Motorcycle racing legend Dick Mann dead at 87

Dick Mann seen here in a 2015 file photo. Mann died on April 26.

In a 2015 interview with R-C Sports Editor Dave Price, Mann described his feelings about his renown.

“I don’t know,” he said. “I never looked for peaks and valleys. As long as it’s stable, I’m happy. If I had any different attitude, I’d never turned out to be a professional racer.”

Mann won two dozen national events from 1958-1972.

“I wasn’t that talented,” he said, with his characteristic modesty. “It was dedication and being hard-headed that was the key to the success I had.”

Mann told Price that he didn’t race for glamor or fun.

“I never looked at it as fun,” he said. “I wanted to be a professional athlete and I could do the best on motorcycles.”

Mann won two Grand National Championships, Mann was touted as one of the greatest to ever compete in various motorcycle racing disciplines, the association said. Mann is best known for being the first person to ever win all five types of circuit included in the AMA Grand National Championship: short track, TT, half-mile, mile and road race.

Mann continued to contribute to the legacy of motorcycle racing by influencing some of the greatest names in flat track including Gene Romero, Gary Nixon, Mert Lawwill, Kenny Roberts and Dave Aldana.

Mann was inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1993 and the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 1998.