Drag Illustrated Issue 129, January / February 2018 | Page 116

MARK MALCUIT
M
ark Malcuit made
his name in circle track
racing. He racked up sev-
eral championships and
carved his mark on the
industry. In 1993, he suffered an off-
track wreck that left him with a broken
neck, effectively ending his circle track
career. So nearly 18 years ago he began
his career in drag racing. This year, he
celebrates his first drag racing cham-
pionship as the PDRA Top Sportsman
32 world champion.
This was the first year for PDRA’s
pilot Top Sportsman program in which
all cars qualify together, and then, if car
count provides, the class is split into an
Elite 16 and a regular 32-car field for eliminations.
The program received incredible support as ev-
idenced by 100 Top Sportsman cars turning out
at the World Finals.
116 PDRA660.com
Malcuit prefers to run fast and intended to try
for the Elite 16. As luck would have it, he continu-
ally found himself just outside of the top qualifiers
and thus inside the Top Sportsman 32 field.
“Whether I win or I lose, I always
try to run fast,” Malcuit explains. “As
it worked out, I would always be like
number 17. I couldn’t run quite fast
enough for the Elite 16. It worked out
to my advantage. Part of my luck was
that I wasn’t fast enough to make the
Elite 16 and then I ended up in 32 and
got some byes. Just worked out for me.
I’m very fortunate to have won this
championship.”
The humble Ohio native was grateful
for his lucky draw in drag racing this
year, but also received well-earned ac-
colades for his work in circle track. In
the fall of ‘17, he was inducted into the
Tri State Circle Track Hall of Fame.
At 68 years young, and on the 50th anniversary
of his racing career, Malcuit is proving it’s never
too late to make a championship chase and be a
successful racer.
TOP SPORTSMAN 32