Strycek's defining achievement came in 1984 when the Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft — the original DTM series that preceded the modern championship of the same name — held its inaugural season. Competing in a BMW 635 CSi, Strycek accumulated enough consistent results to claim the first-ever DTM title without once standing on the top step of a race podium. It remains a remarkable footnote: the inaugural champion of one of Europe's most prestigious touring car series never won a race in the title year.
From 1989 to 1996 he drove for Opel in the DTM, again without recording a race victory. Despite the absence of wins, his long tenure with the Bavarian and then Rüsselsheim manufacturers gave him extensive experience across the formative years of German touring car racing.
After the original DTM format ended, Strycek transitioned into management, leading the Opel Performance Center (OPC). In this capacity he continued to maintain a connection to motorsport through endurance racing at the Nürburgring. He entered a DTM-Calibra at the Nürburgring Nordschleife in 1999 and raced a new DTM-Opel Astra there in 2002.
His testing activities at the Nürburgring had a broader influence: they motivated several factory teams to enter the 24 Hours Nürburgring in 2003. That year, Strycek won the 24 Hours Nürburgring together with three of his Opel employees, adding a major endurance victory to a career that had notably lacked race wins in his earlier touring car years.
Strycek continued racing well into later life, making a popular reappearance at the 2019 24 Hours of Nürburgring in a classic Opel Manta featuring the famous foxtail decoration — a nostalgic reference to the Opel Manta's cultural iconography in Germany. Despite crashing during the race, his team managed to re-join on the final lap after completing repairs.
His most recent motorsport appearance was at the 2025 24 Hours of Nürburgring, where he drove a McLaren Artura Trophy Evo for Dörr Motorsport alongside Ben Dörr. The pairing claimed victory in the SP8T class, demonstrating Strycek's continued competitive presence at the Nürburgring decades after his championship-winning years.
He also competes in the Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie for BITTER Opel.
Away from the cockpit, Strycek has established himself in both academia and motorsport governance. Since 2006 he has held a professorship at the Technische Universität Berlin. From 2007 he served as Sportpräsident of the Automobilclub von Deutschland. He is married and has two children.
Strycek occupies a singular place in DTM history as the series' first champion. The circumstances of his 1984 title — consistency over outright pace, accumulated across a full season without a victory — established an unusual precedent for a championship that would go on to become one of touring car racing's most high-profile series. His later career, bridging management, endurance racing, academic life, and motorsport administration, reflects a broad engagement with the German automotive world that extends far beyond his years as a frontline competitor.