A Sunday Tribute to Malcolm Smith - Memorial and Photos

You wouldn’t even need to know who Malcolm Smith was to appreciate the words of reverence and wisdom spoken in his honor at A Sunday Tribute to Malcolm, held in Riverside, California, on January 12. Friends, family, industry, and fans gathered at his powersports dealership, Malcolm Smith Motorsports, to celebrate a life well lived. The showroom floor and parking lot were completely cleared of inventory to make room for over 1,500 in attendance.

Many knew Malcolm Smith as the star of On Any Sunday, the 1971 classic motorcycling movie directed by Bruce Brown. While the Academy Award–nominated film was no doubt Smith’s greatest claim to fame, he was also revered as a racer, a businessman, a philanthropist, an advocate, and most importantly, as a family man.

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The event was a who’s who of motorcycle industry legends, a crowd that only the likes of Malcolm is capable of drawing together. Many also attended the Anaheim 1 Supercross the night before, but as several people mentioned, they came to town for the memorial, but also went to Supercross.

Speakers that offered up remembrances of Smith included Bud Feldkamp, Malcolm’s former Baja racing partner and owner of Glen Helen Raceway, Troy Lee of Troy Lee Designs, former president and COO of Tucker Rocky Frank Esposito, multitime desert racing champion Scot Harden, AMA editorial director and author of Malcolm’s autobiography Mitch Boehm, and the man himself, Roger DeCoster.

To say Malcolm lived a charmed life is an understatement. The anecdotes told of his racing adventures, even a story about “borrowing” a VW engine from a spectator in order to win a race in Baja, will leave you laughing and wondering how that could ever happen in real life. Somehow these things did happen to Malcolm. In between jokes of his notorious stinginess were also tributes to his legacy of philanthropy, notably through the work of the Malcolm Smith Motorsports Foundation and the El Oasis Orphanage in Baja California, Mexico.

The final speaker on Sunday afternoon was another legend of On Any Sunday fame, Mert Lawwill. Ushered to the podium in a wheelchair, Lawwill stood to deliver his remembrance to his old friend, and then introduced the movie itself, which played on the big screen through the end of the gathering.

Taco trucks, Hawaiian shirts, a memorial slideshow, and benchracing filled the air at Malcolm Smith Motorsports, where the laughter, banter, and “I remember when’s” outweighed the tears in what a fitting send-off to a man with such a passion for life, adventure, and motorcycles.

“Racer, actor, business owner, philanthropist, motorcyclist, hero. To the world, my father was many things. But to me he was alway just Dad. Thank you all for being with us here to celebrate his legacy.”

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