IN
THE
WIND
P40
Gene Romero Passes Away,
Motorcycle Hall of Famer was 71
G
ene Romero, the 1970 AMA
Grand National Champion
and winner of the 1975 Daytona
200, passed away on Sunday,
May 12. He was 71.
Romero won 12 AMA nationals
during his 16-year racing career.
He was one of the early riders to
bring sponsorship into the sport
from outside the motorcycling in-
dustry. In 1970, Romero won the
prestigious AMA Most Popular
Rider of the Year Award.
His 1970 AMA Grand National
Championship was immortalized
in the famous racing documen-
tary movie On Any Sunday.
The biggest win of Romero's
career was the 1975 Daytona
200. He rode the first half of
the race in fourth place on his
factory Yamaha. Then he poured
on the speed, passing Giacomo
Agostini and Steve Baker and
taking the lead when Steve
McLaughlin crashed. Romero
cruised to victory for his only win
in 14 Daytona 200 starts.
Romero also headed up
Honda's factory flat track racing
team in the early-to-mid-1980s
and later ran a flat track series
on the West Coast.
Romero was inducted into the
AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame in
1998.
"He's going to be missed,"
said lifelong friend and fellow
racer David Aldana. "I saw him
just a month ago at the Trailblaz-
ers banquet. He was putting on
a good face, but I could tell he
wasn't feeling well. Cheri [Gene's
wife] asked me to talk to him
about going to see a doctor, but
Gene was pretty stubborn and
maybe he didn't want to hear
what they were going to tell him.
"I talked to him on the phone
just a week ago and he'd finally
gone in. He told me he had had
COPD and that maybe they were
going to have to take out one of
his lungs. But then his condition
got worse and he went downhill
fast. It's sad we lost him, but I'm
glad he didn't linger in pain for a
long time.
"He was a great guy, people
loved him and he had a major
influence on the sport of motor-
cycle racing."
Gene is survived by his wife
Cheri and son Geno.
Larry Lawrence
Legendary
motorcycle racer
Gene Romero
passed away at the
age of 71.
