While it’s widely known that MotoAmerica president Wayne Rainey was a three-time 500cc Grand Prix World Champion and a two-time AMA Superbike Champion–his talents on two wheels put him in rarified air as an international motorcycle road racing legend, an AMA Hall of Fame legend, and this writer’s all-time favorite hero–what’s a little less known is Rainey’s prodigious talent on four wheels. Specifically, four very small, extremely fast wheels on a Yamaha TZ250-powered superkart built by Rainey’s father Sandy and capable of top speeds in excess of 140 miles per hour.
Rainey’s kart was equipped with motorcycle-style handlebars instead of a steering wheel, and with hand controls that put Rainey on a level playing field–or track, more accurately–with his competitors, who included Eddie Lawson, Kenny Roberts, and Valentino Rossi in one specific race. Rainey also competed in an event called the World Superkart Challenge at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, which Lawson raced in, as well.
Rainey and his superkart were chronicled in articles that appeared in the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and Motorsport.com, along with the UK’s Motor Sport Magazine.
This week, the online motorcycle and powersports auction house Iconic Motorbike Auctions listed Rainey’s superkart on their site. Noted motorcycle technician Oliver Hutchinson, who has been a crewmember for Yamaha’s factory road racing team, Graves Motorsports, Yoshimura Suzuki, and Westby Racing and is a certified two-stroke expert and aficionado, works for Iconic Motorbike Auctions and prepped the superkart for sale.
So, if you want to own the Boss’s Wheels, now is your chance.
