MotoAmerica extends our deepest condolences to the family and friends of AMA Motorcycle Hall of Famer Steve Wise on his sudden passing. He was 68 years old.
One of the original “five-tool athletes” in motorcycle racing, Wise is the only rider in history to win AMA National races in outdoor motocross, Supercross, and road racing. He also earned a podium finish in the AMA Grand National Championship and at the very first Grand National Dirt Track.
We recently mentioned Wise in one of our “throwback” social media posts because he was featured prominently in Superbikers, the yearly event created for ABC-TV in which the top riders in road racing, flat track, and motocross were invited to compete against each other on a single course that integrated all three forms of racing.
Riding factory Hondas, Wise outpaced a who’s-who of superstar riders en route to a pair of back-to-back Superbikers victories in 1980 and 1981. That put Wise in the national spotlight, and it earned him a Honda factory AMA road racing contract in 1982.
Wise nearly won the 1982 AMA Formula One championship in his first AMA road racing season, falling just three points short of Mike Baldwin. His runner-up result in AMA F1 road racing, combined with his unexpected podium finish in his first-ever appearance in an AMA Grand National Dirt Track race at the Houston TT, resulted in Wise being named the 1982 AMA Pro Athlete of the Year.
The pinnacle of Wise’s motorcycle racing career was in 1983 when he became the first and only motocross winner to switch over to road racing and win an AMA National, notching a Superbike win at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.
Sadly, injuries derailed Wise’s promising career in AMA Superbike, and he retired shortly after his victory at Mid-Ohio. Following his racing career, Wise became an ordained minister and started a real estate investment company.
He was inducted into the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 2001 and served as the Grand Marshal of AMA Vintage Motorcycle Days in 2023.
Godspeed, Steve Wise.
