PRINGFIELD, Mo. -- Stock car racer Dean Roper was remembered Thursday as a fierce but compassionate competitor who was willing to race anything with four wheels.

Family and friends filled Praise Assembly Church to say goodbye to the Roper, a man they had affectionately called "Puddin" since birth.

It is the second time in 10 months the family has been shaken. Dean's son, Tony Roper, was killed last October in a NASCAR truck series race.

Dean Roper, 62, of Fair Grove, died of a heart attack while racing Sunday at the Allen Crowe Memorial 200 at the Illinois State Fair. Roper had a history of heart trouble, which contributed to his heart attack, authorities said.

He crashed head-on into a retaining wall near the exit of the pits on the 17th lap of the race, but an autopsy showed he suffered no injuries in the wreck.

The Rev. Don Powell said Roper was a legend in Fair Grove, a tight-knit southwest Missouri community of about 1,000 people with at least a dozen of them regular competitors at area speedways. Many residents would gather wherever Roper was racing -- whether he was in stock cars, sprint cars or midgets.

"Dean was certainly an icon not only through his racing, but an icon because not only was Dean a fierce competitor but because he was a cheerleader for fellow racers and was always willing to congratulate someone," Powell told the several hundred mourners at the funeral service.

The church lobby was filled with pictures, trophies and other mementos of Roper's racing career. A flower wreath with six black and white checkered flags adorned the top of Roper's casket. On one side was a picture of him and car No. 99, on the other was a picture of him and his car No. 89.

Roper had raced selectively after a heart attack in 1984. Before that, however, he was the USAC Stock driving champion from 1981-83 and was the winningest ARCA series driver on dirt with nine career victories, including three at the Springfield mile. He became the second-oldest driver to record an ARCA victory when he won at DuQuoin State Fairgrounds in 1994 at age 55.

The majority of Roper's success in stock cars fielded by Mueller Brothers of Random Lake, Wis. He drove his first race in 1960 and was a five-time St. Louis-area short track champion from 1967-73 prior to his national championship racing success.

When Roper wasn't racing, he was talking about racing, the Rev. Frank Stark said.

"On Dec. 26, 1938, Dean Roper took the green flag for life," Stark said. "Now, I don't know if they put a yellow piece of tape on his diaper for 'rookie.' But if they did, you can bet it didn't stay there very long because he was no rookie."

Roper was buried next to his son Wednesday afternoon in Mount Comfort Cemetery in Springfield.

Tony Roper, 35, was killed Oct. 13 in the O'Reilly 400 at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth. Roper was trying to move through a pack of traffic when he apparently bumped with another truck, veered sharply to the right and slammed head-on into the wall. He died 12 hours later at a hospital with his family at his side.