"I didn't like following any-
body," explained Markel in an
interview after he was inducted
into the Motorcycle Hall of Fame
in 1998. "If I needed to give
someone a little shove to get
in front of them, that's what I'd
do. I don't like to admit it, but I
guess I was a little rough. Back
then I figured if I settled for sec-
ond one week I'd settle for third
the next and so on. So I always
rode as hard as I could."
In spite of becoming the
all-time winningest rider of his
era, the one prize that eluded
Markel was victory in the Day-
tona 200. His best finish there
was fifth in 1961.
One year at Daytona, Markel
crashed early in the race and
his goggles got filled with sand.
He got back in the race, but
couldn't clear his goggles so he
discarded them.
"I was ducking my head down
on the straights and because of
the sand I would only look up
every once in a while," Markel
recalls. "Coming down the
beach at almost 140 miles per
hour, I looked up over my num-
ber plate and there was a rider
on a BMW going about 40 miles
an hour slower. I hit him and
ricocheted off into a spectator's
car. I was in the hospital a few
days for that one. Years later, a
guy came up to me and told me
I totaled his Studebaker on the
beach."
In 1968, his 10th pro season,
Markel showed that he still had
a lot of skill left when
he took five wins.
By 1969, Markel's
career was winding
down. That was the
final year that he took
more than one victory
and finished inside
the top 10 in the se-
ries standings. Markel
came back and won
races in both the
1970 and '71 seasons.
His final national
appearance came at
Atlanta on September
10, 1972. He finished
12th. Thus ended the
racing career of one
of the all-time greats
of the sport.
Markel retired from General
Motors in 1995. He and his
wife, Joann, had two children,
Bart Jr. and Stacy. He died Feb-
ruary 3, 2007. He was inducted
into the inaugural class of the
AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame in
1998.
Markel hung up his helmet
after the 1972 season, but
remained active in the sport
running teams with several of
the nation's leading motorcycle
riders.
"He was telling Ricky Graham
to run it in harder in the turns,"
recalled Scott Parker, another
Flint native who followed in
Markel's footsteps and became
the winningest AMA Grand
National racer of all time. "Ricky
would go harder and harder and
Bart was still giving him grief.
Finally, Ricky went so fast into a
turn that he ended up crashing
into the wall. When Ricky came
back to the pits Bart said to him,
'Okay, now you're going fast
enough, just back it off a little
bit.'"
Parker went on to say that
Markel was an icon in motor-
cycle racing and he inspired
several generations of top riders
that came out of the Flint area,
including AMA champions Jay
Springsteen, Randy Goss and
Parker himself. CN
VOL. 53 ISSUE 21 JUNE 1, 2016 P107
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Markel in a 1967 ad.
