| Mark's Racing History | |
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Mark was born on October 5, 1961 in Highland, Illinois and raised on a farm just north of Marine, Illinois. He was born into a racing family as his dad owned a race car where Mark used to sit on a pillow and drive it across the clover fields. At the age of 4, he got his first go-kart and has had the racing fever ever since. At the age of 16, Mark began his professional racing career in Go-Karts in and around the St. Louis area and was the 280-pound St. Louis Karting Association Champion two years running. In 1982, at the Highland Speedway, Mark moved to the Sportsman class and was Rookie of the Year. He later moved up to the Modified class, once again taking Rookie of the Year. During the 1990's, Mark sharpened his racing skills by racing against some of the best drivers in the country as he continued his advance up to Late Models. As a member of United Midwest Promoters ("UMP"), which consisted of more than 1000 drivers in 13 states, Mark was honored with 2nd place Rookie of the Year, 20th overall and won Jacksonville, Illinois Track Championship. Mark consistently improved his racing skills as he finished 4th place in 1993. The hard work and dedication paid off and in 1994 and 1995, Mark finished 2nd in the UMP point standing, won seven championships and was Missouri State Champion. Mark has over 75 feature wins in the Late Model series, finished better than 75% in the top five and over 50% in the top three. Mark also went onto capture the Florida Speedweeks Championship and the Florida State Championship from Volusia County in a Modified in 1996. At the end of the 1997 racing season, Mark turned his attention to the ARCA series running two asphalt tracks and one dirt track. In a 1997 Monte Carlo, after his second attempt on asphalt, he pulled out a 4th place finish at Winchester, Indiana. In 1998, he ran three speedway races - the first being Michigan where he finished 20th. He also raced at Pocono, PA and Pikes Peak, CO. His best finish in 1998 was 6th at Xenia, Ohio and best qualifying run at Salem, Indiana, starting 3rd. He finished 4th in the Rookie points and 17th overall. 1999 started out at Daytona, leading 14 laps of the Great American Race, finishing 17th, and earning Achiever of the Month. Mark finished out the year at Talladega, where he finished 5th and earned a variety of awards including the Cool Drive Award & the Hard Charger Award. The 2000 Season started at Daytona again where he sported a new sponsor of Team Stealth. Mark would start 5 races of the ARCA season, and have 1 Top 10 finish. From 1997-2000, Mark raced 29 ARCA events, finishing in the Top 10 an impressive seven times! Mark participated in the Busch Grand National series in 2001. He competed in five races, including events at Gateway International Speedway, Darlington, SC, Memphis, TN, Pikes Peak, CO and Phoenix, AZ. In 2002, Mark was part of the the NASCAR Touring Series ReMAX Division - hired by a two-car team from Westby, Wisconsin and competed at Gateway International Speedway (twice), Kaukauna, Lake Geneiva, and Pikes Peak, CO in the No. 33 car. Mark would also compete in dirt modified and late model events during the year. For the 2003 season, Mark raced in the NASCAR Touring Series International Truck & Engine Midwest Division. Mark owned and competed the entire series, finishing 4th in the Rookie standing and 16th overall. Again Mark would be a part of dirt modified and late model racing, winning the Du Quoin National in a Modified. Returning to a Late Model full time in 2004, Mark brought hardware home several times, including winning the 100 lap special race at the Belle-Clair Speedway. In 2005, Mark was back in the winners circle early on, opening the regular season at Highland with a feature victory. The #30 Rocket Chassis Late Model would go on to win 8 more feature events, including wins at Belle-Clair, Poplar Bluff and I-55. Mark was also a touring regular on the grueling 30 day UMP Summer Nationals tour, where he would finish a remarkable 13th in points among an elite group of drivers. At the Illinois Fall Nationals, Mark would finish an impressive 10th place among the field of World of Outlaw Late Model Series competitors. Other highlights from the season included 2 trips to the historic Eldora Speedway, where the Voigt Racing Taurus would qualify for both "The Dream" and the "World 100," both times finishing 9th in the heat and advancing to the B-Main event. 2006 was a transition year for the Voigt team, as they scaled back their program from the previous few years. Mark's familiar #30 Rocket chassis found the winners circle twice, posting victories at I-55 Raceway and Belle-Clair Speedway. The Voigt Racing Ford Fusion finished 9th in the UMP South Regioin point standings, and competed in 6 different states during the year. Picking up where he left off, in 2007 Mark accumulated 5 more Feature wins in 63 Feature starts. The #30 was also 4th in track points at the newly redesigned Tri-City Speedway, winning the first ever Feature held on the 3/8 mile dirt oval. Travel plans took the #30 to 5 different states, placing him 10th in the UMP South Region points, and 24th nationally. |
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