Retirement is a nasty word among racers. Retirement means you’re quitting for good, giving up, and successful racers do neither of those. A racer might lose a race, but will never quit a race. As Harley-Davidson’s race director for many years, the late Dick O’Brien once explained, “You can tell when a guy’s over the top. Some guys blame equipment. They don’t want to blame themselves, which means they have to give it up. It’s a tough decision.”
The late Bart Markel, a three-time AMA Grand National Champion with a record (at the time) 28 career wins to his credit, discovered that to be true during the autumn of his storied racing career. As Markel approached 40 years of age he realized that he had lost his racer’s edge: “I determined I couldn’t win any more. I’d lost something — my eyesight wasn’t quite as good as it used to be, my coordination wasn’t quite as good as it used to be. Hell, I guess nothing’s quite as good as it used to be. It goes slowly, and it’s hard to understand or even realize when it’s happening. That’s the hard part about retiring [from racing].” So Markel solemnly hung up his steel shoe to end his enviable professional racing career.
Another AMA Grand National Champion (1972), Mark Brelsford retired the hard way. Injury from a crash forced him into the pits a final time. Having survived a spectacular and fiery crash at the 1973 Daytona 200, Brelsford recuperated, only to be involved in a multi-bike pileup at the Columbus Half-Mile later in the season. Brelsford left the track with a serious leg injury that forced him into a prolonged hospital convalescence where he nearly died twice from post-op infections. It was enough to prompt him into retirement, terminating a promising career. Years later when asked about Brelsford’s injury-related retirement, O’Brien suggested, “I think he figured he’d gambled enough after that.” A body can withstand only so much punishment.
Having survived a multitude of crashes, it was finances, not injuries, that directed two-time AMA GN Champion Gary Nixon to the pit lane a final time. “I retired because there wasn’t enough money to pay the [racing] bills,” he told me a few years later. Then I asked him if he still attended races, spectating from the sidelines. He did, he told me, and as an afterthought, he added, “Yeah, I guess I like watching races — it’s better than watching nothing.”
Interestingly, one of the all-time great motocross racers, Roger “The Man” De Coster, thought nothing about announcing his retirement. After winning both motos at the 1980 Luxembourg Grand Prix, De Coster calmly announced from the winner’s box these words to a stunned crowd: “This is my 44th victory in Grand Prix and my last, too. I’m quitting.” And in a heartbeat the magic was gone.
Originally published as “Racers Never Quit — Or Do They?” in the July/August 2023 issue of Motorcycle Classics magazine.
