Mark Stahl

This article is about the racing driver. For the soccer player, see Mark Stahl (soccer).

Mark Stahl (born August 12, 1951) is an American former professional off-road and stock car racing driver. 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.

Mark Stahl
Nationality	American
Born	(1951-08-12) August 12, 1951 (age 74) San Diego, California, U.S.
Retired	2001
ARCA Re/MAX Series
Years active	1988–2001
Car number	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 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

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; 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 34 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] Stahl left NASCAR with more DNQs (34) than races run (30).

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

NASCAR Winston Cup Series results
Year	Team	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	NWCC	Pts	Ref
1981	Stahl Racing	85	Ford	RSD	DAY	RCH	CAR	ATL	BRI	NWS	DAR	MAR	TAL	NSV	DOV	CLT	TWS	RSD	MCH	DAY	NSV	POC	TAL	MCH	BRI	DAR	RCH	DOV	MAR	NWS	CLT	CAR	ATL	RSD 23	84th	94	[13]
1982				DAY	RCH	BRI	ATL	CAR	DAR	NWS	MAR	TAL	NSV	DOV	CLT	POC	RSD 22	MCH	DAY	NSV	POC	TAL	MCH	BRI	DAR	RCH	DOV	NWS	CLT	MAR	CAR	ATL			72nd	143	[14]
	Langley Racing	64	Ford																														RSD 39
1983	Stahl Racing	82	Ford	DAY	RCH	CAR	ATL	DAR	NWS	MAR	TAL	NSV	DOV	BRI	CLT	RSD	POC	MCH	DAY	NSV	POC	TAL	MCH	BRI	DAR	RCH	DOV	MAR 23	NWS 23	CLT	CAR	ATL DNQ	RSD		66th	188	[15]
1984				DAY DNQ	RCH	CAR 18	ATL	BRI	NWS	DAR	MAR	TAL	NSV	DOV	CLT	RSD	POC	MCH	DAY	NSV	POC	TAL	MCH	BRI	DAR DNQ	RCH	DOV	MAR	CLT DNQ	NWS	CAR 27	ATL 38	RSD		52nd	240	[16]
1985				DAY DNQ	RCH	CAR	ATL	BRI	DAR	NWS	MAR	TAL DNQ	DOV	CLT 21	RSD	POC	MCH	DAY	POC	TAL	MCH	BRI	DAR	RCH	DOV	MAR	NWS	CLT	CAR	ATL	RSD				78th	100	[17]
1986				DAY DNQ	RCH	CAR	ATL	BRI	DAR 16	NWS	MAR	TAL	DOV	CLT DNQ	RSD	POC	MCH DNQ	DAY	POC	TAL	GLN	MCH	BRI	DAR 32	RCH	DOV	MAR	NWS	CLT DNQ	CAR 30	ATL DNQ	RSD			62nd	255	[18]
1987				DAY 38	CAR 33	RCH	ATL 30	DAR DNQ	NWS	BRI	MAR	TAL 17	CLT DNQ	DOV	POC	RSD	MCH	DAY 37	POC	TAL 33	GLN	MCH	BRI	DAR	RCH	DOV	MAR	NWS	CLT 23	CAR 28	RSD	ATL 21			38th	687	[19]
1988				DAY DNQ	RCH	CAR 37	ATL	DAR	BRI	NWS	MAR	TAL	CLT DNQ	DOV	RSD	POC	MCH	DAY	POC	TAL	GLN	MCH	BRI	DAR	RCH	DOV	MAR	CLT	NWS	CAR	PHO	ATL			86th	52	[20]
1989				DAY	CAR	ATL	RCH	DAR	BRI	NWS	MAR	TAL	CLT	DOV	SON	POC	MCH	DAY	POC	TAL 27	GLN	MCH	BRI	DAR	RCH	DOV	MAR	CLT	NWS	CAR DNQ	PHO	ATL			81st	82	[21]
1990				DAY DNQ	RCH	CAR 24	ATL 28	DAR DNQ	BRI	NWS	MAR	TAL DNQ	CLT DNQ	DOV	SON	POC	MCH	DAY DNQ	POC	TAL 31	GLN	MCH	BRI	DAR 33	RCH	DOV	MAR	NWS	CLT 32	CAR DNQ	PHO	ATL DNQ			44th	371	[22]
1991				DAY DNQ	RCH DNQ	CAR DNQ	ATL DNQ	DAR DNQ	BRI	NWS	MAR	TAL	CLT DNQ	DOV	SON	POC	MCH DNQ	DAY	POC	TAL	GLN	MCH DNQ	BRI	DAR 37	RCH	DOV	MAR	NWS	CLT	CAR 36	PHO	ATL			67th	107	[23]
1992				DAY	CAR	RCH	ATL	DAR	BRI	NWS	MAR	TAL	CLT	DOV	SON	POC	MCH	DAY	POC	TAL	GLN	MCH	BRI	DAR	RCH	DOV	MAR	NWS	CLT DNQ	CAR	PHO	ATL DNQ			NA	0	[24]
1993				DAY	CAR	RCH	ATL	DAR	BRI	NWS	MAR	TAL	SON	CLT	DOV	POC	MCH	DAY DNQ	NHA	POC	TAL	GLN	MCH	BRI	DAR	RCH	DOV	MAR	NWS	CLT	CAR	PHO	ATL		NA	0	[25]

ARCA Re/Max Series

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

ARCA Re/Max Series results
Year	Team	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	ARMC	Pts	Ref
1988	Stahl Racing	82	Ford	DAY	ATL	TAL	FRS	PCS	ROC	POC	WIN	KIL	ACS	SLM	POC	TAL	DEL	FRS	ISF	DSF	SLM	ATL 40							128th	-	[26]
1989				DAY	ATL	KIL	TAL 33	FRS	POC	KIL	HAG	POC	TAL	DEL	FRS	ISF	TOL	DSF	SLM	ATL									129th	-	[27]
1994	Stahl Racing	32	Ford	DAY 10	TAL 12	FIF	LVL	KIL	TOL	FRS	MCH	DMS	POC	POC	KIL	FRS	INF	I70	ISF	DSF	TOL	SLM	WIN	ATL 11					77th	775	[28]
1995				DAY 8	ATL 32	TAL 5	FIF	KIL	FRS	MCH	I80	MCS	FRS	POC	POC	KIL	FRS	SBS	LVL	ISF	DSF	SLM	WIN	ATL 7					36th	930	[29]
1996				DAY 7	ATL 18	SLM	TAL 20	FIF	LVL	CLT 33	CLT 13	KIL	FRS	POC	MCH	FRS	TOL	POC	MCH	INF	SBS	ISF	DSF	KIL	SLM	WIN	CLT 28	ATL 7	35th	-	[30]
1997				DAY 5	ATL 16	SLM	CLT 19	CLT 14	POC	MCH	SBS	TOL	KIL	FRS	MIN	POC	MCH	DSF	GTW	SLM	WIN	CLT DNQ	TAL 4	ISF	ATL 21				41st	-	[31]
1998				DAY DNQ	ATL 18	SLM	CLT	MEM	MCH 28	POC 36	SBS	TOL	PPR	POC 7	KIL	FRS	ISF	ATL 14	DSF	SLM	TEX 11	WIN	CLT 20	TAL 8	ATL 14				20th	1590	[32]
1999				DAY 9	ATL 18	SLM	AND	CLT 25	MCH 19	POC 24	TOL	SBS	BLN	POC 17	KIL	FRS	FLM 22	ISF	WIN	DSF	SLM	CLT DNQ	TAL 21	ATL 25					29th	1195	[33]
2000				DAY 30	SLM	AND	CLT DNQ	KIL	FRS	MCH DNQ	POC 26	TOL	KEN 21	BLN	POC 21	WIN	ISF	KEN 20	DSF	SLM	CLT DNQ	TAL 21	ATL 18						37th	900	[34]
2001				DAY 40	NSH	WIN	SLM	GTY	KEN	CLT	KAN	MCH	POC	MEM	GLN	KEN	MCH	POC	NSH	ISF	CHI	DSF	SLM	TOL	BLN	CLT	TAL	ATL	188th	30	[35]