Fans and family will tell you that “racing was in his blood.” The King family has been a part of the racing community since Steve’s father Danny fielded his first super modified in 1973. By 1979, six-year-old Steve was a regular on the crew, working alongside his father as they won the Supermodified National Championship Racing Association (NCRA) Championship. After this sweet taste of victory, Steve worked even harder, learning the ropes of dirt track racing. By the time he was eight, Steve was racing a go-cart around a small, makeshift track on the farm.

It wasn’t until 1989 that Danny finally let Steve climb behind the wheel as a driver. After high school, Steve spent the four years at Kansas State University earning his degree in Animal Science. But each summer, he spent his nights perfecting his driving skills at local tracks after farming all day. During this time of Steve's life, he won two track championships and finished fifth in overall IMCA circuit point standings.

Steve’s career took off in the mid-1990s when he began taking home the checkered flag at more and more tracks throughout the Midwest. His consistency earned him top 10 season standings in the NCRA circuits in 1995, 1996 and 1998-2006. Steve was the NCRA 360 Division Sprint Car Champion in 2002 and 2003, runner-up in 2004 and placed third in 2005. In 2006, he was posthumously awarded the ninth-place trophy. At the time of his death, Steve was the second most-winning driver in NCRA history.

Steve was in the second year of his sponsorship with Ethanol/ICM at the time of his death. The sponsorship was a perfect fit, teaming Steve’s farming background with the promotion of a fuel alternative. During the 2006 season, one of Steve’s goals was to qualify for the A-main at the Knoxville Nationals, the Daytona 500 of sprint car racing — a feat he had attempted several times but had yet to achieve. Steve won his heat, setting a new 10-lap record and was running 16th in the qualifying feature at the time of the accident, which occurred on the white flag. Had Steve finished the race, he would have achieved his goal.