Sign up forPosted February 5, 2007
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Hall of Famer Bart Markel: 1935-2007
Three-time AMA Grand National Champion Bart Markel died Saturday, February
3, in his home town of Flint, Michigan. He was 71.
Markel, who was inducted into the Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 1998, held the record for most AMA Grand National wins for 12 years, until his mark was broken by Jay Springsteen.
Markel was the first of a series of extraordinary flat-track racers to emerge from the Flint area, including Springsteen, Scott Parker and Randy Goss. The four combined account for 17 Grand National titles.
"I'm sure that Bart really started that trend in this area," Parker
(shown in photo at left with Markel) said
in a 2002 interview. "He did it, and the next thing you know, this area
becomes a hot-bed of dirt-trackers."
Markel, a former Golden Gloves boxing champ who also served in the Marine Corps, was known for his pugnacious attitude on the track.
"If we got into a corner where you had to stay on the groove, and they moved over an inch, I'd put a wheel on them," Markel once recalled. "If they gave me an inch, I'd take a foot."
Read more about Markel's career in his Hall of Fame biography.
A memorial service is being planned by the Swartz Funeral Home in Flint.