Mike Sullivan (44W) leads defending national champ Jay Springsteen (1) and other riders in practice for the 1979 Houston TT in the Astrodome.
Mike Sullivan (44W) leads defending national champ Jay Springsteen (1) and other riders in practice for the 1979 Houston TT in the Astrodome. Sullivan is retiring from racing after 40 years. He’s having a retirement party on February 20th, 2010, starting at 4 PM at the Hotel Washington and Vintage Motorcycle Museum in Chehalis, Wash.
Sullivan’s first ride on a motorcycle as a kid was on the handlebars with his dad’s buddy Evel Knievel.
Mike started his professional career as a flat tracker, later switched to road racing and went on to become one of the leading 250 Grand Prix road racers of the 1980s and ‘90s.
In 1996 Rich Oliver was simply dominating the AMA 250GP field like no other rider had before. He won every race and the margins of victory were ridiculous, often double digits, but Sullivan at least had the distinction of finishing closer to Oliver than any other rider that year when he crossed the line only 7.6-seconds behind Oliver on a real scrappers track at the Pomona Fariplex. Sullivan was 39 at the time.
Mike Sullivan
“Mike was always one of those underrate guys,” said Oliver, a five-time AMA 250 Grand Prix Champion. “I always worried what might happen if Mike ever got a really good bike or picked up a great sponsor. He did all his stuff on his own pretty much and I think given the chance to race for one of the big teams he would have been right there and surprised a lot of people.”
Sullivan will continue to run his Mike Sullivan Roadracing School and Performance Track Days.
