Dale Brede

Dale Adam Brede (12 October 1974 – 11 July 2023) was an Australian racing driver who most notably competed in the V8 Supercars Championship.

Brede attended Radford College in Canberra, graduating in 1992.

Brede died in July 2023, at the age of 48.

Career summary Junior formula Brede made his racing car debut in the Queensland Formula Ford Championship, running two rounds with Greg Fahey Racing. Thereafter, he bought a Ralt R23 from Steve Cramp to compete in the Australian Drivers' Championship. Initially intending to run the car privately, a struggle to find results meant drafting Cramp in to run the car for him, and wound up finishing 12th in the overall standings.

The following season, Brede moved to NRC International in a Reynard 94D. Despite securing a competitive package with the Arthur Abraham's outfit, the only notable result of the year was a podium at Phillip Island en route to finishing eleventh in the driver standings. For 2000, Brede returned to the series with NRC International, finishing seventh overall with two podiums to his credit.

V8 Supercars In 2001, the NRC International team would enter a car into the Konica V8 Supercar Developmental Series with Brede as its driver. Brede enjoyed a successful campaign with a string of strong results to finish the year sixth in the standings, securing two podiums that year at Oran Park and Mallala.

As well as this, Brede would make his V8 Supercar debut by way of a drive in the endurance events at Queensland with Harris Racing, and Bathurst with Power Racing. Driving alongside Craig Harris, the Queensland 500 campaign came to an end on lap 101. The Bathurst 1000 campaign with Alan Heath was a little more successful with the pair finishing 18th overall after qualifying 36th.

For 2002, Brede would shift to Harris Racing for the Konica V8 Supercar Series. Immediately, the partnership proved successful when Brede won the opening round at Wakefield Park. He would win another race in the finale at Mallala but with Paul Dumbrell dominating the championship, Brede would have to settle for runner-up honours in the championship. Initially expecting to compete in the V8 Supercar endurance events with Andrew Jones, Brede would be approached by Briggs Motor Sport who, along with drives in the Queensland and Bathurst events, also promised Brede with a full-time drive in the main series for 2023. However, at the conclusion of the season, Briggs' promise failed to materialise and Brede was momentarily left out of a drive.

Brede was afforded a lifeline in the form of the Holden Young Lions program being run by John Faulkner. After a moderately successful campaign that also saw him drive in the main series endurance events, Brede was approached by Team Dynamik to drive full-time in the V8 Supercar series for 2004 after negotiations with Garth Tander fell through. Accepting the deal, Brede's sole full season in the category would prove to be disappointing. Reliability issues curtailed his efforts which were further compounded by the teams growing financial woes. At the conclusion of the season, Brede would leave Team Dynamik.

After leaving Team Dynamik, Brede would secure an endurance contract with Brad Jones Racing for 2005, driving alongside John Cleland. The pairings best result came at Bathurst when they avoided the late race melee to finish seventh. The team would also enter him into two events in the developmental series to remain race-sharp.

Remaining with Brad Jones Racing for 2006, Brede was scheduled to race in the endurance events in the teams second car with Mark Porter. The duo finished 18th in the Sandown 500. In the lead-up to the Bathurst 1000, Porter lost his life in a crash in the development series. Michael Caruso was drafted in to replace him for the Bathurst 1000. On lap 59 of the race, Brede crashed at the end of Mountain Straight after failing to pump the brake pedal after a pitstop.

At the conclusion of this event, Brede consolidated his future in motor racing. He ultimately decided to devote more time to his family business and thus brought an end to his professional race car driving career.

Post racing After retiring from racing, Brede owned and ran the Canberra Motorcycle Centre, one of the largest motorcycle dealerships in Australia. He also ran a works Suzuki team in the Australian Superbike Championship which won the title in 2017 with Josh Waters.

Career results

Complete Bathurst 1000 results Year Team Car Co-driver Position Laps 2001 Power Racing Ford Falcon AU Alan Heath 18th 155 2002 Briggs Motor Sport Ford Falcon AU Steve Owen 17th 158 2003 John Faulkner Racing Holden Commodore VX Tony Ricciardello DNF 72 2004 Team Dynamik Holden Commodore VY Will Davison DNF 49 2005 Brad Jones Racing Ford Falcon BA John Cleland 7th 159 2006 Brad Jones Racing Ford Falcon BA Mark Porter† Michael Caruso DNF 59 † Porter was the entered driver but was killed in a support race. Caruso would replace him.

Supercars Championship results

(Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Supercars results Year Team Car 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 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 Position Points 2001 Harris Racing Ford Falcon (AU) PHIR1 PHIR2 ADER3 ADER4 EASR5 EASR6 HDVR7 HDVR8 HDVR9 CANR10 CANR11 CANR12 BARR13 BARR14 BARR15 CALR16 CALR17 CALR18 ORAR19 ORAR20 QLDR21 WINR22 WINR23 BATR24 PUKR25 PUKR26 PUKR27 SANR28 SANR29 SANR30 51st 228 Power Racing PHIR1 PHIR2 ADER3 ADER4 EASR5 EASR6 HDVR7 HDVR8 HDVR9 CANR10 CANR11 CANR12 BARR13 BARR14 BARR15 CALR16 CALR17 CALR18 ORAR19 ORAR20 QLDR21 WINR22 WINR23 BATR24 PUKR25 PUKR26 PUKR27 SANR28 SANR29 SANR30 2002 Briggs Motor Sport Ford Falcon (AU) ADER1 ADER2 PHIR3 PHIR4 EASR5 EASR6 EASR7 HDVR8 HDVR9 HDVR10 CANR11 CANR12 CANR13 BARR14 BARR15 BARR16 ORAR17 ORAR18 WINR19 WINR20 QLDR21 BATR22 SURR23 SURR24 PUKR25 PUKR26 PUKR27 SANR28 SANR29 51st 60 2003 John Faulkner Racing Holden Commodore (VX) ADER1 ADER1 PHIR3 EASR4 WINR5 BARR6 BARR7 BARR8 HDVR9 HDVR10 HDVR11 QLDR12 ORAR13 SANR14 BATR15 SURR16 SURR17 PUKR18 PUKR19 PUKR20 EASR21 EASR22 63rd 100 2004 Team Dynamik Holden Commodore (VY) ADER1 ADER2 EASR3 PUKR4 PUKR5 PUKR6 HDVR7 HDVR8 HDVR9 BARR10 BARR11 BARR12 QLDR13 WINR14 ORAR15 ORAR16 SANR17 BATR18 SURR19 SURR20 SYMR21 SYMR22 SYMR23 EASR24 EASR25 EASR26 31st 393 2005 Brad Jones Racing Ford Falcon (BA) ADER1 ADER2 PUKR3 PUKR4 PUKR5 BARR6 BARR7 BARR8 EASR9 EASR10 SHAR11 SHAR12 SHAR13 HDVR14 HDVR15 HDVR16 QLDR17 ORAR18 ORAR19 SANR20 BATR21 SURR22 SURR23 SURR24 SYMR25 SYMR26 SYMR27 PHIR28 PHIR29 PHIR30 42nd 168 2006 Brad Jones Racing Ford Falcon (BA) ADER1 ADER2 PUKR3 PUKR4 PUKR5 BARR6 BARR7 BARR8 WINR9 WINR10 WINR11 HDVR12 HDVR13 HDVR14 QLDR15 QLDR16 QLDR17 ORAR18 ORAR19 ORAR20 SANR21 BATR22 SURR23 SURR24 SURR25 SYMR26 SYMR27 SYMR28 BHRR29 BHRR30 BHRR31 PHIR32 PHIR33 PHIR34 55th 150