Beyond the Flag
Fansided

NASCAR: Remembering Team Owner Mark Smith

By Alex Herbst

TALLADEGA, AL - MAY 05: JJ Yeley, driver of the #14 Superior Essex Toyota, practices for the NASCAR XFINITY Series Sparks Energy 300 at Talladega Superspeedway on May 5, 2017 in Talladega, Alabama. (Photo by Daniel Shirey/Getty Images)
TALLADEGA, AL - MAY 05: JJ Yeley, driver of the #14 Superior Essex Toyota, practices for the NASCAR XFINITY Series Sparks Energy 300 at Talladega Superspeedway on May 5, 2017 in Talladega, Alabama. (Photo by Daniel Shirey/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit

Mark Smith, owner of NASCAR’s TriStar Motorsports team, has passed away after a private battle with cancer at the age of 63.

More from NASCAR

Tragedy struck the NASCAR garage on Monday, as one of the sport’s longest-serving owners and engine builders quietly passed away. Mark Smith, the man behind Pro Motor Engines and the TriStar Motorsports team, succumbed to cancer and passed away at the age of 63. His legacy, however, will carry on in stock car racing for a long time to come.

Mark Smith was a racer through and through. He began the TriStar Motorsports team in 1989, racing at Talladega Superspeedway with Ron Esau driving. The team would then race on through the 90s, picking up three poles along the way. Loy Allen proved to be their most successful driver, earning three poles. In 1997, TriStar Motorsports exited full-time racing and moved into engine building.

Pro Motor Engines may be one of Mark Smith’s greatest legacies, supplying engines to teams large and small. Many of the PME engines would go on to use in the Cup Series by Front Row Motorsports, as well as Xfinity Series operations like Kevin Harvick Incorporated, MSRP Motorsports, and ML Motorsports. They would eventually go on to become a multi-time MAHLE Engine Builder of the Year, and provided the champion engines in the Truck Series in 2002, 2003 and 2009.

Smith would revive his team after nine years away from the sport, purchasing Front Row Motorsports’ Xfinity operation in 2009. The team would go on to field multiple cars in 2010, expanding significantly before jumping back into the Cup Series in 2017. Today, the team fields a Cup car for Cole Whitt and a Xfinity Series ride for JJ Yeley.

Mark Smith was remembered fondly by his colleagues in racing on social media on Monday.

Next: Brad Keselowski Extends Contract With Team Penske

TriStar Motorsports will continue to operate as an organization, led by the son of its founder, Bryan Smith. Cole Whitt will be racing this weekend at Pocono in the #72 Chevy, while JJ Yeley will be back in the #14 Toyota on Saturday in Iowa.

From the entire Beyond The Flag website, we extend our condolences to the Smith family and all those at TriStar Motorsports, and we will remember Mark Smith as the great racer that he truly was throughout the years.

Home/NASCAR