WEST LEBANON, N.Y. (NEWS10) -During Saturday night’s races at the Lebanon Valley Speedway, everyone at the track took time to remember Steve LaRochelle. The family has been apart of the track for years.

“This is a tremendous loss for the valley, for the sport. He’d been racing here since I think he was fifteen,” said a friend of the family, Mark Mazzer.

Number 178 has been a passion project for the family, going back to Steve’s father, Paul. “He did everything for the race car himself. Setting up the chassis and making sure everything was right,” described Mazzer.

As the brain and brawn the car, Steve’s father gave the car its last laps. Fans kept positive with the LaRochelle family on their mind. “Paul is going to be running the car tonight, his dad. I think everybody’s going to have a heavy heart tonight. We’re rooting for him.”