23-Time Isle Of Man TT Champ John McGuinness Could Retire After 2022

The veteran road racer made the announcement after accepting his MBE at Windsor Castle.

By: Janaki Jitchotvisut

Feb 16, 2022 at 2:37pm ET

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On February 15, 2022, road racing legend John McGuinness stopped by Windsor Castle to pick up his Member of the Order of the British Empire medal. Princess Anne presided over a ceremony of investiture, at which the MBE was officially awarded to McGuinness for his services to motorcycle racing.

The 23-time Isle of Man TT winner was smiling and full of good cheer—and also an announcement he hadn’t made before. At 49 years old, he’s usually not the youngest racer in any paddock in 2022—but regardless, he’s a veritable fixture at the TT. 2022 will be no different, as he’s planning to line up at the start just like all his competition.

“Last time I raced there I didn’t have a great TT, and I didn’t want to finish my racing career on a breakdown so this, never said it before, could possibly be my last TT but I wanted to just go there with everything, you know, all the i’s dotted and t’s crossed and go and enjoy it and see where we end up,” McGuinness told the U.K.’s PA news agency.

“We [racers] did some racing through Covid but not the road racing like in the Isle of Man so we’ve all been away for two years,” he went on.

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“The bikes are getting faster, none of us have been there so we’re all nervous, there’s a lot of anticipation but, you watch, once we get there it will be flat out, it will be 200mph, we’ll be doing what we do but, you know, it’s leading up to my 100 starts – my century of starts – I’ll be 50 years old, which is probably one of the oldest on the grid, it’s 30 years of anniversary of the Honda Fireblade, which I ride, so there’s loads of little boxes being ticked,” McGuinness explained.

We know that even good things can’t last forever, and we wish him the best of luck in all his future endeavors—racing-related or otherwise. The 2022 IOMTT is currently scheduled to run from Sunday, May 29, 2022 through Friday, June 10, 2022.