Dave Stine grew up in a hot rodding family. His father, John, and mother Joyce were both car people who enjoyed their hot rods, passing on that love to their offspring. Dave and his brother Dean both raced motorcycles for a while before Dave became infatuated with four wheels, finally ending up with a dragster to run in NHRA’s Super Comp class.

In the meantime, growing up with sort of the same foundation, Kara Stricker began with Jr. Dragsters, working with her father Jeff, who is a noted racer himself. Finally, Kara found herself behind the wheel of a Top Dragster and a separate Super Comp car, earning a number of Wallys along the way including a divisional championship.

As often happens, both Dave and Kara met at the race track and a budding romance ensued with a marriage in 2017.

On January 31st of this year, the two were enjoying a somewhat relaxing four-wheeler ride when the unimaginable happened, an accident which claimed Dave’s life but left Kara unharmed. Flash forward to the weekend of May 22-23.

Both Dave and Kara, along with Kara’s family, are ardent supporters of the Mid Atlantic .90 Association races held the last couple of years under the leadership of Rob Keister. The series hosts a number of events throughout the year at tracks in the northeast part of the country, featuring super category competition, giving those racers another venue to exercise their competitive nature.

“After Dave’s passing,” said Keister, “Kara’s father Jeff called and inquired as to what it would take to have the largest paying race for Super Comp cars. Dave was an avid Super Comp racer and the family felt it would be a fitting tribute to Dave.”

The end result with the help of sponsors Roadrunner Race Fuels, VP Race Fuels, W&T Pipeline Consultants, P&L Garage, and AA Auto Salvage, was the largest payout to the winner of the Super Comp class on Saturday, $10,000-to-win. And with that “carrot on the stick” dangling in front of them, 84 Super Comp cars alone entered the event.

“What started as a simple phone conversation,” added Keister, “and a crazy idea between Jeff Stricker and myself to throw together one of the biggest 8.90 events on the east coast to honor our good friend and family member Dave Stine slowly grew legs and simply turned into one of the best drag races with so much emotion I think any of us have ever been too.

“When we announced that race, I had a number of people who race with us in the other two super classes mention they would jump ship and run Super Comp so I had to do something for the other classes,” said Keister. “VP Racing Fuels and Road Runner Race Fuels sponsored the Super Comp class. And with the help of P&L Garage and AA Auto Salvage we were able to offer $5,000 for Super Gas, while W&T Pipeline sponsored the $5,000 for Super Street. Because of all of them, and those who showed up to race, we were able to have great event. Along with those, DXI Construction, Nitro Fish, Competitive Suspension, ISC Racers Tape, CLK Customs, and Intelligent Security Solutions, put up some special awards.”

On top of that, Maple Grove Raceway hosted their Top Challenge Series for both Top Dragster and Top Sportsman. The event also was extended to two days, with Sunday also paying big bucks. With that, over 200 racers showed up to populate those five core classes.

Prior to eliminations, a crowd of racers populated the starting line for an emotional moment of silence for Dave concluded with Dave’s brother Dean and Kara riding Dave’s motorcycle slowly down the track with Dave’s family riding in Dave’s truck in the other lane. 

As if karma really has anything to do in the sport, the winner of the Dave Stine Memorial Super Comp race was one of Stine’s best friends, Tom Stalba. To state it was an emotional win is an understatement as the Stine and Stricker families celebrated with Stalba on the starting line.

On Saturday night, the Stines and Strickers hosted a pig roast complete with a band to close out the day, with the promise to host a Dave Stine Memorial Race in 2022.

Race # 1
Super Comp
W: Tom Stalba - Hammonton, NJ 
RU: Davy Markel - Scottsville, NY

Super Gas:
W: Paul Laino - Monroe Twp, NJ
RU: Jason Kenny - Kutztown, PA

Super Street
W: Davy Markel - Scottsville, NY
RU: Keith Mayers - Ellendale, DE

Top Dragster:
W: Brandon Miller - Canterbury, CT
RU: Mark Kelly - South Hampton, NJ

Top Sportsman:
W: Dave Miller - Canterbury, CT
RU: Mike Newman - Maple Shade, NJ

Race # 2
Super Comp
W: Lee Ream  - Narvon, PA
RU: Don Milson - Richmond, RI

Super Gas:
W: Iggie Boicesco - Warminster, PA
RU: Ron Ross - Clifton, NJ

Super Street
W: Chris DePasquale - Parlin, NJ
RU: Tommy Muller - Pennington, NJ

Top Dragster:
W: Ron Anders - Street, MD
RU: Val DiGenova - Derry, NH

Top Sportsman:
W: Jeff Taylor - Apache Junction, AZ
RU: Mike Newman - Maple Shade, NJ