A Motorcycling Icon Remembered—Malcolm Smith, 1941-2024

The news came as an unexpected surprise and with deeply-felt hurt. A fellow moto journalist posted a nice photo of Malcolm Smith. No statement, no words—but I knew what it meant. 

We, the motorcycle community, have lost one of our greatest heroes. Malcolm Smith passed away on November 26, 2024.

I assume a good many of you are familiar with him. Malcolm came to international fame in Bruce Brown’s breakthrough 1971 documentary, On Any Sunday. 

An entire generation adopted him as their hero. As one of the film’s featured characters, the versatile motorcycle racer and good-spirited man became an inspiration for many of us to get into a life of motorcycles.

Malcolm Smith, along with On Any Sunday’s other stars, Mert Lawwill and Steve McQueen (as well as Bruce Brown), gave us license to chase motorcycling. They altered the public perception of motorcycles, ushering in a more respectable reputation, which helped many of us get our parents’ reluctant permission to get on a motorcycle.

I was one of those kids who walked into a theater at the spry age of 13 to watch the first matinee of On Any Sunday. I emerged at midnight a different person, having watched it five times straight through. In that one day, Malcolm became a motorcycling god to me.

Fast-forward 40 years, and I had become a motorcycle journalist. In 2011, I had the honor of authoring a special 40th anniversary feature about On Any Sunday. I, along with a video crew, were invited to spend two days at Bruce Brown’s ranch in Goleta, CA. Mert Lawwill came down from Tiburon (he still lives in the house featured in the movie) and Malcolm came up from Riverside. 

Needless to say, we were in heaven at this gathering of icons.

For the next two days, these three men held court riding around Bruce’s property, sitting on the porch, and telling stories that had us spellbound. After all, they had been instrumental in getting all of us to select our chosen paths.

For those who never had the pleasure to meet Malcolm, I assure you the infectiously kind and humorous persona he presented in the film is who he was. Interviews aside, I had the opportunity to spend some alone time with him. 

He talked a great deal about his family, the film, riding, and appreciating people. He was adamant about having a good time, with motorcycles being a significant part of his life. He told me at the time that since he had begun riding as a young teen, he had ridden almost every single weekend of his life.

Malcolm was generous. He built and supported an orphanage in Mexico, wanting to give back to the country he loved and which had given him so much—camping trips, riding adventures, and numerous wins in major sanctioned desert races which built his legend. I’m happy to say the feature we did generated significant sales of the special On Any Sunday DVD, with proceeds going directly to Malcolm’s charitable efforts.

Malcolm was 83 when he passed. He lived his life exactly as he wanted. Without ego, he became an icon in the two-wheeled world, and his legacy will live on. 

I keep conjuring the image of that final scene in On Any Sunday, with Malcolm, Mert, and Steve riding on the beach, leaving a thousand tracks in the moist sand, the sunset blushing over the Pacific. I like to think that’s exactly what he’s doing now. 

Godspeed, Malcolm. Thank you for all you gave us.