FLORIDA [USA]
*********************************************************************************************************************************
1878 - DE SOTO SPEEDWAY.
De Soto Speedway commenced operation in September of 1978. The track was a 3/8 mile paved oval and the program feature the ever popular Stock Car's. Soon after the Modified's were added.
During 1985 a figure eight crossover was added. Later in its life the ownership of the venue changed many times and so did the promoters, with this came the constant name changes, such as, De Soto Memorial Speedway, De Soto Super Speedway and Tom Stimus De Soto Speedway. During this period Sprintcars and Late Model Sedan's featured on the raceway.
In 2017 the venue was put under the spotlight for all the wrong reasons when a local Sprintcar champion in Dave Steel lost his life in an accident while competing, this would be the third death at the venue. Some say this is what led to the track closing.
The USAC Veteran Dave Steel was concidered a Asphalt specialists when it came to Sprintcar's and Midget's.
With 60 USAC feature victories in the National Series to his name. He also ran in Indy Lites and the NASCAR Infinity races.
He was the winner of two Turkey Grand Prix races at Irwindale in 2001 and 2003.
|