I don't think Dave built the 7-11 Serotta frames. He did work at Serotta though.
I remember back then that the big deal was 8 speed. Shimano, Campy, Suntour, Mavic, were all on 7 speed freewheels the year before. Shimano came out with the freehub concept which is universal now and they were the 1st manufacturer to bring about 8 speeds. It was a big deal.