Mert Lawwill, racer and engineer, died yesterday at 85. Lawwill was the last of the “On Any Sunday” trio—Steve McQueen, Malcolm Smith and Lawwill—to pass away, and his death ends a generational chapter of 1970s motorcycling.

Lawwill was an accomplished road racer, although he always maintained that no one remembered it, even though he’d finished second at Daytona. His main focus, however, was dirt track racing on Harley-Davidsons.

Lawwill and Kenny Roberts teamed up several times over the years, including Roberts’ 1985 Springfield Mile run on an XR750, which ended when the engine failed. They later formed Roberts-Lawwill Racing and fielded several riders in different classes, including Wayne Rainey on the ex-Roberts XR750 and Jimmy Filice on a TZ250. Lawwill, C. R. Axtell, Dick Mann and Roberts also conspired—with Bud Aksland involved as well—to race a Virago-powered dirt track bike in the 1980s using a Japan-spec chain-drive engine that Filice and Mike Kidd raced.

Lawwill and Roberts remained close for the rest of their lives.



Lawwill always quietly maintained that the late Cal Rayborn was the closest friend he ever had, and he remained mystified as to why Rayborn went to New Zealand in the first place. Lawwill could tell a four-sentence story that would quiet a room about calling Rayborn’s home to ask if the news of Cal’s death was true, only to realize no one had told his wife yet. He typically followed that with comments about the suspicious nature of Rayborn’s widow’s death years later, on the anniversary of Cal’s death, saying, “The police told me that was the most suspicious suicide they’d ever seen.”


Lawwill later moved into mountain bike racing and revolutionized the engineering side of the sport. He eventually sold his patents to major bicycle manufacturers.