Photo by Dave Reed)

The Number 14 car will be driven by a rotating roster of drivers, including Reed’s son Austin, Eric Norris - stunt coordinator on the Hawaii 5-0 television series and son of martial arts legend Chuck - and one or two drivers yet to be named. Reed hinted at one being an East Coast hot shoe while another is a former Southwest Tour Champion. Most intriguing is the driver who might fill in for Raudman at The Bullring: a “household name” in racing, according to Reed.

At the first race of the season at Irwindale, Raudman ran in the Top 5 in all practices, finished an impressive fourth in a race won by Bobby Hodges, with 2016 champ Derek Thorn second. Raudman started seventh and steadily worked his way up to fourth over the course of the race. All in a brand-new race car fresh off the trailer. Most definitely a good omen for the start of a very ambitious season.