Tim Steele girding for return

By MIKE HARRIS

AP Motorsports Writer

By now, Tim Steele was supposed to be totally immersed in the Winston Cup rookie of the year battle.

Instead, the 30-year-old race car driver from Coopersville, Mich., is hoping his first start of the season in NASCAR's top series will come on Aug. 2 in the Brickyard 400.

He figures he's lucky to have any chance at all.

Steele was preparing to take over the ride in Bud Moore's Fords when he crashed hard while testing a Taurus in November at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Steele took a blow to the head in the crash and was shaken up. He was examined at a hospital and told he was fine.

But he wasn't.

"I don't really remember much of anything I did for a four-month period from about Nov. 5 until the Tuesday after Easter," Steele said. "I went to Las Vegas a few days after Atlanta and played blackjack. I guess I won $30,000. I've got a Rolex watch to show for it, but I don't remember winning the money or buying that.

"Things have got to be pretty bad if you don't remember that, huh?"

There was some discomfort, including headaches and dizziness, but Steele didn't realize there was a serious problem until he tested at Daytona International Speedway in January.

"I was having double vision and dizziness in the car and I had to get out," he said. "It was the first time in my life I had to get out of a race car because I couldn't drive it. That was pretty scary."

He finally sought help, and got some advice that was difficult to follow.

"The doctors told me I needed to get away from stress," Steele said. "I tried to stay away from the race track and away from everything that brought stress on me.

"Being around the race track was the worst because I wanted to get out there on the track so bad. It was driving me absolutely crazy that I couldn't get in a car."

Closed-head injuries take time to heal. During the interim, Steele helped the process by doing physical therapy that included hand-eye coordination exercises.

On June 16, Steele underwent four hours of medical tests to see if he was ready to get back to racing. He passed, surprising not only the doctors but his family with the speed of his recovery.

"I told everybody in my race shop to get ready to go racing, but I was more nervous than I've ever been before I went to that doctor's appointment," he said.

Once that obstacle was cleared, it was time to get back on track. Steele, driving once again for his family-owned team, went to Pocono International Raceway four days later and won the ARCA Mountain Dew 400k.

"I was just praying to God that I didn't have to close one eye out there to quit seeing double," he said. "Winning was great, but I was just so happy not to have any headaches or blurred vision or anything."

Steele, a three-time champion in the ARCA series, plans to test one of Moore's Fords at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. After that, he's not sure what follows.

"After we test at Indy, we're still negotiating some stuff," he said. "Bud felt bad that I got hurt in his car. He told me that when I got back to driving, he'd have a car for me.

"Really, we've been talking about getting together for three years now, so I think we're going to get something worked out."

Despite his rapid recovery, Steele still isn't 100 percent. He's suffering from a painful kidney stone problem that has plagued him for years.

"Those kidney stones haunt me every now and then," he said. "I have one left. After I get rid of that, I'll be perfect. The Mayo Clinic has put me on some new medicine that is supposed to keep me from getting any more of them."

Meanwhile, Steele is counting his blessings about being able to continue what he calls "my hobby and my job" - driving race cars.

"Just getting back in the car is a very special feeling," he said. "Now I think I'm ready to go on with my life."

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