This story appears in the July issue of Sprint Car & Midget Magazine and the full version can be viewed at www.sprintcarandmidget.com. This story requires a print subscription to Sprint Car & Midget Magazine or online subscription to www.sprintcarandmidget.com to read.
He’s the winningest driver in USAC National Sprint Car Series history, one of just six members of USAC’s Triple Crown club of drivers having won championships in all three major USAC divisions, one of the most popular drivers in USAC history, and a 2017 inductee to the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame. He’s still fast; last season he earned three USAC National Sprint Car Series feature wins. And yet, he currently has no fulltime ride.
We sat down with Dave Darland to talk about his career in the sport, from beginning through to today, to find out what comes next.
SC&M: This year, you started out the season with Chase Briscoe Racing and you were set to run for them all season, but that didn’t work out. What happened?
DAVE DARLAND: The sponsor money they were needing to get for that situation just didn’t come through. The money connection just didn’t come through for just a couple different reasons there. So, we were looking forward to running for the Briscoes – you know they’ve got a good team and Chase and Kevin and Dick Briscoe have been friends of mine for all my life, going back to Dick and Kevin. I was certainly looking forward to driving for that team with Chase Briscoe, and Brady Short as the mechanic and another guy on the team that I’m buddies with. You know, we were gonna have some fun. Just, unfortunately it didn’t materialize.
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