Malcolm Smith, legendary motorcyclist and Riverside business owner, dies at 83
Malcolm Smith, a groundbreaking motorcyclist and longtime Riverside business owner, died Tuesday, Nov. 26, at his Riverside home. He was 83.
Smith died of Parkinson’s disease, which he battled for nearly two decades, according to a post on Malcolm Smith Motorsports’ Facebook page.
Smith was inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 1996 and the Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 1998. He joined the Riverside Sport Hall of Fame in 2010.
Smith played a major role in Bruce Brown’s 1971 motorcycling documentary “On Any Sunday,” alongside Steve McQueen. The film, which featured The Lake Elsinore Grand Prix off-road race, was nominated for an Academy Award.
Born in 1941 on Salt Spring Island in British Columbia, Canada, he moved to the United States a few years later. Smith grew up in San Bernardino and started racing in 1956 in Moreno Valley.
While Smith was a big name in the world of motorcycle racing, he also founded Riverside’s Malcolm Smith Motorsports in 1967. The shop next to the 91 Freeway near the Riverside Auto Center sells motorcycles, ATVs and other vehicles.
He was a six-time winner of the Baja 1000, four-time winner of the Baja 500, two-time winner of the Mint 400 and two-time winner of the Roof of Africa Rally. Smith earned eight gold medals in the International Six-Day Trials.
He was a racer, business owner, actor, husband, father, grandfather and philanthropist.
In the late 1990s, Smith founded the nonprofit Malcolm Smith Motorsports Foundation, which supports orphan children in Baja, Mexico, with money for high school, college, medical school and dental school.
Smith is survived by his wife, Joyce; his daughters, Louise and Ashley; his sons, Joel and Alexander; and eight grandchildren: Evie, Adeline, Amelie, Miley, Claire, Ethan, Malcolm and Conrad, according to the business’ Facebook post.
Funeral and memorial services are pending, according to the post. Instead of flowers, Smith’s family is requesting donations to the Malcolm Smith Motorsports Foundation.
“I always loved racing,” Smith said in a 2015 interview. “The adventure … coming over a blind rise, having no idea where the trail is going and have to make that decision.”
In 2015, Smith’s account of his life, “Malcolm! The Autobiography,” was published.
His business’ Facebook post ends by quoting from the last chapter of that book.
After referring to his life’s beginning in Canada, Smith wrote: “Where it will end, no one knows. But you can be sure I’m going to enjoy every minute I have left, with a smile on my face, and my family nearby. Can’t ask for more than that.”