Butler was highly regarded for his technical skills and performed chief mechanic duties on several of his winning race cars.

He repaired and modified cars in his free time and also owned a go-kart that he drove on remote parts of the British aircraft parking ramps, often allowing young Steve to ride in his lap.

In 1976, Butler was able to win the AMA District 15 (Indiana) ½ Mile Flat Track Championship which convinced him to advance to professional motorcycle racing.

However, in his first pro season Butler was severely injured during a race at the Onekama, MI ½ mile dirt track.

In 1978, Butler rebounded from his injuries by winning a pro race at Beaver Dam, WI—his very first event after recovering from the Onekama crash.

More than 20 years later, Butler's exploits are recalled in a 2001 Cycle News article featuring racers successful in both motorcycle and automobile racing.

This piece placed Butler on a short-list of motorcycle/car racers that included legends such as Joe Leonard, Swede Savage, and Steve Morehead.

At this point, he began attending local sprint car races and became inspired to abandon the unreliable Harley for a new kind of racer.

When liquidating his assets was insufficient to buy a sprint car, he convinced his future wife, Thomasa Brock, to help him obtain a loan using her own home as collateral.

Butler spent the winter of 1980–81 rebuilding the crashed and worn-out car in his mom's garage, using only hand tools and a gas-welding rig.

The Jud Larson/Don Branson memorial, held on the high-banked ½ mile at Eldora Speedway, was broadcast on ABC's Wide World of Sports.

The win was unexpected, as Butler started 10th behind formidable veterans such as Jack Hewitt, Sheldon Kinser, and Rickey Hood.

Butler started in 16th and then proceeded to drive into the lead, passing NASCAR and Indy 500 competitors such as Ken Schrader, Gary Bettenhausen, and Rich Vogler.

In the Silver Crown series standings Butler had a strong run and scored top-five finishes in over half the races.

Visiting World of Outlaws stars such as Jac Haudenschild, Jimmy Sills, and Brad Doty made this an especially tough win.

His spectacular maneuver was dubbed “The Butler Grass-Cutter Move” by ESPN announcers Larry Nuber and Steve Chassey.

This achievement highlighted Butler's technical capabilities as he was chief mechanic, as well as driver, on the winning Jarrett Farms race car.

This performance generated considerable excitement, given that Butler had never before raced an Indy Car and was considered a “dirt track” racer.

He made good use of the break by joining Larry Nuber, in the ESPN TV announcer's booth, to call the USAC sprint car action at Indianapolis Raceway Park.

The highlight of Butler's Silver Crown season was a dramatic win at Eldora Speedway, where he narrowly defeated Jack Hewitt.

Their duel set a blistering pace and forced Butler to establish a new 50-lap track record that stood for many years after his retirement The 1991 season was bittersweet for the Hoffman/Butler alliance.

The team continued to excel at raw speed; it set the most fast qualifying times and won the most USAC sprint car races.

The team also won the majority of the live-television races on ESPN, including wins on the notorious hi-banks at Salem Speedway and at Indianapolis Raceway Park.

Although the pair had not worked together since 1989, winning the Silver Crown championship proved that they still had the right “chemistry.” In the sprint car division, the Butler/Hoffman team struggled through a difficult season marred by crashes and mechanical problems.

When USAC briefly experimented with winged-sprint races, Butler won several of these against competition that included regulars from the AllStar Circuit of Champions and World of Outlaws.

This race was Steve's final USAC victory and included a special twist: Butler was forced to perform in-cockpit diagnosis and repair of a problem that was causing the engine to misfire.

In 1992, Butler's writing caught the attention of Motor Trend magazine who asked him to author an engine technology article.

Butler retired from racing determined to make a clean break from the sport to focus on the new challenges of his engineering career, while also devoting more time to his family.

In 1993, Steve Butler was inducted into the Hoosier Auto Racing Fans Hall of Fame and joined AJ Foyt, Mario Andretti, Bobby Unser, Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart in receiving this honor.

In 2018, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum honored Steve Butler’s racing career by featuring his accomplishments as part of the Hoosier Thunder exhibit.