WI Michael Schumacher became a MotoGP driver, instead of Formula 1?

Alue26

This is something I came up with while watching a video of Ride 2, a motorcycle racing game. Someone said something about Michael Schumacher, and I came up with this idea...

What If Michael Schumacher actually focused on motorcycle racing, instead of car racing? Would be become just as legendary as he was in Formula 1, or would he fade into obscurity like so many others?

Give your ideas below...
 

Archibald

Banned
Formula One in the 2000's would be much, much, much less boring and I wouldn't stop watching the races as per OTL...
 
MonaroLS

MonaroLS

Don't know if he would have been successful. That was the era of Rainey, Swantz and then Doohan. And Doohan was like a metronome when it came to his racing. The legend of the era (and yes other eras had their own legends).

Personally, up against those guys, don't think he would stack up
 

ejr1963

MonaroLS said:
Don't know if he would have been successful. That was the era of Rainey, Swantz and then Doohan. And Doohan was like a metronome when it came to his racing. The legend of the era (and yes other eras had their own legends).

Personally, up against those guys, don't think he would stack up
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MotoGP is actually the era after this. It began in 2002. Rainey and Schwantz both quit racing GP, due to injuries back in the mid 90s. Mad Mick quit racing after 1999 (again probably due to years worth of injuries - his right leg was basically permanently trashed from a crash on the track), and IMO, he was one of the reasons why MotoGP came about. Him winning several years in a row, being a phenomenal rider, and riding one of the Big 4 machines (Honda), that had a lot of expensive R&D put into it (that most other teams couldn't afford), and on another "same old same old" 4 cylinder 500cc bike (in 1968, the FIM, drastically restricted the engine types that could be used in GP motorcycles - no more wacky 6 cylinder 500s or 250s. no more 5 cylinder 125cc bikes with 8 speed transmissions that revved to 20,000 plus rpm, etc.), brought about the MotoGP rules that allowed some engine variety (at least for a few years - lately IMO, it's become like Superbike on steroids, due to engine restrictions existing again), and the shaking up of things competition-wise (neither Aprilia, nor Ducati [with the exception of a short period on the late 80s or early 90s] competed in the old [premier] 500cc class, whereas they both compete in MotoGP).

As for Michael Schmacher - if he was as good a rider as he was a driver, yeah, he could have made some waves in MotoGP, but while crossover rider/drivers have done well, they have seemed to be better at one (riding or driving) than the other. Also, IMO Formula 1 is by far more popular than MotoGP (as much as I hate to admit it, since I'm a motorcycle rider), so if Schumacher was top dog in MotoGP, instead of Formula 1, he wouldn't be as well known.
 
MonaroLS

MonaroLS

I was taking the question verbatim. So imagined Schumacher getting into the top line when he started in F1, which was '91. So therefore he would have been up against those blokes. And there were a lot of other good to great riders at the time that had difficulty with these guys as teammates.
 

ejr1963

Just Leo said:
I don't really think motor racing works like that. It wouldn't be racing.
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True, but how do you base success in motorsport? It's typically by the number of wins you have, or as a secondary consideration, how much money you make doing it.

John Surtees was successful in both motorcycle, and auto racing. He raced cars and motorcycles about the same amount of time (about 10 years), but I always remember him more for his success riding MV Agusta, and Norton Manx motorcycle. YMMV If you're more of an auto lover, you'll probably focus more on what he did in auto racing. If you're more of a motorcyclist, you'll focus on what he did, when he raced motorcycles.

Mike Hailwood is another "sort of" Surteeslike example. He had phenomenal success riding for Honda in the 60s, which is remembered more (along with his comeback win in the 1978 isle of Man TT on a Ducati, years after he'd retired from motorcycle racing), than what he did in auto racing.

Here's a thought - you hear more about motorcycle racers crossing over into auto racing, than vise versa.
 

Just Leo

I can only recall riders going into car racing and not the other way. It's probably the money. I've a nephew who went from Iron man to bicycle racing for the money. He didn't find it though.

Mike the Bike participated in duels with Giacomo Agostini in the 500 class and Phil Read, Speedy Ready, in the 350, so his victories were earned. One championship was so close that the final race was won when Ago's MV Agusta broke a points spring. I think Ago tried a car or two as well.

Breaking into Formula 1 isn't that easy, apparently. How many championships did Graham Hill win? He did win a triple crown, but he got into motor racing from row boats.
 

ejr1963

Just Leo said:
I can only recall riders going into car racing and not the other way. It's probably the money. I've a nephew who went from Iron man to bicycle racing for the money. He didn't find it though.

Mike the Bike participated in duels with Giacomo Agostini in the 500 class and Phil Read, Speedy Ready, in the 350, so his victories were earned. One championship was so close that the final race was won when Ago's MV Agusta broke a points spring. I think Ago tried a car or two as well.

Breaking into Formula 1 isn't that easy, apparently. How many championships did Graham Hill win? He did win a triple crown, but he got into motor racing from row boats.
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Yep, Mike the Bike has some epic duels with Ago, and Read. And yes, to the best of my knowledge he did try car racing after he left Honda, and yeah it does seem to be very hard to break into Formula 1 racing - especially since privateers seem to be even less competitive in Formula 1 (due to there being even more factory exotica in car racing, than motorcycle racing), and as a result, to make any kind of a decent living in Formula 1, you pretty much have to race for a factory team (I'm also lumping in the big sponsor owned teams, since they seem to have the cash to buy the factory race cars).

I didn't know that Graham Hill did row boats before he went into car racing. That's interesting. Thanks for the info.
 
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