F
ranco Uncini, the dark-horse
champion of the 1982 500cc
Grand Prix World Championship,
was perhaps one of the least-
known GP champs of his era. To
Americans, he, and Marco Luc-
chinelli, who'd won the title the
year before, were little more than
the short Italian interval between
"King Kenny" and "Fast Freddie."
Uncini was a hero to many
because he thumbed his nose
at what he perceived as lowball
offers by factory teams and ran
his own GP effort funded by his
wealthy family—who, incidentally,
tried like hell to keep him from
racing motorcycles in the first
place. Yet, once they under-
stood that young Franco was go-
ing to race no matter what, they
got behind him 100 percent.
Even today, little is known
about Uncini, and that's a
shame, because he had one of
the most colorful, drama-filled
careers in motorcycle Grand
Prix racing. It's ironic that Un-
cini was anonymous in America,
especially considering he once
road-raced as a factory Harley-
Davidson rider, wearing the
same black-and-orange leath-
ers donned by Jay Springsteen
and Corky Keener. Further-
more, Uncini survived two of
the most gruesome crashes in
GP history (one of them can be
seen on YouTube if you're not
too squeamish). Also, he was
the last Italian to win the world
title before Valentino Rossi, and
behind the scenes he quietly
went about changing the face
of motorcycle grand prix racing,
helping to make the tracks infi-
nitely safer for the generations
of racers to follow.
From all accounts, Uncini had
a nearly idyllic upbringing. His
family owned an international
electronics firm that produced
electronic keyboards. Ennio
Uncini enjoyed helping his sons
Franco and Henry dive into what-
ever whimsical pastimes they de-
cided to pursue, and there were
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Franco Uncini: THE ANONYMOUS
BY LARRY LAWRENCE
Franco Uncini won the
FIM Road Race World
Championship in 1982.
PHOTO: GOLD & GOOSE
