Joey Dunlop 10 years on
 

On July 2nd 2000 Joey Dunlop, the most successful road racer of all time on the Isle of Man with 26 TT wins unfortunately lost his life whilst racing in Tallin Estonia.

It was only a month previous to this, that at the age of 48 we had seen Joey win 3 TT's in a week, much has been written about the great man who is sorely missed by TT and road race fans worldwide.

Virtual Visit - Joey Dunlop Memorial Garden - Ballymoney, County Antrim, Northern Ireland

http://www.ttwebsite.com/features/joeydunlop/

When I lived on the west coast of Wales ,I used to listen to the TT on the radio .
I remember when "yer man" Joey beat Mike Hailwood's record number of TT wins [ 21 was it Dave ?] ,anyway Joey almost apologised for beating the record and said it was a shame that Mike's record no longer stood and he'd never wanted to beat it .
A modest sportsman ,very rare these days .
The hair used to stand up on the back of my neck at the sound of him opening up one of the big Hondas as he rocketed up the mountain .
Sadly missed .

Mike Hailwood had 14 TT wins, which was no mean feat considering the classes he rode in. Joey got wins in numerous classes, including 125 and 250's to total 26.

An interesting website about the Isle of Man TT is Welcome to iomtt.com - The official Isle of Man TT website

Heroes, every one of them!
 

Nice post about "yer man". He was a great sportsman (not to many of those about today), and a tremendous competitor, but the recognition he got from the main stream sporting press was woefull. You need to sit on Sulby Straight as they go by, inches from us spectators at 200mph, or watch the bike "bottom out" at the foot of Bray Hill with only a slim racing line between traffic lights, pillar boxes, garden walls and lamp-posts to realise that these men are the modern day gladiators.
I have spent some of the best weeks of my life on the island and go away every time with total admiration for these riders. Moto GP? Pussies compared with this lot!
From the first placed rider to the last man home, I raise a drink to them all.

For two weeks, every year, on the Isle of Man, thats where the sportsmen with the biggest balls hang out!