Cole Stangle – Wrestling, Racing and Moving to Modified Division for 2023

At 16 years old Cole has been racing for eleven years and in 2023 will be moving to the modified time division. Cole has also added a Wednesday night weekly ride in a Speedster at Action track to his weekly racing agenda. In addition to the racing side of things Cole continues to be an active high school wrestler.

The 2023 season will see Cole make the long-anticipated move to racing modifieds weekly with a spec 358 motor. He will also have a Big Block motor which he will use for Short Track Super Series races and an occasional Super Dirt Series event. A weekly addition this year will behind the wheel of Rich Stinson’s Prime Design’s speedster at Action Track and some Bridgeport special events.

Cole will end his sophomore year of high school wrestling in early March and then his 2023 racing season opens the next weekend at Hagerstown where he will run a big block modified at the Short Track Super Series.

Cole has been racing quarter midgets and sling shots since the age of five until he moved to 602 sportsmen at the age of ten. In his second season of crate racing Cole won the Short Track Super Series South Region points championship. In 2021 he picked up back-to-back wins at Big Diamond on Friday night and Grandview on Saturday in the Open Sportsman division.

Cole has been wrestling for over 10 years and trains year around. He won his 2023 high school District championships, had an overtime loss in the regional finals, and is heading to Atlantic City for State finals.

During 2022 Cole competed in sportsmen, modified, speedster, street stock divisions and raced at Grandview, Bridgeport, and Action Track.

Cole reflected “2022 really was not the best season for us in the sportsmen division at Grandview.  We only ran in ten races at Grandview and got top five around half of the time, but a hard wreck abbreviated our season as it took us about 5 weeks to get the car back on track.  We had some good runs but just could not seal the deal and get into victory lane. We started preparing for 2023 and ran the spec but we broke the motor before the end of the year, so we had an opportunity to get some laps on the big block out at Bridgeport’s final race. We struggled but learn a lot that we can use in 2023. Driving a Big Block for the first time was a surreal experience racing against all the drivers I looked up to growing up. Last year I was also afforded an opportunity by Rich Stinson to drive his Speedster and Street Stock.  Both the speedster and street stock were a lot of fun to drive, and I will be driving the speedster this season at Action Track.”

Cole continued “As far as my wrestling accomplishments, I have been two-time New Jersey Youth State Champion. I have been wrestling seriously since the third grade and just like racing have traveled all over the country for tournaments and competitions. I am so grateful for wrestling because it has gotten me physically and mentally fit and changed my life forever. In high school I am surrounded with great people who are dedicated to helping me strive to be the best wrestler and person that I can be. I am also grateful to have the opportunity to compete and wrestle for my high school.  I use the same competitive mentality and self-confidence in both wrestling and racing while the fitness from my wrestling training most definitely helps me physically in longer races or hot races.”

Plans for the 2023 season is to run the #27 Speedster for Rich Stinson at Action Track on Wednesday nights as well as special events at Bridgeport and Bloomsburg Fair Raceway.  Cole will be racing the spec 358 modified weekly either at Bridgeport or Grandview and the big block modified at selected Short Track Super Series and Super Dirt Car events.

Cole stated “Our racing goals for the speedster is to win a couple of times for our sponsor Rich Stinson and Prime Design Landscaping.  I have run some modified specials in the past so do have some limited modified driving experience, so I do hope to be able to get at least two modified wins this season.  As far as my wrestling goals for 2023; I have achieved them by getting through the district and regional finals and I am going to states in Atlantic City this week.  It is very tough to get to state finals and getting there definitely helps with my long-term goal of wrestling at a division one college.” 

“A big thank you to all of our sponsors that make our 2023 season possible:”

Armwell Auto Body

Conover Excavating

ESL Enterprises

Morgantini Race Engines

Prime Design landscapes

 Pro Mac Designing Machinery 

Quality Drywall

Williams Harley Davidson