David Steele (May 7, 1974 – March 25, 2017) was an American professional racing driver who won numerous

sprint car racing Sprint cars are high-powered open-wheel race cars, designed primarily for the purpose of running on short oval or circular dirt or paved tracks. Sprint car racing is popular primarily in the United States and Canada, as well as in Australia, New ...

championships and also competed in

IndyCar INDYCAR, LLC, is an American-based auto racing sanctioning body for Indy car racing and other disciplines of open wheel car racing. The organization sanctions five racing series: the premier IndyCar Series with its centerpiece the Indianapolis ...

and

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and hi ...

races. Steele last drove a winged sprint car in the Southern Sprintcar Shootout Series, where he won the first 5 races in series history. Steele was killed in a crash at Desoto Speedway on March 25, 2017. He was posthumously inducted into the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame on the first eligible ballot in 2018.

Racing career

Sprint Cars, Midgets, and Silver Crown

Championships

Steele won three Tampa Bay Area Racing Association (TBARA) championships. He claimed 60 wins in USAC sprint car (26), midget (18), and Silver Crown (16) races between 1996 and 2007. He claimed the

USAC Silver Crown Series The United States Auto Club (USAC) is one of the sanctioning bodies of auto racing in the United States. From 1956 to 1979, USAC sanctioned the United States National Championship, and from 1956 to 1997 the organization sanctioned the Indianapol ...

championship in 2004 and 2005, putting him in the company of drivers such as

Mario Andretti Mario Gabriele Andretti (born February 28, 1940) is an Italian-born American former racing driver. One of the most successful drivers in the history of motorsports, Andretti is one of only two drivers to have won races in Formula One, IndyCar, t ...

A. J. Foyt Anthony Joseph Foyt Jr. (born January 16, 1935) is an American retired auto racing driver who has raced in numerous genres of motorsports. His open wheel racing includes United States Automobile Club Champ cars, sprint cars, and midget cars. H ...

Al Unser Alfred Unser (May 29, 1939 – December 9, 2021) was an American automobile racing driver, the younger brother of fellow racing drivers Jerry and Bobby Unser, and father of Al Unser Jr. He was the second of four men ( A. J. Foyt, himself, Rick ...

Jeff Gordon Jeffery Michael Gordon (born August 4, 1971) is an American former professional stock car racing driver, who is the Vice Chairman for Hendrick Motorsports. He raced full-time from 1993 to 2015, driving the No. 24 Chevrolet for Hendrick M ...

, and

Tony Stewart Anthony Wayne Stewart (born May 20, 1971), nicknamed Smoke, is an American semi-retired professional stock car racing driver, current NASCAR team co-owner of Stewart-Haas Racing, and current co-owner of the Superstar Racing Experience. He is a ...

Race Wins

He won the 2001 and 2003

Turkey Night Grand Prix The Automotive Racing Products Turkey Night Grand Prix is an annual race of midget cars. It is the third oldest race in the United States behind the Indianapolis 500 and the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb. It has been held on Thanksgiving nig ...

midget car Midget cars, also speedcars in Australia, is a class of racing cars. The cars are very small with a very high power-to-weight ratio and typically use four cylinder engines. They originated in the United States in the 1930s and are raced on most ...

race. Other notable Turkey Night winners include

, and

Billy Boat William Leonard Boat (born February 2, 1966) is an American former open-wheel driver who raced in the Indy Racing League. Racing career Boat began his career in USAC where he won 11 straight Western Series races on his way to the 1995 champion ...

. He was also a two-time winner of the

Little 500 The Little 500 (also known popularly as the "Little Five"), is a track cycling race held annually during the third weekend of April at Bill Armstrong Stadium on the campus of Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana. It is attended by more th ...

, held annually at

Anderson Speedway Anderson Speedway is a quarter mile (400 m) high-banked paved oval racetrack in Anderson, Indiana, United States. The track hosts the annual Little 500 sprint car race and the Redbud 400 stock car race. Weekly racing features several stock ca ...

. Throughout his sixteen starts in that race, he was a five-time pole-sitter and finished in the top 5 ten times. Steele won the Copper Classic at

Phoenix International Raceway Phoenix Raceway is a 1-mile, low-banked tri-oval race track located in Avondale, Arizona, near Phoenix. The motorsport track opened in 1964 and currently hosts two NASCAR race weekends annually including the final championship race since 2020. P ...

eight times. He won the Silver Crown portion 5 times and Midget race 3 times. In 1998, he won the Night Before the 500 race.

IndyCar and NASCAR

Steele attempted to make his

Indy Racing League The IndyCar Series, currently known as the NTT IndyCar Series under sponsorship, is the highest class of regional North American open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars in the United States, which has been conducted under the auspices of ...

IndyCar Series The IndyCar Series, currently known as the NTT IndyCar Series under sponsorship, is the highest class of regional North American open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars in the United States, which has been conducted under the auspices of ...

debut in 1996 at the

Las Vegas Motor Speedway Las Vegas Motor Speedway, located in Clark County, Nevada in Las Vegas, Nevada about 15 miles northeast of the Las Vegas Strip, is a complex of multiple tracks for motorsports racing. The complex is owned by Speedway Motorsports, Inc., which is ...

for ABF Motorsports but failed to qualify. He made his first start in

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

, the second race of the season, driving for RSM Marko, then drove in the final two races of the year for

Panther Racing Panther Racing was an American open wheel auto racing team. It was one of the oldest continually operating teams in the IndyCar Series. Four years in a row (2008–2011), the team finished second at the Indianapolis 500. Formation The team was f ...

. He failed to finish all three races. He was entered in a Panther car for the

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...

Indianapolis 500 The Indianapolis 500, formally known as the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, and commonly called the Indy 500, is an annual automobile race held at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) in Speedway, Indiana, United States, an enclave suburb of Indi ...

but crashed in practice. Steele drove in the first two races of the

2000 NASCAR Busch Series The 2000 NASCAR Busch Series began on February 19 and ended on November 11. Jeff Green of ppc Racing was crowned series champion. Teams and drivers Full schedule Partial schedule Notes: * If under "team", the owner's name is listed a ...

for

Felix Sabates Feliciano Sergio "Félix" Sabates Jr. (born September 9, 1945) is a retired Cuban-born entrepreneur and philanthropist Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives, for the Public good (economics), public good, foc ...

. After finishes of 23rd and 34th he failed to qualify for the next three races and Steele and the team parted ways. Steele also competed in four

ARCA Racing Series The ARCA Menards Series is an American stock car series, the premier division of the Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA). It is considered a minor, semi-professional league of stock car racing, used as a feeder series into the three national ...

races in 1999 and 2000 and two

Infiniti Pro Series Indy NXT, previously Indy Lights, is an American developmental automobile racing series sanctioned by IndyCar, currently known as Firestone Indy NXT Series for sponsorship reasons. Indy Lights is the highest step on the Road to Indy, a program ...

races (one each in 2002 and 2003). In 2002, Steele raced for Bowes Seal Fast Racing at Michigan finishing eighth in the Infiniti Pro Series.

Death

Steele was killed in a racing accident during a Southern Sprintcar Shootout Series race at Desoto Speedway in

Bradenton, Florida Bradenton ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Manatee County, Florida, Manatee County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the city's population is 55,698. History Late 18th and early 19th centuries ...

, on March 25, 2017. His car's front wheel struck and overrode the rear wheel of another car during the event, sending him into the wall; he was pronounced dead at the scene.

Honors

* The

Carb Night Classic The Dave Steele Carb Night Classic is a United States Auto Club dirt track car race held near Indianapolis, Indiana, United States, which takes place in late May before the Indianapolis 500 at the nearby Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Over its his ...

Lucas Oil Raceway Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park (formerly Indianapolis Raceway Park, O'Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis, and Lucas Oil Raceway) is an auto racing facility in Brownsburg, Indiana, United States, about northwest of downtown Indianapolis. I ...

, starting in 2018, is now known as the Dave Steele Classic. * He was elected to the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame on the first ballot in 2018 under the six month rule. * He was elected to the

United States Auto Club The United States Auto Club (USAC) is one of the sanctioning bodies of auto racing in the United States. From 1956 to 1979, USAC sanctioned the List of USAC Championship Car seasons, United States National Championship, and from 1956 to 1997 the ...

Hall of Fame in 2019.

Motorsports career results

American open–wheel racing results

(

key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...

) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

Indy Racing League

Indianapolis 500

NASCAR

(

) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. ''Italics'' – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Busch Series

ARCA Bondo/Mar-Hyde Series

(

) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. ''Italics'' – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Steele, Dave 1974 births 2017 deaths American Speed Association drivers ARCA Menards Series drivers IndyCar Series drivers Indy Lights drivers NASCAR drivers USAC Silver Crown Series drivers Racing drivers from Tampa, Florida Sports deaths in Florida Racing drivers who died while racing RSM Marko drivers Panther Racing drivers