Tim Steele, one of many high drivers in what’s now the ARCA Menards Sequence within the Nineties, handed away peacefully Sunday on the age of 55. He had been coping with well being problems stemming from a stroke in 2022.
“This morning, my dad peacefully took the checkered flag right here on earth,” wrote his daughter Kelsey Slade on Sunday. “His life was an exhilarating experience, all the time at full throttle, pushed by a ardour for racing and a wild spirit. Whereas many knew him for his accomplishments on the racetrack, his function as a dad and grandpa was by far the best victory! God Pace Dad, I like you!!”
After beginning his profession on a bike, he switched to late fashions earlier than graduating to ARCA in 1993 and received the championship as a rookie. He scored two extra titles in 1996 and 1997, successful a mixed twenty-three races. By the point of his remaining season in 2006, he had received forty-one instances, over 1 / 4 of his begins within the collection, together with a report 5 in a row to shut out his 1997 marketing campaign. Twenty-four of these victories got here on superspeedways, whereas he additionally has 9 victories at Pocono Raceway, greater than some other driver.
Whereas a lot of his accomplishments got here in ARCA, he additionally dabbled in NASCAR’s three nationwide divisions. In 1993, he subbed for the injured Davey Allison in two NASCAR Busch Grand Nationwide Sequence (now Xfinity Sequence) races, which he parlayed right into a six-race stint within the Cup Sequence the next 12 months with Allison’s father Bobby Allison’s crew. In 1997, he did seven Busch races for Phoenix Racing, notching a fifth-place run at Las Vegas and a sixth at Talladega. That very same 12 months, he was on the verge of shifting as much as the Cup Sequence full-time in 1998 along with his father and soccer nice Brett Favre buying Bud Moore Engineering and sponsorship from Nike and Sony, although a concussion sustained in a testing crash at Atlanta ended that prospect.
Steele additionally entered 13 Craftsman Truck Sequence races in 1999 for his household crew with a pole and greatest end of ninth at Nazareth.
