Accomplished sprint car driver Dave Steele was killed Saturday night in a crash at Desoto Speedway in Bradenton, Florida.
Known for his prowess on asphalt, the 42-year-old Steele was competing in a Southern Sprintcar Shootout Series event at the 3/8-mile asphalt oval.
"Desoto Speedway owners and staff are saddened by tonight's passing of David Steele in the sprint-car feature," the track posted on its Facebook page. "Thoughts and prayers go out to his family and friends, who were all in attendance to see him try to win his 100th Florida race."
According to a news release from the Manatee County (Florida) Sheriff's Office, Steele's left-front wheel made contact with the right-rear wheel of another car going into Turn 1. His car got airborne and spun 180 degrees before striking the retaining wall. Steele was treated by the on-scene medics and pronounced dead 14 minutes after the crash.
Steele won the 2004 and 2005 United States Auto Club Silver Crown national titles, ranking third in career wins with 16. He earned 26 USAC national sprint car feature victories in his career as well as 18 USAC national midget wins. Steele made two NASCAR Xfinity Series starts in 2000 and three Indy Racing League starts in 1998.
"One of the best and such a good guy to hang out and have a beer with," tweeted NASCAR driver Kasey Kahne, whose roots are in sprint cars. "Praying for his family."
Kyle Larson, who won the NASCAR Cup race Sunday at Auto Club (California) Speedway, had once been a teammate of Steele's for a race weekend.
"Dave Steele was always the man when it came to pavement racing. ... I didn't know him personally very well, but I was lucky enough to be teammates with him one time at New Smyrna [Speedway] when I ran a USAC midget race there," Larson said. "He was a very quiet guy. I just remember it being like an honor to be a teammate with him that night because he was so good at pavement racing.
"I was confident in that because I knew he was going to have some input on what our baseline setup was going to be for that weekend. I knew we were going to be good [and] got the win. So that was cool to get to spend a little bit of time with him that weekend. [It's] definitely a tragedy. He's probably not very well-known, but to the open wheel community, he's one of the greatest ever USAC racers. I feel terrible for his family and all of the racing community. Our thoughts and prayers go out to them. It just sucks."