Mark Stahl

This article is about the racing driver. For the soccer player, see Mark Stahl (soccer).
Mark Stahl
Nationality United States American
Born (1951-08-12) August 12, 1951
San Diego, California, U.S.
Retired 2001
ARCA Re/MAX Series
Years active 1988-2001
Car no. 32
Starts 48
Wins 0
Poles 0
Best finish 20th in 1998
Previous series
1981–1993
1981–1982		 NASCAR Winston Cup Series
NASCAR Winston West Series
Championship titles
1978, 1980
1981, 2007, 2015, 2016		 Baja 1000 Overall Winner
Baja 1000 Class Winner
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career
30 races run over 13 years
Best finish 38th (1987)
First race 1981 Winston Western 500 (Riverside)
Last race 1991 AC Delco 500 (Rockingham)
Wins Top tens Poles
0 0 0

Mark Stahl (born August 12, 1951) is an American off-road and stock car racing driver. Now retired, he competed in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series and the ARCA Re/MAX Series, and is a four-time winner of the Baja 1000 off-road race, twice winning the event overall.

Career

Born in San Diego, California, Stahl began his professional racing career in off-road racing; he scored overall wins in the Baja 1000 in his Chenowth VW in 1978 and 1980, and the car won just Class 1 (but not overall) in 1981.[1][2] Stahl battled Frank "Scoop" Vessels for the win of the 1978 Baja 1000 and Vessels crossed the finish line 3 minutes ahead of Stahl - but had started 9 minutes earlier - giving the victory to Stahl by 6 minutes.[3]

He moved to stock cars 1981, competing in the NASCAR Winston West Series (now K&N Pro Series West); he competed in the series full-time in 1982,[4] finishing 12th in points. Stahl also made his debut in the Winston Cup Series in 1981, driving in the Winston Western 500 at Riverside International Raceway, finishing 23rd.[5]

Stahl competed in 30 races in the Winston Cup Series between 1981 and 1993;[5] his best finish was 16th in 1986 at Darlington Raceway.[6] He also failed to qualify for 32 additional events.[7] In 1987 Stahl posted the fastest time in second-round qualifying for the 1987 Winston 500, becoming part of the fastest field in NASCAR history.[8] He moved to South Carolina in 1991 to further his racing career.[1] In 1990 Stahl acquired sponsorship from Hooters; his failing to qualify for the 1991 Motorcraft 500 at Atlanta International Raceway led to 1992 Winston Cup Series Champion Alan Kulwicki picking up the sponsorship for the event,[9] and later receiving the sponsorship full-time.[10]

In 1988 Stahl made his debut in the Automobile Racing Club of America's Permatex SuperCar Series; he competed in 48 ARCA events between 1988 and 2001, posting a best finish of fourth at Talladega Superspeedway in 1997.[11]

Following the 2001 racing season, Stahl retired from competition; in 2007, he came out of retirement to compete in the Baja 1000 once more,[1] co-driving with Jim Christensen and winning the Touring Car class of the race.[6] His 1977 Chenowth was restored by another driver for the 2011 NORRA Mexican 1000 vintage race and Stahl co-drove in the May event.[12]

Motorsports career results

NASCAR

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Winston Cup Series

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Bluffton's Stahl to tackle off-road race in Baja California". The Island Packet. Bluffton, SC. November 11, 2007. Retrieved 2014-04-28.
  2. ↑ "For Sale". Off Road Action News. 1982.
  3. ↑ Koch, Ron (January 31, 2011). Xlibris Corporation. p. 269. ISBN 1456858645 https://books.google.com/books?id=FwKyVwEl1ZMC&pg=PA269&lpg=PA269&dq=%22mark+stahl%22+%22score%22&source=bl&ots=HT3RQsCvcZ&sig=7MwRosBdzdOnX8tlOIW4SDBX6Ms&hl=en&sa=X&ei=vdScVK6WM4H4yQT9uYFY&ved=0CDUQ6AEwAjgK#v=onepage&q=%22mark%20stahl%22%20%22score%22&f=false. Retrieved December 26, 2014. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  4. ↑ "Mark Stahl - NASCAR K&N Pro Series West Results". Racing-Reference. USA Today Sports Media Group. Retrieved 2014-04-28.
  5. 1 2 "Mark Stahl - NASCAR Sprint Cup Results". Racing-Reference. USA Today Sports Media Group. Retrieved 2014-04-28.
  6. 1 2 Wuensch, Christopher (November 25, 2007). "From Bluffton to Baja" (PDF). Bluffton Today. Bluffton, SC. pp. 16A–17A. Retrieved 2014-04-28.
  7. ↑ "Mark Stahl - NASCAR Winston Cup / Nextel Cup / Sprint Cup DNQs". Racing-Reference. USA Today Sports Media Group. Retrieved 2014-04-28.
  8. ↑ "Stahl leads second-day runs". The Tuscaloosa News. Tuscaloosa, AL. May 2, 1987. p. 19. Retrieved 2014-04-28.
  9. ↑ Gillipsie, Tom (May 3, 1991). "Kulwicki in with fun sponsor". The News and Courier. Charleston, SC. p. 4E. Retrieved 2014-04-28.
  10. ↑ Green, David (May 1, 1991). "Kulwicki gets full sponsorship". Spartanburg Herald-Journal. Spartanburg, SC. p. D4. Retrieved 2014-04-28.
  11. ↑ "Mark Stahl - ARCA Racing Series Results". Racing-Reference. USA Today Sports Media Group. Retrieved 2014-04-28.
  12. ↑ "April 12, 2011 Press Release". NORRA. Retrieved December 26, 2014.
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