When Joey Dunlop took his 26th TT win and set a long-standing record, I was seven years old and heard about it on the news. Even then, I knew he wasn't supposed to win any more TT races, not at 48. But there was something magical about that man when he suited up for his final TT.
Little did I know I'd be 31 when someone finally broke Joey's record and that it'd be his nephew, Micael Dunlop. Michael took home his 27th TT victory when he won the Supertwin class today, making him unquestionably the new king of the mountain course. It's easy to say we saw this coming after he took the opening Supersport race or even after seeing his form last year.
But this is a moment not to let pass by with an "Ah yeah, I saw it coming" attitude. Let's take a second to fully appreciate how great this achievement is.
People say TT riders have been chasing this record for 24 years, and while that's strictly true, in some ways, it's been even longer. John McGuinness rode his first TT race in 1996, four years before Joey set the long-standing record. McGuinness has had 28 years to match Joey's record and came agonizingly close with 23 victories. Contrasting this, Michael beat it in 17 years, with the timer starting after he first tackled the TT in 2007.
Until the 2024 IOM TT, Joey was unquestionably the GOAT. By the age of 35, he had already accumulated 10 TT wins. That's exactly the same age Michael is today. But it almost seems disrespectful to directly compare these two men—one dominated the mountain course during the 70s, 80s, and 90s, and the other took the reins in a different era.
How poetic that the last surviving Dunlop road racer takes the crown from the first who was taken from us.
Michael was just 11 years old when Joey set the iconic 26-win record. The fact that he broke the record after first racing on the mountain course just 17 years ago is astonishing, especially considering he didn't race for two of those years. Michael will compete in five more TT races this year if all things go to plan, so who knows what the record will be by the week's end. But this rider has a lot more to offer to the sport than one more week's racing.
Last year was arguably Michael's best TT ever, and if a helmet visor malfunction hadn't held him up in the Superstock TT race this year, he could have bettered his 2023 results. This is to say, the best of Michael Dunlop might still be to come. And, although he has stated that his record will be broken at some point and the next record will be too, it's hard to even imagine that with the form this young man is on.
But for now, let's forget about the future and the past and live in the moment—this is the day Michael Dunlop took 27.
