Vale Vale Vale! He's simply the best. Master of everything on some of the most wickedly powerful race bikes ever built--if you haven't seen one in person, go watch a GP race whenever you can. I'd put down some of the man's records but you can wikipedia that and see for yourself. Aside from that, you just have to love watching The Doctor operate. Hokay, 'nuff man-crushing for meow.
I'm surprised Ricky Gadson isn't on your list. He's the winningest professional drag racer in AMA Prostar Drag Racing history and a national champion eight-times over. I knew his nephew when I lived in Philadelphia.
The GOATs are by no means limited to my list. It was just a few of my favorites. I want to hear from the rest of y'all. It doesn't have to be just the ones on my list.
Gadsen and Carmichael were great additions. I could go on and on:
Gary Nixon Dick Mann Phil Read Barry Sheene Yvon DuHamel Rex Beauchamp Cal Rayborn (one of the best there ever was) Eddie Lawson One important name I forgot: MIKE HAILWOOD.
Pete McCrary, Sep 13 2009, 07:36 PMWho is the GOAT (Greatest of All Time) in motorcycle racing?
Rossi - He's won championships than anyone.
Jarno Sarrien - Did so much in so little time. Brillance cut short.
Agostini - Need I say more.
Roberts, Sr - Led the American invasion. Multiple AMA champion. Won on short track, half miles, miles, TT's, 250, 500, etc.
Rainey - So talented. Again, brillance cut short.
Spencer - 250 & 500 championship in the same season.
Joey Dunlop - A real road racer that raced on real roads.
???????????
Your opinions please brothers and sisters.
Does the name Mick Doohan ring a bell. 5x World 500 Champion "after" an almost career ending injury. Dont think he'd be ahead of Rossi but as far as road racers i'd have him up there with everyone else. Dunlop, Hislop and all those other crazy TT racers are hard to dismiss, WSB and GP riders wont even touch what these guys do so its an impossible question really. They dont get their due respects in the racing world IMO.
I added a poll with most of the guys included in the thread, incorperating GP, Dirt, Baja 1000 champs, trials, world superbike, drag racing, and well there is a limit to 20 entries.
Yea ... Malcom would have been my vote for #1.... Since he wasn't on the list, I went with Joey Dunlop..... That's cool that Malcome's your friend..... I met another friend of Malcome's in the early 60's..... Talked to him for about 10 min.... 'bout bikes... What else?.... Steve McQueen........
Yeah, yeah, Rossi wins a lot. But he pussed out when asked if he wanted to race at the Isle - and so, as the saying goes - Joey Dunlop's "yer maun". (IMG:style_emoticons/default/fing02.gif) Besides, you can't fit balls the size of grapefruits onto a GP bike. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)
I Had to go with Hailwood, Dunlop, and Roberts(for different reasons). But the older TT riders were tough as nails and did amazing things with VERY primitive bikes. Hailwood got the nod for coming back out of retirement and blistering the TT, after racing F1 for (I think 8 years). (The IOM TT racers are the real deal, name another track/Race that has its own CEMETERY, and memorial to the fallen)
If Rossi comes out of retirement at 44 yrs. old and takes the podium at Misano....(pick the event)....then I will be just as impressed(yea like that could ever happen).
I hate to leave out Fast Freddie, He really deserves a nod.
Being the greatest does not always equate to just wins, there is a bit more to it. (primadonnas come and go class acts are remembered long after they are gone)
At first I voted for Vale but then I saw Joey Dunlop in the list. Anyone who can do what Joey and the others do or did on the island have balls like an elephant and get my vote everytime. Vale is basically in the same ranking though. The stone walls and wrought iron fences just pushed Joey up ever so slightly.
Hard to pin GOAT on any one person, in MX alone we've left off Roger DeCoster and Jim Pomeroy, but as for roadracing and with the names on this list the one racer I'd like to sit down with to bang back a few pints would be Mike The Bike Hailwood. And Joey Dunlop... and Valentifumi Rossi... and Bazza Sheene... and Ago... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beer.gif)
I think the only way this "research" could fly would be to narrow it down to the best rider of any one decade, then we could ask, who is GOD? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/goofy.gif)
SEBSPEED, Sep 14 2009, 03:21 AMYeah, yeah, Rossi wins a lot. But he pussed out when asked if he wanted to race at the Isle - and so, as the saying goes - Joey Dunlop's "yer maun". (IMG:style_emoticons/default/fing02.gif) Besides, you can't fit balls the size of grapefruits onto a GP bike. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)
Photo: Italy�s Valentino Rossi, left, and motor cycling legend Giacomo Agostini ride Yamaha R1 motorcycles during a demonstration lap of the Isle of Man TT circuit Saturday June 6, 2009.
Someone I can't believe we have all left all the list - John Surtees. The only man to win championships on both 2 and 4 wheels. The modern equivalent of being a MotoGP champion and a Formula 1 champion.
There are many worthy competitors. I voted Rossi, hands down. That said you can't make a good comparison between him and riders from past eras. Joey Dunlop looks like a good vote, and a few others too. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/fing02.gif)
JBAXX, Sep 15 2009, 11:52 PMI voted Valentino Rossi but for the love of pasta can we at least spell his name right in the poll? Valintino???? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/blink.gif)
Hey, I'm innocent on that part. I don't know who took my original post and turned it into a poll.
I voted Valentino Rossi but for the love of pasta can we at least spell his name right in the poll? Valintino???? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/blink.gif)
And if one of the mods changes his name maybe he can change that of Jarno Saarinen & Freddie Spencer too.
I voted Joey Dunlop as I think riding a TT course is the most demanding form of streetracing there is. It is not only the walls being so dangerously close but also the rapid change of conditions: in bright sunlight on dry roads to slippery moist roads in the shade of the trees, and lots of bind corners.
Malcolm Smith gets my vote too.
End of thread · 32 posts recoveredWayback Machine snapshot 18 Sep 2009
