Author Topic: Greatest motorcycle racer to date? (Read 5633 times)

nickjtc · « **on:** October 18, 2006, 09:55:51 AM »

Something to mull over as the MotoGP season winds down and we get to look forward to next year.

Who will it be?

John Surtees: still the only 2 and 4 wheel world champion?
Mike Hailwood: the first 'iconic' racer?
Freddie spencer: 250 and 500 world champion the same year?
Valentino Rossi: say no more...

cmorgan47 · « **Reply #1 on:** October 18, 2006, 10:29:01 AM »

i'm going malcom smith.
that dude was hard core.

Quote

At 15, Smith sold his scooter and bought a real dirt bike, a Matchless. One minor problem for Smith, who was small for his age, was that he couldn’t kick-start the big thumper. He would have to start at the top of an incline and coast downhill to start the bike.

"If I got out in the woods and killed the motor I couldn’t restart it," Smith recalled. "I either had to push it on top of a hill, which was really tough for me to do, or I would have to hike back down to the neighborhood to get some of my buddies to help me push it to the top of a hill. Needless to say, I learned to be pretty good with the clutch."

heffay · « **Reply #2 on:** October 18, 2006, 10:44:04 AM »

winning the TT after crashing and breaking his nose makes hailwood pretty much a shoe in IMO.

here's my dad thinking he's mike hailwood at Pikes Peak Int'l Raceway. (for those that didn't catch the clue... that's an MH900/mike hailwood replica 1of 2000 or so)

dusterdude · « **Reply #3 on:** October 18, 2006, 01:57:12 PM »

you forgot jim mcclure and larry mcbride

USN20 · « **Reply #4 on:** October 18, 2006, 02:22:53 PM »

Russ Collins and his 750 Fours ...

CHRISF2 · « **Reply #5 on:** October 18, 2006, 02:37:32 PM »

none of the above. the best was Joey Donlop

750goes · « **Reply #6 on:** October 18, 2006, 02:49:14 PM »

I'll go for one you guys may not remember

Kel Carruthers .....fast and furious.....

GroovieGhoulie · « **Reply #7 on:** October 18, 2006, 03:10:38 PM »

Hailwood. If he was alive today, he'd whip that little punk Rossi's ass.

nickjtc · « **Reply #8 on:** October 18, 2006, 04:27:08 PM »

Quote from: GroovieGhoulie on October 18, 2006, 03:10:38 PM

Hailwood. If he was alive today, he'd whip that little punk Rossi's ass.

You know, you're probably right there. He had a really nice flowing riding style. Having said that, I wonder how he would have adapted to double the horsepower??

heffay · « **Reply #9 on:** October 18, 2006, 04:35:31 PM »

you're right about that one nick... he never looked like he was riding aggresively, just smoothly like a snake on sand.

i can definitely feel that sort of a difference when i run the twisties on the cb350f compared to the zx7r... on one, you gotta make every move count on the other you better be damn sure you didn't miss one of those moves

scunny · « **Reply #10 on:** October 18, 2006, 09:04:58 PM »

CHRISF2 chose my man, Joey Dunlop....RIP.must have had one of the biggest set of gonads around to have raced the Isle of Mann for so long.
He raced here in NZ a few times and was one hell of a rider

nickjtc · « **Reply #11 on:** October 19, 2006, 10:11:31 AM »

There's no question that the 'others', so far, were good riders in their own way....but 'great'?? I guess it all depends on your personal definition. I admit that it is hard to hang a label like that on one rider.

Joey Dunlop was great because he tamed the TT circuit. Anyone who even attempts that is great in my opinion. My dream event would be a TT with a mix of modern MotoGP, AMA Superbike, World Superbike etc riders having at it.

ofreen · « **Reply #12 on:** October 19, 2006, 10:27:41 AM »

Quote from: scunny on October 18, 2006, 09:04:58 PM

CHRISF2 chose my man, Joey Dunlop....RIP.

I checked 'other', and Joey Dunlop is who I had in mind.

tsflstb · « **Reply #13 on:** October 24, 2006, 11:42:55 AM »

I'm not old enough to have seen the legends of the sport race, but I've got to think Rossi could hold his own with any of them. He's a world champion on 125, 250, 500s, and 990's. He adapts his riding style from bike to bike, or from week to week depending on the track and machine set up. One week he's flowing through the turns, the next week he's backing it in on the brakes. He's a natural talent and just enjoys riding. He's also damn good at it.

If you measure the greatest not by God given talent but by the size of their balls, there would be no question...Dunlop.

Tim2005 · « **Reply #14 on:** October 24, 2006, 02:21:28 PM »

Jarno Saarinen ought to make it onto that list too. It's so sad that his career was cut very short.

I found this quote about him "Phil Read is not a man who has ever readily given second best to any other racer. Yet I once asked the best man he'd ever raced against. His options included Hailwood, Agostini, Redman, Ivy, Roberts, and just about anyone else you can think of in 20 years at the top of his sport - including, you suspected, himself. Read mulled it over for a whole nanosecond: 'Jarno Saarinen, no question', he replied. 'Different class'."

Ibsen · « **Reply #15 on:** October 24, 2006, 11:14:59 PM »

Mike "The Bike" Hailwood.

According to a report on the website of UK Weekly Motorcycle News, Hollywood is to turn Mike Hailwood’s life story into a movie.
The producer of the Oscar-nominated Capote – Michael Ohove - is bringing the story to the big screen. Written by Paul Pender it chronicles the heroic life of the 10 times world champion and features what is being promoted as one of the “most emotional moments of 20th century sport” – Hailwood’s victorious Isle of Man TT comeback.

Hailwood's story is unique. He is the only sportsman ever awarded the Queen's highest civilian award for bravery, the George Medal, for rescuing a fellow racer from an inferno after a crash.
The project has the backing of Hailwood’s family.

http://www.mikethebike.com/links.htm

http://www.superbikeplanet.com/mikehailwood.htm

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A9405119

But also Joey Dunlop was a great racer. The people of the city Ballymoney, in Nothern Ireland, have built a memorial park for Joey Dunlop, who was born in that city.

http://www.v-four.freeserve.co.uk/joeydunlop.htm

http://foodman123.com/joey.htm

nickjtc · « **Reply #16 on:** October 25, 2006, 06:24:42 AM »

Quote from: Ibsen on October 24, 2006, 11:14:59 PM

Mike "The Bike" Hailwood.
According to a report on the website of UK Weekly Motorcycle News, Hollywood is to turn Mike Hailwood’s life story into a movie.

I'm excited.....as long as they don't 'Hollywood-ise' it.

mcpuffett · « **Reply #17 on:** October 27, 2006, 10:59:32 AM »

mike the bike , and valentino if he carries on for a few more years

Dragman836 · « **Reply #18 on:** November 04, 2006, 04:37:03 AM »

Quote from: dusterdude on October 18, 2006, 01:57:12 PM

you forgot jim mcclure and larry mcbride

You forgot Tony"The Tiger"Lang

DickJNY · « **Reply #19 on:** December 19, 2006, 11:25:24 AM »

- Too many to single out just one; but don't forget there are all types of racing too ...
- Bruce Penhall ... Speedway World Champion (1981-82)
- Bernie Schriber ... Trials World Champion ... Dick J. - NY

heffay · « **Reply #20 on:** December 19, 2006, 12:29:07 PM »

this is for the ones that watch speed tv way too much...

if Tom Meentz were a motorcycle racer/builder... he'd have been dead the first day OR the greatest motorcycle racer of all time OR maybe both since he is so awesome at those WOW moments.

^pseudo thread jack

News:

Poll

So, who is the greatest racer on two wheels, to date? Why?

Author Topic: Greatest motorcycle racer to date? (Read 5633 times)

USN20

Ibsen

DickJNY