Kevin Windham Announces Retirement

The decorated racing career of GEICO Honda’s Kevin Windham has come to a close. Ending his 19-year professional career on Saturday night at Anaheim’s Angel Stadium, the veteran finished with 19 wins from more than 200 supercross starts, with two Supercross Lites titles and three season runner-up places included.

Windham wanted to stretch his career through the 2014 supercross season, but after suffering a crash in Houston that ended his 2012 season, and a spill and concussion at the Monster Energy Cup last October, the dangers of the sport weighed too heavy on his mind.

“I would love nothing more than to ride forever,” said Windham. “To the fans of supercross, this might seem to be a hasty decision, but I’ve been talking to a lot of people for a lot of months. I thought I would be able to come into the season and ride myself out of that funk and that mental hurdle I was having to overcome. With every passing lap – be it at the test track, my home track, or the stadium – it became more and more difficult to ride with the clarity I needed to be safe, fast, and successful. The common comment from the people I’ve spoken to was that if you aren’t riding with clarity, you are asking your fears to come upon you. It wasn’t the storyline I wanted to write or the final chapter I envisioned, but it became obvious, and we’ll try and figure out what’s next.”

GEICO Honda Team Manager, Mike LaRocco, said he saw the first signs of Windham seriously mulling retirement starting at the first race of the season. “He was kind of coming to the races stressing about things that guys don’t normally stress about,” said LaRocco. “I knew at that time that when you think that way, it’s the beginning of the end. He was worrying about things he shouldn’t be worrying about, especially considering his experience and talent. Having been there myself, you just can’t get it out of your head. So, when you are comfortable with what you’ve done and what you have, it’s hard taking that risk.”

Windham’s last win came at Salt Lake City in 2010, the second of back-to-back victories he had for GEICO Honda that season. “The whole GEICO Honda program along with sponsors MSR and DVS has been great,” said Windham. “I’m in a good place with a good team. My team and sponsors are behind me with this decision, and I hope the 40,000 people in the stands tonight will be, too.”

The veteran rider, who has become a universal fan favorite over the last few years, said that the connection with the sport’s loyal following will be what he misses the most about racing. “The fans of supercross have been amazing to me,” said Windham. “Those trophies aren’t made of anything, and they’ll just sit there and collect dust. When you have people who come up and share their favorite moments that you gave them, it’s a huge part of why I stuck around as long as I did. It means something to them, and in turn those memories mean something to me.”

Windham said he plans on spending time with his wife, Dottie, and children, Madelyn, Annabelle, Elizabeth, and Kevin Jr. However, he doesn’t plan to wander too far from the sport that’s been such a large part of his life. “I’ve been racing motorcycles for 31 years now, and I expect I’ll keep riding on some level,” said Windham. “I’ll ride with my son, who wants to start to ride right now. I want to help all my kids do everything they want to do. I don’t know what I’m going to do next. My Planet Fitness clubs are doing great, and I’ve got a great family.”

“When I was 16 years old, I felt like I was losing my weekends because of racing. It didn’t take me long to realize that my weekends were already being spent with my family – my racing family. We’ll find that next chapter, and I don’t think it will be too far away from where I’m at right now.”