NHRA Chief Starter Mark Lyle passes

by Mike Haag | Posted on Monday, March 28th, 2016

Courtesy of the NHRA

GLENDORA, Calif. (March 28, 2016) – With great sadness, NHRA reported today that Mark Lyle, NHRA’S Chief Starter, passed away unexpectedly this past Sunday. On behalf of NHRA and the entire drag racing community, we offer our condolences to all of Lyle’s family and friends.

marklyle

Lyle had been Chief Starter for the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series since 2012. He was only the third Chief Starter in NHRA history, along with the late Buster Couch (1955-1996) and Rick Stewart (1996-2011).

Before becoming the pro series Chief Starter, Lyle was the official starter at Pacific Raceways in NHRA’s Northwest Division since 2000. He was named the official starter of the Northwest Division in 2005.

Division 6 starter Mike Gittings has been named the interim NHRA Chief Starter for this weekend’s DENSO Spark Plugs NHRA Nationals at Las Vegas.

Tags Mark Lyle NHRA

About the Author Mike Haag

Mike Haag has covered motorsports in San Antonio and South Texas for more than 35 years. In addition to covering motorsports for the San Antonio Express-News for nearly 28 years, Mike also has co-hosted TrackSmack with Dawn Murphy for 18 race seasons. In addition to being a writer, Mike taught high school English and Journalism for 30 years before retiring in May, 2020.