Steve Stackable


Steve Stackable is an American former professional motocross racer and current hang glider instructor. He competed in the AMA Motocross Championships from 1974 to 1981. Stackable is notable for winning the 1975 AMA 500cc Supercross national championship.

Motocross career

Stackable was born in Wiesbaden, Germany where his father served in the U.S. Military. He was raised in Wyoming and briefly in Japan before his family settled in Austin, Texas when he was 16-years-old. Stackable began racing motocross in the early 1970s and easily won his first races as a novice. He began his professional racing career in 1972 and began competing in the AMA motocross national championships on a privateer CZ. His performance earned him a place on the Maico factory team for the 1974 season in which he ended the year ranked third in the AMA 500cc motocross national championship behind Jimmy Weinert and Tony DiStefano. He improved on his performance in 1975 when he rode his Maico to a career-best second place finish behind Weinert in the final standings of the AMA 500cc motocross national championship.
Stackable was hired by the Suzuki factory motocross team in 1976 in which he finished third in both the 250cc and 500cc Outdoor National classes. In the 1977 season, Stackable would place third once again in the AMA 500cc motocross national championship, this time behind Bob Hannah and Marty Smith. Stackable along with DiStefano, Kent Howerton and Gary Semics, represented the United States at the 1977 Motocross des Nations and Trophy des Nations events where they scored impressive second-place finishes in France and Holland, at a time when American motocross racers were still seen as less experienced than their European rivals. He continued to race until 1981, but without the same level of success and retired from motocross racing at the age of 27.
After his motocross racing career, Stackable became a tandem hang gliding and paragliding instructor. He operates the service department at the Torrey Pines Gliderport, in La Jolla, California.