{"id":239452,"date":"2023-03-23T15:25:35","date_gmt":"2023-03-23T14:25:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rtrsports.com\/motogp-best-riders-kevin-schwantz\/"},"modified":"2026-10-01T11:39:23","modified_gmt":"2026-10-01T09:39:23","slug":"motogp-best-riders-kevin-schwantz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rtrsports.com\/en\/blog\/motogp-best-riders-kevin-schwantz\/","title":{"rendered":"Kevin Schwantz: career, 1993 title, rivalry with Rainey and number 34"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Kevin Schwantz (Houston, Texas, 19 June 1964) is a retired American rider and the 1993 500cc world champion with Suzuki. He won 25 grands prix, built his career on duels with Wayne Rainey, and his number, 34, was the first retired by the FIM. He left racing in 1995, after three races.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>Updated October 2026.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>On 26 May 1991, at Hockenheim, on the last lap, Schwantz passed Wayne Rainey with his rear tyre fishtailing on the edge of control and won the German Grand Prix. That image sums up Schwantz: one world title, 25 wins and a style always on the limit. Here is his story, from a Texas motorcycle shop to Misano 1993 and beyond.<\/p>\n<h2>Kevin Schwantz at a glance<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Born in Houston, Texas, on 19 June 1964.<\/li>\n<li>500cc world champion in 1993, with Suzuki.<\/li>\n<li>25 grand prix wins, from his debut in 1986 (at Assen) to his retirement in 1995.<\/li>\n<li>Number 34: retired by the FIM, the first number retired by the federation.<\/li>\n<li>Honours: AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame 1999, FIM &#8220;Legend&#8221; 2000, Motorsports Hall of Fame of America 2019.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/rtrsports.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/kevin_schwantz_1993_japangp.jpeg\" alt=\"Kevin Schwantz on the Lucky Strike Suzuki at the 1993 Japanese Grand Prix\" width=\"560\" height=\"400\" \/><\/p>\n<h2>From Texas to American Superbike<\/h2>\n<p>Schwantz was born in Houston, into a family of motorcyclists: his father had a motorcycle shop. He learned to ride at four, and raced first in trials and motocross. After injuries at the 1983 Houston Supercross he left motocross and moved to road racing: he won his first road race on a flat-track bike lent by his uncle, Darryl Hurst.<\/p>\n<p>In 1985 he won both heats of the Superbike round at Willow Springs. In 1986 he was second in the Daytona 200, beaten by Eddie Lawson. In 1987 his duel with <strong>Wayne Rainey<\/strong> in the American Superbike championship went to Rainey, but Schwantz closed the season by winning five of the last six races.<\/p>\n<h2>The 500cc class with Suzuki (1986-1992)<\/h2>\n<p>Schwantz made his World Championship debut in 1986 at Assen, as a wild card. From 1988 he raced full time with Suzuki and won straight away: the opening grand prix, at Suzuka, in Japan. That year he won two races and finished eighth. In 1989 he won six, including the British Grand Prix at Donington Park, with the Pepsi Suzuki, and finished fourth. In 1990 he was second in the championship.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/rtrsports.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/kevin_schwantz_1989_donington_park.jpg\" alt=\"Kevin Schwantz celebrates on the Pepsi Suzuki after winning the 1989 British Grand Prix\" width=\"458\" height=\"400\" \/><\/p>\n<h2>The duel with Rainey<\/h2>\n<p>The rivalry with Rainey is the thread of those years. At Hockenheim, on 26 May 1991, Schwantz passed him on the last lap to win, and Rainey finished second. Two years later the same rivalry had its hardest moment. On 5 September 1993, at the Italian Grand Prix at Misano, Rainey crashed while leading and was left paralysed from the chest down, with a spinal cord injury. His career ended that day.<\/p>\n<h2>The 1993 title<\/h2>\n<p>1993 had started well for Schwantz: four wins in the first half of the season, on a calendar of 14 grands prix. Late in the season Rainey had retaken the championship lead, while Schwantz was slowed by a wrist injury. After Rainey&#8217;s accident, Schwantz won the title at 29, with 248 points.<\/p>\n<h2>The number 34<\/h2>\n<p>34 was the number of his uncle Darryl Hurst, whose flat-track bikes Schwantz rode as a boy. There is also a second version, which ties it to number plates left over at Yoshimura. Whatever the truth, when Schwantz left racing the FIM retired the number: it was the first number retired by the federation.<\/p>\n<h2>Retirement in 1995<\/h2>\n<p>In 1994 Schwantz was fourth, with two wins, amid injuries and wrist problems. In 1995 he raced three times and then retired, early in the season, after a conversation with Rainey: he realised he no longer enjoyed it the way he used to. Over the years the rivalry with Rainey has turned into friendship.<\/p>\n<h2>After racing<\/h2>\n<p>After retiring Schwantz founded a riding school in his name, the Kevin Schwantz Suzuki School, and worked on the project for the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, in collaboration with the designer Hermann Tilke and with Tavo Hellmund. The circuit has hosted the Grand Prix of the Americas since 2013, and Schwantz was presented as COTA&#8217;s motorcycle ambassador in 2014. On 10 May 2025 he was guest of honour at the Suzuki Motor Fest, at the Misano circuit.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/rtrsports.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/kevin_schwantz_in_2010_cropped-scaled.jpeg\" alt=\"Kevin Schwantz in 2010, in the suit of his riding school\" width=\"316\" height=\"400\" \/><\/p>\n<h2>Schwantz by the numbers<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>25 grand prix wins, in ten seasons in the World Championship (1986-1995).<\/li>\n<li>500cc world title: 1993, with 248 points and four wins.<\/li>\n<li>Wins in 1988 and 1989: eight (two plus six).<\/li>\n<li>Number 34: retired by the FIM.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>For a comparison with another great name of the premier class, read the ranking of the <a href=\"https:\/\/rtrsports.com\/en\/blog\/the-10-best-drivers-of-motogp-ever\/\">10 best MotoGP riders of all time<\/a> and the profile of <a href=\"https:\/\/rtrsports.com\/en\/blog\/motogp-best-riders-casey-stoner\/\">Casey Stoner<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Remembering Schwantz only for that 1993 title misses the point. Twenty-five wins, a rival who became a friend, a last lap at Hockenheim that remains among the finest finishes in the World Championship. And a number that stopped being a number. <strong>The 34.<\/strong><\/p>\n<div class=\"new-blog-inline-cta\"><\/p><div><strong>Want to bring your brand to MotoGP?<\/strong><br \/>RTR Sports Marketing has been building motorsport sponsorships since 1995.<\/div><p><a href=\"https:\/\/rtrsports.com\/en\/sponsorships-motogp\/\" class=\"btn\" style=\"white-space: nowrap; margin: 10px;\">MotoGP sponsorship<\/a><br \/><\/div>\n<p><em>Images, from top: Kevin Schwantz, 1993 Japanese Grand Prix (Rikita, Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported); Kevin Schwantz celebrating on his Pepsi Suzuki after winning the 1989 British Grand Prix (Stu Newby, Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic); Kevin Schwantz at a demonstration event in 2010 (Craig Morey, Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic).<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>Sources<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Kevin_Schwantz\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Wikipedia, Kevin Schwantz<\/a>; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mshf.com\/hall-of-fame\/inductees\/kevin-schwantz.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Motorsports Hall of Fame of America, Kevin Schwantz<\/a>; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.motogp.com\/en\/riders\/kevin-schwantz\/1c49a953-e918-463b-9136-23431f08a003\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">MotoGP.com, Kevin Schwantz profile<\/a>; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.crash.net\/motogp\/racer\/1594\/kevin-schwantz\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Crash.net, Kevin Schwantz profile<\/a>; <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/1993_Grand_Prix_motorcycle_racing_season\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Wikipedia, 1993 season<\/a>; <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/1991_German_motorcycle_Grand_Prix\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Wikipedia, 1991 German Grand Prix<\/a>; <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/1989_British_motorcycle_Grand_Prix\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Wikipedia, 1989 British Grand Prix<\/a>; <a href=\"https:\/\/superbikeplanet.com\/story\/2052\/the-myth-the-uncle-and-the-plates-how-schwantz-got-34\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Superbike Planet, how Schwantz got 34<\/a>; <a href=\"https:\/\/issues.cycleworld.com\/article\/1995\/9\/1\/end-of-an-era\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Cycle World, End of an Era<\/a>; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pressreader.com\/uk\/mcn-uk\/20240117\/282866555706231\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Motorcycle News, Bitter enemies to great friends<\/a>; <a href=\"https:\/\/goodwood.com\/grr\/race\/historic\/video-one-of-the-greatest-motorcycle-gp-finishes-ever\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Goodwood, Hockenheim 1991<\/a>; <a href=\"https:\/\/kevinschwantz.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Kevin Schwantz, official website<\/a>; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cycleworld.com\/2014\/03\/27\/motogp-racing-news-kevin-schwantz-announced-as-circuit-of-the-americas-motorcycle-ambassador\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Cycle World, Schwantz as COTA ambassador<\/a>; <a href=\"https:\/\/motori.quotidiano.net\/varie\/curiosita\/schwantz-suzuki-motor-fest.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Quotidiano.net, Schwantz at the Suzuki Motor Fest 2025<\/a>.<\/p>\n    <div itemscope itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/FAQPage\" class=\"faq-schema-wrapper question-list-wrap\">\r\n\r\n                    <h2><b>Frequently asked questions<\/b><\/h2>\r\n        \r\n        <\/p>\n    <div itemscope itemprop=\"mainEntity\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/Question\" class=\"faq-item question-list-row\">\r\n\r\n        <h3 class=\"h5\" itemprop=\"name\">\r\n            <b>Who is Kevin Schwantz?<\/b>\r\n        <\/h3>\r\n\r\n        <div itemscope itemprop=\"acceptedAnswer\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/Answer\">\r\n            <div itemprop=\"text\" class=\"question-answer\">\r\n                <p>\nA retired American rider born in Houston, Texas, on 19 June 1964, 500cc world champion in 1993 with Suzuki. He won 25 grands prix and his number, 34, was retired by the FIM.<\/p>\n            <\/div>\r\n        <\/div>\r\n\r\n    <\/div>\r\n    \n    <div itemscope itemprop=\"mainEntity\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/Question\" class=\"faq-item question-list-row\">\r\n\r\n        <h3 class=\"h5\" itemprop=\"name\">\r\n            <b>How many world titles did Kevin Schwantz win?<\/b>\r\n        <\/h3>\r\n\r\n        <div itemscope itemprop=\"acceptedAnswer\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/Answer\">\r\n            <div itemprop=\"text\" class=\"question-answer\">\r\n                <p>\nOne, in 1993, in the 500cc class with Suzuki, with 248 points and four wins. He had been second in 1990.<\/p>\n            <\/div>\r\n        <\/div>\r\n\r\n    <\/div>\r\n    \n    <div itemscope itemprop=\"mainEntity\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/Question\" class=\"faq-item question-list-row\">\r\n\r\n        <h3 class=\"h5\" itemprop=\"name\">\r\n            <b>Why did Kevin Schwantz race with number 34?<\/b>\r\n        <\/h3>\r\n\r\n        <div itemscope itemprop=\"acceptedAnswer\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/Answer\">\r\n            <div itemprop=\"text\" class=\"question-answer\">\r\n                <p>\n34 was the number of his uncle Darryl Hurst, who raced flat track, and a second version ties it to number plates left over at Yoshimura. The FIM retired it when Schwantz left racing, the first number retired by the federation.<\/p>\n            <\/div>\r\n        <\/div>\r\n\r\n    <\/div>\r\n    \n    <div itemscope itemprop=\"mainEntity\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/Question\" class=\"faq-item question-list-row\">\r\n\r\n        <h3 class=\"h5\" itemprop=\"name\">\r\n            <b>When did Kevin Schwantz retire and why?<\/b>\r\n        <\/h3>\r\n\r\n        <div itemscope itemprop=\"acceptedAnswer\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/Answer\">\r\n            <div itemprop=\"text\" class=\"question-answer\">\r\n                <p>\nEarly in the 1995 season, after three races. After a conversation with Wayne Rainey, and amid injuries and wrist problems, he realised he no longer enjoyed it as he used to.<\/p>\n            <\/div>\r\n        <\/div>\r\n\r\n    <\/div>\r\n    \n    <div itemscope itemprop=\"mainEntity\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/Question\" class=\"faq-item question-list-row\">\r\n\r\n        <h3 class=\"h5\" itemprop=\"name\">\r\n            <b>What does Kevin Schwantz do today?<\/b>\r\n        <\/h3>\r\n\r\n        <div itemscope itemprop=\"acceptedAnswer\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/Answer\">\r\n            <div itemprop=\"text\" class=\"question-answer\">\r\n                <p>\nHe founded the Kevin Schwantz Suzuki School, a riding school in his name, worked on the Circuit of the Americas project and was COTA&#8217;s motorcycle ambassador. In 2025 he was guest of honour at the Suzuki Motor Fest in Misano.<\/p>\n            <\/div>\r\n        <\/div>\r\n\r\n    <\/div>\r\n    \n<p>\r\n    <\/div>\r\n    \n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Kevin Schwantz (Houston, Texas, 19 June 1964) is a retired American rider and the 1993 500cc world champion with Suzuki. He won 25 grands prix, built his career on duels with Wayne Rainey, and his number, 34, was the first retired by the FIM. He left racing in 1995, after three races. Updated October 2026. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":159454,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-239452","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-motogp"],"acf":[],"contentshake_article_id":"","yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.8 (Yoast SEO v28.7) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Kevin Schwantz: career, 1993 title, Rainey and number 34<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Kevin Schwantz: 1993 500cc champion with Suzuki, 25 wins, the duels with Rainey, Hockenheim 1991, the retired number 34 and what he does today.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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