Dave Steele funeral set for Saturday

Funeral services for Dave Steele, the veteran driver who died in a crash last weekend at Desoto Speedway, will be held Saturday in his home of Tampa, the family announced through Mr. Steele’s obituary.

The funeral service will be held at 11 a.m. at Christ Our Redeemer Lutheran, 304 Druid Hills Road.

A pair of visitations will be held prior to the funeral. On Friday, the family will host a formal visitation from 5-8 p.m. at Garden Of Memories Funeral Home, 4207 E. Lake Ave. in Tampa. There will also be a visitation beginning at 9 a.m. at Christ Our Redeemer before the funeral Saturday.

Mr. Steele, 42, had been a successful sprint car driver with appearances in both IndyCar and NASCAR races. He appeared in three IndyCar Series races during the 1998 season and was entered in the 1999 Indianapolis 500 before a crash in practice knocked him out of the race. A year later, Mr. Steele drove in a pair of races on the 2000 Busch Series, NASCAR’s minor league circuit. Before he made attempts at IndyCar and NASCAR, Steele was a two-time champion on the U.S. Auto Club Silver Crown Series.

Mr. Steele had returned to his sprint car roots in recent years and was at Desoto for the Southern Sprintcar Shootout Series 30. Mr. Steele won four races at Southern Sprint Car Shootout races at Desoto in 2016 and died one win shy of his 100th victory in Florida.

While Mr. Steele is being remembered in Tampa, racing will go on in Manatee County. Desoto is still planning to race this weekend. The speedway will host the first leg of a Triple Crown event for open wheel modified 50s and sportsman 50s at 7 p.m.

This story was originally published March 28, 2017 at 5:22 PM with the headline "Dave Steele funeral set for Saturday."