John McGuinness MBE is the gift that keeps on giving. This year marks 30 years of 'The Morecambe Missile' dropping his clutch at road races, and what he has managed to achieve over those three decades is nothing short of incredible.
McGuinness was the first rider to enter a lap time averaging above 130 mph around the Mountain Course, back in 2007 during the Senior TT, before pushing past 132 mph and reclaiming the record of the fastest average speed again in 2015. Although top average speed records grab headlines, McGuinness's career is made up of much more than those accolades, including 47 Isle of Man (IoM) TT podiums and 23 race wins, placing him third in the all-time victories list behind Michael and Joey Dunlop.
McGuinness's last win around the Mountain Course was in 2019 when he won the Classic TT. Well, that was until last week. Three decades after competing for the first time at the IoM, a 54-year-old McGuinness won the Senior race at the Classic TT, ending his seven-year victory drought.
The Classic TT doesn't get as much coverage as the main event at the IoM, but the competition is just as fierce. McGuinness had to best Michael Dunlop, Dean Harrison, Conor Cummins, and Mike Browne to earn his spot at the top of the winners' podium. That makes McGuinness the oldest rider ever to win a solo road race around the 37.7-mile course.
This win also puts McGuinness as the joint oldest rider ever to take a win around the Mountain Course, sharing the spot with John Holden, who won the Sidecar TT Race 2 in 2011 at 54 years old.
The question of retirement is never far when John McGuinness is brought up. The fact that his last win at the TT was in 2015, and his last ever at the IoM was in 2019, fueled a heavy question: why would a man who has done it all risk everything when he's done with winning? Finally, questions and notions of that sort can be put to bed, and the 'King of the Mountain' can hang up his helmet whenever he damn pleases.
