Racer Steve Wise has passed away. There won’t be an obituary written about Wise that doesn’t use the word versatile, and for once the word doesn’t feel lazy. Steve Wise was one of the most broadly capable motorcycle racers of the 20th century; he alone knew what it was like to race and beat Bob Hannah on a motocross track, to pass Ricky Graham at the Peoria TT, and then line up against Kenny Roberts and Eddie Lawson in the Daytona 200. For a meaningful stretch of his career, Wise had a legitimate shot at winning just about any motorcycle race he entered—motocross, roadracing, or dirt track. He was a racing chameleon, able to adapt to nearly any environment placed in front of him. He was 68 years old.

Wise was a lifelong and proud south Texas motocross racer. He became one of the fastest things ever to come out of Texas on Penton motorcycles sponsored by his father’s multi-line dealership in the late 1970s, success that carried him to a factory Honda ride—initially in motocross. By the time he stepped away from professional racing, Wise had won the Mid-Ohio Superbike National, stood on the podium in AMA dirt track, and captured the ABC "Superbikers" event, broadcast into living rooms across America.

Soup has access to a digital image archive with over 10,000 racing photos dating back to the late 1960s. Sitting down and scrolling through the 1980–1984 folders can feel like a scene out of Woody Allen’s Zelig, because Steve Wise seems to be everywhere—on the grid, in the pack, on the podium, or lurking in the background of someone else’s big moment.

After suffering two massive roadracing crashes, Wise retired from competition. He became a minister and devoted the remainder of his life to his faith, stepping away from the noise of racing with the same quiet conviction he once brought to the starting line.