Big Read: It’s Randy Mamola!
Grand Prix icon has beaten the best and still remains in the MotoGP paddock 42 years after his arrival in 1979
If one man epitomises the wild heyday of 500 Grand Prix racing, it’s Randy Mamola. He may never have won the big prize of becoming world champion, but boy did he come close. In fact he remains arguably the greatest rider never to win the 500GP title, finishing second four times. His lack of ultimate success wasn’t down to a lack of talent though – more of fact of racing against the true giants of the sport including Kenny Roberts, Barry Sheene, Freddie Spencer, Eddie Lawason and Wayne Rainey.
It’s over 40 years since Mamola secured his first runner-up spot in 1980. Fast forward to 2021 and he remains in the paddock with close ties to Monster Energy and also biking charity Two Wheels for Life. MotoGP writer Eric Johnson sat down with the 61-year-old legend for a whistlestop tour of his life…
I wanted to be Ringo Starr!
“I was born in 1959 and music has always been a big part of my life. In 1964 The Beatles came over and were on the Ed Sullivan Show. Even though I was young, I lived through 1960s and it was exciting time and it was an exciting time for television. Everything was live and from the age of five or six, I wanted to be Ringo Starr; I wanted to be a Beatle. My parents bought me a set of drums when I was eight and my teacher was the drummer from the Tom Jones Show when it was on TV in America.”
‘I was 17 and already had over 600 trophies, 400 for winning’
Motorcycles changed my life
“Just before I turned 12, a friend of ours had a little Honda Monkey bike and they asked me if I wanted to ride it and, dude, once I rode it I didn’t want to get off! The thing was that my parents couldn’t afford drum lessons and for me to ride a motorcycle, so I had to give up one. The decision came quite easily. Riding a motorcycle meant I didn’t have to sit in front of music and study it and I could just go out and ride and that’s what I did, and basically my life took off from there.”
I was fast right away
“Even at 16, I was only 4ft 10in and 85 pounds [six stone], I was fast right away. I took to it like a duck to water. I won many trophies. Then I met Buster Roberts and Jim Doyle, who was Kenny Roberts’ manager. Buster saw me riding at Fremont and went to Jim and said, ‘If you want to find a fast kid, this is the one I’d take.’ From meeting Jim I became semipro going from novice to expert in 13 months on indoor short track races.”
Yamaha wanted me to be Kenny Roberts’ protégé
“Jim Doyle and I went down to Yamaha USA and I signed a two-year deal. I rode in Yamaha yellow and black leathers, Yamaha wanted me to be the protégé of Kenny Roberts. Kenny was six-and-a-half years older than me - when I was 14, Kenny was number one in America. I met him at Cow Palace racing in San Francisco and I still have the photograph of Kenny that he signed for me. I just looked up to the guy. He was number one and he was cool and he was something I wanted to be.”
We were never afraid of speed
“When I signed the deal with Yamaha, on top of all my dirt track bikes, they also gave me a TA125 which was a water-cooled road racer. At this point I also met a racer named Ron Grant and he started to help me learn how to ride. Because I was only 14, I had to race in AFM (American Federation of Motorcycles) and I won my first seven road races. Everybody
‘Kenny was No1. He was so cool and something I wanted to be’