Just Your Average, Retired F1 Legend
Just Your Average, Retired F1 Legend
By Dirck Edge
You can argue about the identity of the greatest automobile racer of all time, but any discussion of this subject must include the name Michael Schumacher. Schumacher has seven Formula One World championships (the last coming in 2004) and 91 F1 victories. Both are records.
All this success in F1 earned Schumacher upwards of $50,000,000 per year in the later stages of his career. Still in his 30s, and with his massive wealth, you might wonder what Michael Schumacher does in his spare time. He races motorcycles. Quite well, actually.
The racing part is relatively new, but Schumacher has been a motorcycle enthusiast (a "motorcycle nut" might be more to the point) for a long time. Owning everything from cruisers to sport bikes, Schumacher has applied his massive skill behind the wheel of a race car to riding motorcycles. The results have been rather stunning.
Although the racing has been relatively low profile, Schumacher caught the attention of motorcycle enthusiasts when he circulated the Valencia track just five seconds off the lap record while testing Casey Stoner's Ducati 800 late last year. Some extremely fast journalists (some of whom race) attended the same demonstration ride where they could sample various MotoGP machines. Schumacher blew virtually every one of them into the weeds with his speed on two wheels. For now, Schumacher says riding motorcycles is simply a hobby of his, and he has no ambitions to turn it into a profession.
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