Nitrophoto

Mark Lyle manages to have find success as the next NHRA starter

Mark Lyle (NHRA)

In NHRA Drag Racing, there have been just three men who have been in charge of sending racers down the track at national events. Those men were Buster Couch, Rick Steward, and now Mark Lyle.

Mark who hails from the Pacific Northwest just outside of Seattle is proud to be just the third person to hold this prestigious position in the sport. For those who have never met Mark the first thing that strikes a person is that Mark has this uncanny ability to manage things.  Being a former parts manager for a Kenworth dealer, has taught him well. Mark has the tools to balance and manage business and fun.  Lyle had been the Division Six starter since 2005 and was part of the Division Six team since 2001. Lyle stated that, “I treat the starting line like a business. And the most valuable part of being business-like is being consistent.”

Mark feels that being consistent in pivotal in working with the track crew and safety safari, but that consistency in how that core group of people works transfers over to the racers. “I felt that we were accepted by the racers, and crew chiefs, early on in the year. We felt it was essential to have strong two way communications with the racers and crew chiefs, in regards to track prep we exchange ideas, and it all seems to work out very well.” His plan was to give the racers the confidence that the track would be safe and consistent and that his decisions on the track would be the same.

It was not that easy at first as there was a case of nervousness that Mark felt that first weekend in Pomona. “When I got up and went to the track it felt normal, and I tried to tell myself this just like a Division race, except the cars are faster, and there are a lot more people in the grand stands.”  He tried to put it into perspective and no let the event overwhelm him. “It did feel a bit surreal, but, I just wanted to make sure I did not make any mistakes. At the end of the day I thought to myself, well I pulled that off.” His to manage again helped him keep his focus in front of those nearly one hundred thousand people over the course of the weekend.

The other time was at the book end event in Pomona as the top fuel cars of Brandon Bernstein and Tony Schmacher staged for the final, a race that would determine the Top Fuel World Championship, either going to Schmacher if he won, or to team mate Antron Brown if Bernstein. “I was nervous keep saying to myself, ‘Mark don’t screw this thing up, don’t make a mistake.”’ Lyle said he could feel relief in watching both cars cross the finish line. “I could kinda tell that Brandon had won it” Lyle stated. However, he did not know how close it was until watching the replay on the jumbo-tron. Unfortunately, Lyle did not have time to celebrate as there was still a full group of sportsman cars to run and they were under a time constraint, which is the curfew that is in place at Pomona. “We wanted to get that thing done by six o’clock or we would have had to come back on Monday.”

 When Mark is on the starting line, he is not oblivious to the fact that there is a lot of attention paid to him on the starting line.  “Rick, I think sometimes played to the camera, which is fine, that was his style, I know it’s there, but I just am so focused on what is going on and communicating with my guys, I just kinda put that thought aside.” He is not overtly going out to look for any additional attention. He knows that people especially this year would be watching him closely, especially the racers.

Mark’s first and only test happened at Gainesville, the first race of the year for the Pro Stock Motorcycles. In the second round of eliminations for the bikes which featured a race between Matt Smith and Hector Arana. The two protagonists did there burnouts and then proceed to pull up to the starting line and engage in a staging duel. Thus, Lyle waited for a moment, to see what the two riders would do, and then told them to stage. Both riders sat there paying Lyle no mind, so he motioned again, and still neither rider would stage, so Mark managed the situation. “I said to myself that is enough, and I shut them off and motioned for them to go back to the back of the line and think about it.”  According to Lyle, Arana, though that Lyle had disqualified the two riders for not staging for which Arana was concerned. “I communicated to Hector that he wasn’t being thrown out just given some time to think things over,” stated Lyle.

Therefore, when the two riders came up again to race Lyle’s messages were received loud and clear, as both racers staged right away with Smith taking the win. “After that point I had no more problems with any of the racers for the rest of the year” opined Lyle.

In looking back on Lyle’s first year, he readily admits to being his own worst critic, and if he had to give himself a grade on his performance for the entire season. “ I think that I would have to give myself a solid B plus for my freshman season.” Lyle thinks there are always ways to improve and improve his team.

Mark puts a immense deal of effort into making sure his team on the starting line is as a cohesive unit. “We don’t just work together, when there is time we plan side trips together and eat together, I feel that bonding is essential to making a team that works well together on race day. I look at these guys like they are a family we spend so much time away from our home families, which it is important to get along.”

On the subject of being away from home, Mark knows that the NHRA schedule is a grind. He said the he analyzed his travel briefly as he was in the hotel room in Pomona on Sunday morning and started thinking about the travel this year.  Twenty-four races, eighty-five days of racing, 141 days on the road, seventy-two airplane flights, total over eighty-two thousand miles. What is so funny about that is what Mark said he after being home for a week. “I started looking for something to do, I don’t know what to do for the next three months.” Sure Marks wife has a different outlook on that subject. It is a good bet she too knows how to manage to facilitate the completion of those “projects”