The Real Story of What Happened to Daddy Dave from Street Outlaws

Here’s the short version up top: Daddy Dave (David Comstock) is still racing. He’s had two widely reported wrecks—the big one in 2015 and another in 2021—but he rebuilt, returned, unveiled a new Audi S5 No Prep Kings car, and even snagged an NPK Invitational win. He’s been teasing and posting 2025 appearances, so rumors that he “left” are off base.

Photo by Mallory Elizabeth Photography

If you’ve followed Street Outlaws since the early seasons, you already know Dave’s story is equal parts speed and stubbornness. The moment that cemented his “nine lives” reputation came on August 1, 2015, at Amarillo Dragway. Driving the nitrous Chevy II Nova known as “Goliath,” Dave lost control just past the hit and flipped violently. It was ugly. His wife, Cassi, updated fans from the hospital: serious concussion, a bruised lung, and plenty of bumps and bruises—but he was alive and stable. News outlets carried those details at the time, and they match what fans saw in the aftermath.

What came next is classic Comstock: rebuild, don’t mope. The original car’s wreckage became the seed for “Goliath 2.0,” a cleaner, meaner Chevy II that showed up not long after. Hot Rod’s look at the new build captured how the twisted remains of the first Goliath lingered behind his shop while the replacement came together—a reminder of the crash and the motivation to keep going.

Photo by Daddy Dave

Fast forward to the No Prep Kings era and the second major scare. In late June 2021 at South Georgia Motorsports Park, Dave suffered another high-speed crash during NPK competition. Coverage from the drag racing press at the time walked through the “putting the pieces back together” phase yet again—same grit, same work ethic. By October, video and articles showed Goliath back on track and looking fresh, proving the turnaround wasn’t just talk.

Then came a curveball: Dave unveiled a totally different animal for NPK—a Pro-Mod-style Audi S5 built with the FuelTech crew and Tynan Race Cars. Revealed at SEMA in November 2022, the Audi signaled he wasn’t just returning—he was raising the stakes with a 3,000-plus horsepower package purpose-built for sketchy surfaces. If you’ve seen his test-hit videos since, you know the thing leaves like it’s been slapped.

Did the new combo pan out? In 2023, Dave finally notched his first NPK Invitational event win at Beech Bend Raceway Park in Bowling Green, Kentucky—one of those milestones he’d chased for years. The win mattered because it answered the “can he still hang at the sharp end” question with a loud yes.

So where is he now? Despite the occasional YouTube rumor mill declaring retirements, feuds, or worse, Dave’s own channels tell a different story. He’s been posting about schedules and appearances for 2025 and engaging with fans about where they’ll see him next. That public forward-looking chatter is a strong indicator he’s not done; he’s planning.

Photo by Daddy Dave

One more thing fans often ask is whether those wrecks changed his approach. From the outside, you can see the evolution: safety and setup have come to the foreground. The Audi build leans into modern EFI and data, serious suspension hardware, and a package that can be tuned precisely as track temps swing and rubber comes and goes. He’s been featured talking about shock tech—four-way adjustable MOD-series pieces that help manage both the violent hit and the mid-track bumps that can turn a pass into a highlight reel for all the wrong reasons. That focus tracks with a guy who’s been upside down and came back wiser.

If you strip away the noise, the through-line is simple. In 2015, Dave flipped a beloved car and got hurt, then built another. In 2021, he crashed again, rebuilt again, and soon after leveled up to an S5 that fits NPK’s escalating arms race. By 2023, he stood in the winner’s circle at an Invitational. And as of mid-2025, he’s teasing the next round. Whatever “happened” to Daddy Dave is the same thing that’s always happened: he takes punches most racers never see, then shows up at the next tree looking like trouble. That’s why people still crowd the fence when his lanes go hot.

Daddy Dave hasn’t disappeared—he’s adapted. The headlines you remember (the 2015 Amarillo crash, the 2021 NPK wreck) are only the middle of the story. The latest chapters include an Audi S5 built for no-prep brutality, a long-earned Invitational win, and an active slate of appearances rolling into 2025. If you’re wondering “what happened to Daddy Dave,” the best answer is: he kept going. And he’s still going.