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Tim Steele (March 1, 1968 – January 7, 2024) was an American stock car racing driver.[1] He won three ARCA Re/Max Series national championships and raced in NASCAR's highest three series.[2] He was inducted in the Michigan Motor Sports Hall of Fame in 2009.[2]

Quick Facts Nationality, Born ...
Tim Steele
NationalityUnited States American
Born(1968-03-01)March 1, 1968
Coopersville, Michigan, U.S.
DiedJanuary 7, 2024(2024-01-07) (aged 55)
Retired2007
Automobile Racing Club of America
Years active1992–2006
Starts146
Wins41
Poles31
Best finish1st in 1993, 1996, 1997
Championship titles
1993, 1996, 1997ARCA Re/Max Series
NAMRA Champ Car division
Awards
2009

1993
Michigan Motor Sports Hall of Fame
ARCA Rookie of the Year
NASCAR Cup Series career
5 races run over 1 year
Best finish52nd (1994)
First race1994 Miller Genuine Draft 400 (Michigan)
Last race1994 DieHard 500 (Talladega)
Wins Top tens Poles
0 0 0
NASCAR Xfinity Series career
10 races run over 3 years
Best finish46th (1997)
First race1993 Detroit Gasket 200 (Michigan)
Last race1997 Birmingham Auto Dealers 500K (Talladega)
Wins Top tens Poles
0 2 0
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series career
13 races run over 1 year
Best finish25th (1999)
First race1999 Florida Dodge Dealers 400 (Homestead)
Last race1999 Kroger 225 (Louisville)
Wins Top tens Poles
0 1 1
Statistics current as of July 24, 2012.
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Background

Steele was born in Coopersville, Michigan on March 1, 1968, and began racing as a 5-year-old in motorcycle ice racing.[2] He finished second in Michigan's 125cc AMA motocross division.[2] In 1984, the 16-year-old won the NAMRA Champ Cars division championship and was the division's Rookie of the Year; he also raced in International Jet Ski Racing events that season.[2] He continued to move up the ladder and began racing late models at Berlin Raceway.[2] He began racing on regional touring series, winning in the American Speed Association in 1990 and the NASCAR All Pro Series in 1992.[2]

Steele died on January 7, 2024 at age 55.[3]

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ARCA career

Thumb
Steele's 1996 ARCA car at Pocono Raceway

Steele started out in the 1993 Season driving for Harold Steele's HS Die Team.[4] It was a very successful year. He went on to win the Championship that year and earned the Rookie of the Year award.[2][5] He went on and continued to win races also winning the championship in 1996 and 1997. Steele won 12 times in 1997, the most wins in the series since 1973.[2]

In November 1997 he was involved in a serious accident in which he suffered a brain injury. At the time he was planning on moving up to the Winston Cup Series to try and contend for rookie of the year.[5] He was ten days away from signing up with a team to be owned by his father Harold and Green Bay Packers Quarterback Brett Favre, who were planning to purchase Bud Moore Engineering.[4] The accident damaged his brain; doctors told him he could not handle another trauma.[6] Much of 1998 he spent going from doctor to doctor to see if a comeback was possible.[5] He battled a dependency on the prescription drug Oxycontin which he was taking for headaches.[7] Finally in June 1998, Steele made his comeback to the ARCA series at Pocono; he won the race and went on to race in five more races that year winning three of them.[8] In 1999, Steele only competed in one race at Talladega finishing 34th after a crash.[9]

In 2000 Steele made a full-time comeback to the series. He won three races and accumulated 14 top ten finishes and finished third in the final points standings.[10] In 2001, Steele won four races and finished ninth in the final points standings.[11]

The next five years were not as successful as he only competed in 16 races and earned only 3 top 5 finishes.[1] In 2007, after a late model crash at Toledo Speedway, Steele decided it was time to stop racing.[5]

Between 1993 and 2006, Steele had attempted 146 races, winning 41, which equates to victories in 28% of all the races he entered.[6] Steele's 24 victories is ARCA's all-time Superspeedway winner, including nine at Pocono Raceway. He recorded 86 top-five finishes, 101 top-10s and led 5,423 laps.[6] That means that Steele led laps in 64% of every race he entered.[6] He also won 31 career pole awards.[4] He was the first ARCA driver to make over US$1,000,000 in his career, surpassing Bobby Bowsher's previous record of US$952,535 in 1998.[12]

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Other series

Winston Cup

In 1994, Steele competed in five Winston Cup Series races in a car owned by Bobby Allison only managing a best finish of 33rd at Pocono.[1] He attempted to qualify for the inaugural Brickyard 400 but failed.[1]

Busch Grand National

In 1993, he competed in two Busch Grand National Series races at Michigan and Richmond for NASCAR driver Davey Allison's team. Both races ended with Did Not Finishes (DNFs). In 1994, Tim competed in one race at Michigan for his father's team; it ended in another DNF. In 1997, he competed in seven races for James Finch. This time he managed to accumulate two top tens and one top five finish and an overall average finish of 19.9. This would be the last year he would compete in the series.[1]

Craftsman Truck Series

In 1999, Steele competed in 13 Craftsman Truck Series races in a truck once again owned by his father. He accumulated 1 top ten finish and led 45 laps. He averaged a 19th-place finish and finished 25th overall in the standings.[1]

Winston West

In 1996 and 1998, Steele competed in two Winston West Series races at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, scoring a top five and leading 15 laps.[1]

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Motorsports career results

NASCAR

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

Winston Cup Series

More information NASCAR Winston Cup Series results, Year ...
NASCAR Winston Cup Series results
Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 NWCC Pts Ref
1994 Bobby Allison Motorsports 12 Ford DAY CAR RCH ATL DAR BRI NWS MAR TAL SON CLT DOV POC MCH
39
DAY
43
NHA
41
POC
33
TAL
38
IND
DNQ
GLN MCH BRI DAR RCH DOV MAR NWS CLT CAR PHO ATL 52nd 233 [13]
1995 H.S. Die Racing Team 02 Ford DAY CAR RCH ATL DAR BRI NWS MAR TAL SON CLT DOV POC MCH DAY NHA POC TAL IND GLN MCH
DNQ
BRI DAR RCH DOV MAR NWS CLT CAR PHO ATL NA [14]
1997 H.S. Die Racing Team 61 Ford DAY CAR RCH ATL DAR TEX BRI MAR SON TAL CLT DOV POC MCH CAL DAY NHA POC IND
DNQ
GLN MCH BRI DAR RCH NHA DOV MAR CLT TAL CAR PHO ATL NA [15]
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Busch Series

More information NASCAR Busch Series results, Year ...
NASCAR Busch Series results
Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 NBSC Pts Ref
1992 Chevy DAY CAR RCH ATL MAR DAR BRI HCY LAN DUB NZH CLT DOV ROU MYB GLN VOL NHA TAL IRP ROU MCH NHA BRI DAR RCH DOV CLT
DNQ
MAR CAR HCY NA [16]
1993 Allison Racing 28 Ford DAY CAR RCH DAR BRI HCY ROU MAR NZH CLT DOV MYB GLN MLW TAL IRP MCH
29
NHA BRI DAR RCH
31
DOV ROU CLT
DNQ
MAR CAR HCY ATL 77th 146 [17]
1994 H.S. Die Racing Team 86 Ford DAY
DNQ
CAR RCH ATL
DNQ
MAR DAR HCY BRI ROU NHA NZH
DNQ
CLT DOV MYB GLN MLW SBO TAL HCY IRP MCH
37
BRI DAR RCH DOV CLT MAR CAR 101st 52 [18]
1997 Phoenix Racing 4 Chevy DAY CAR RCH ATL LVS
5
DAR
37
HCY
25
TEX
21
BRI
19
NSV
26
TAL
6
NHA NZH CLT DOV SBO GLN MLW MYB GTY IRP MCH BRI DAR RCH DOV CLT CAL CAR HOM 46th 736 [19]
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Craftsman Truck Series

More information NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series results, Year ...
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series results
Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 NCTC Pts Ref
1999 Steele Racing 21 Ford HOM
25
PHO
22
EVG MMR MAR
23
MEM
17
PPR
13
I70
30
BRI TEX PIR GLN MLW
14
NSV
9
NZH MCH
14
NHA IRP
14
GTY
19
HPT RCH
21
LVS LVL
26
TEX CAL 25th 1385 [20]
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ARCA Re/Max Series

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

More information ARCA Re/Max Series results, Year ...
ARCA Re/Max Series results
Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 ARMC Pts Ref
1993 Steele Racing 16 Ford DAY
25
TAL
1*
POC
8
MCH
3*
POC
1*
ATL
41
1st 5070 [21]
Olds FIF
22*
TWS
3
KIL
5
CMS
2
FRS
13
TOL
12
FRS
11
KIL
2
ISF
2
DSF
3
TOL
4
SLM
20*
WIN
1*
1994 Ford DAY
2
TAL
36
FIF LVL KIL TOL FRS MCH
37
DMS POC
1*
POC
9
KIL FRS INF I70 ISF DSF TOL SLM WIN ATL
15*
24th 1240 [22]
1995 DAY
42
ATL
30
TAL
41
FIF KIL FRS MCH
2*
I80
23
FRS
6
POC
3
POC
2
FRS
2
LVL
4
ISF DSF
3
SLM
1*
WIN
1*
ATL
1
12th 3440 [23]
Chevy MCS
24
KIL
25
SBS
25
1996 Ford DAY
2
ATL
1*
SLM
6
TAL
1*
FIF
3
LVL
4*
CLT
1*
CLT
1*
KIL
1
FRS
4
POC
2*
MCH
7
FRS
1*
TOL
16*
POC
1*
MCH
1*
INF
26
SBS
8
ISF
1
DSF
2
KIL
8
SLM
1*
WIN
14*
CLT
1*
ATL
6*
1st 6980 [24]
1997 DAY
38
ATL
1*
SLM
1*
CLT
34
CLT
37
POC
1*
MCH
1
SBS
1
TOL
8
KIL
6
FRS
1*
MIN
3*
POC
1*
MCH
3*
DSF
17
GTW
2*
SLM
1*
WIN
1*
CLT
1*
TAL
1
ISF
1*
ATL 1st 5810 [25]
1998 DAY ATL SLM CLT MEM MCH POC
1*
SBS TOL
2*
PPR
1*
POC
1*
KIL FRS ISF ATL
30*
DSF SLM TEX WIN
DNQ
CLT TAL
1*
ATL NA [8]
1999 DAY ATL SLM AND CLT MCH POC TOL SBS BLN POC KIL FRS FLM ISF WIN DSF SLM CLT TAL
34
ATL 138th 75 [26]
2000 DAY SLM
3
AND
13
CLT
3
KIL
2
FRS
18
MCH
1*
POC
6
TOL
2
KEN
1*
BLN
1*
POC
4
WIN
13
ISF
7
KEN
2
DSF
21
SLM
2
CLT
10
TAL
2
ATL
29
3rd 4665 [27]
2001 DAY
25
NSH
7
WIN
1
SLM
2
GTY
3
KEN
2
CLT
3
KAN
3
MCH
9
POC
1*
MEM
14
GLN KEN MCH
3
POC
1
NSH ISF CHI
3
DSF SLM TOL BLN
1*
CLT
5
TAL ATL
5
9th 4300 [28]
2002 DAY ATL
32
NSH SLM KEN
38
CLT KAN POC MCH
12
TOL SBO KEN BLN
29
POC NSH ISF WIN DSF CHI SLM TAL CLT
40
70th 430 [29]
2003 Dodge DAY
35
ATL
35
NSH
39
SLM TOL KEN CLT BLN KAN MCH
5
LER POC POC NSH ISF WIN DSF CHI SLM TAL CLT SBO 76th 350 [30]
2004 DAY NSH SLM KEN TOL CLT KAN POC MCH SBO BLN KEN GTW POC LER NSH ISF TOL DSF CHI
34
SLM TAL 174th 65 [31]
2005 Lee Leslie 44 Ford DAY
29
NSH SLM KEN TOL LAN MIL POC MCH
30
KAN KEN BLN
3
POC GTW LER NSH MCH ISF TOL DSF CHI
5
SLM
32
TAL 53rd 655 [32]
2006 Brack Maggard 65 Chevy DAY NSH SLM WIN KEN TOL POC MCH KAN KEN BLN
17
POC GTW NSH MCH ISF MIL TOL DSF CHI SLM TAL IOW 121st 145 [33]
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References

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