Mark Whitehead explodes at Imperial
Posted on February 4, 2009
*******Disclaimer***** I was not in the race, I watched a couple of laps and the last lap.
Another disclaimer…. I have no clue who the guy is, but from what I gathered he was an olympian and from what people told me, a very good one too.
Now, last week at CBR I saw this guy riding the 30+ race and I wondered who this guy was. He was breathing hard, sweating up a storm, barely hanging on. After the race I forgot I was even riding next to him.
Fast forward 1 week and I see him at Imperial, punching tickets. Now I am thinking that this is what he does, and that is OK, oh well. Next thing I see, on the final lap, he is in 3rd position going into turn 2, YELLING at everyone to go faster. This is where people like that usually piss me off (and Mark, you might be a nice guy and all), but if you are going to sit in the back and in the final lap yell at everyone to hurry up and if something happens you gotta take responsibility.
I also heard that the DeWalt guys where messing around. Again, not sure what happened, but it seems that Mark and a DeWalt guy hit each other and Mark took a spill with one turn to go.
When the race was over he was walking around yelling at everyone and telling the DeWalt guys to go to hell, yada, yada, yada… I thought they were going to get in a fight. It was actually funny to watch that shit. The babbling lasted probably 15 minutes and people had all sorts of opinions about the incident.
So I go race the elimination race and I see Mark chatting on his phone and chatting away. He was still pissed. I raced my next race and I think he was done talking… i think his cell phone might have died or something. Anyways, I thought it was really funny to see the guy that sits in the back, try to mow everyone down in the last lap, eats shit and then wants to fight everyone after… I’ve had my share of those and that is why I race the way I do now. Again, guess its a choice you make.
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17 Responses to “Mark Whitehead explodes at Imperial”
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If you want to learn a little more about Mark, you can check out a very interesting interview of him on Competitor Radio. It’s definitely worth checking out: http://www.competitorradio.com/details.php?show=225
gonna listen to it this weekend. Thanks Eric
BTW, Mark is a hell of a sprinter, you don’t win all the races he’s won by being a putz. I can’t speak to how he typically races because I’ve never seen him ride a crit, but one thing that probably isn’t working in his favor is that he just came off a 3 year USA Cycling suspension, so it’s not like he’s been doing any racing for a long while.
i agree Eric.
I was told about the suspension… apparently hit someone… well, he held himself back this time, he knew better.
Really interesting interview. The guy tells it like it is, i do admire that.
It was very unfortunate that Mark went down. He’s a hell of a cyclist and good coach too. Anyone that knows him, knows about his temper. It’s best to stay clear when he gets heated up. As for the DeWalt guys “messing around”, I’d like some clarification. We rode a clean race.
Steve, thats what he was yelling
I guess he who yells the loudest wins…
In all seriousness, he was mouthing off a shit storm towards Eric. I am just quoting his words. I wasn’t in the race, so that is as far as I can take it.
I’m not surprised, he and Eric are not the best of friends.
I’ve known mark for more than 30 years. He was a heck of a racer in his day, and a good coach with a solid record. But his temper is infamous, and he has a long record of being a jerk too.
If the Dewalt guy had brought Meathead down back in the 80′s, he’d probably have lost some teeth in addition to losing the race. The teeth would be lost AFTER the crash (not during).
Meathead scares the shit out of 90% of the field before they ever set foot on the track with him. That enables him to maneuver to the front when he wants to. Everyone is scared of angering him. Then, once he gets there, he kicks-ass over the guys who weren’t too chicken to oppose him. He’s one of the smartest tacticians in the sport. If you’re new, and racing with him, he’ll make sure that you understand during your first race. And you best not say anything to him afterwards.
oh man, this one came from the dead… the post I mean.
I think that if you are new, you would not be racing with him as he is far up the CAT rankings and if you are his age you are out of his league (if you just started).
I guess they were just two ex-olympians having a piece of each other…. reading through the post I remember this day pretty clearly… made me chuckle.
This is little league cycling, you guys sound like idiots with no respect for mortality or injury. This man is clinically mentally ill, this is not a quirk. He should be banned from cycling.
Lu, that is some stance…
I never raced with the guy, but form I saw I would not discard the diagnosis. To an extend, all cyclists are a little bit mentally ill. If we could put that much energy into any other part of our lives I believe more things would get done…
Anyways, freedom is a great thing.
But, yeah, thank you for the response… just classic… Love it!
it’s always funny to come across opinions from people who have no idea what they are talking about. mark whitehead is a passionate and powerful personality. he knows how to win and he loves the sport. there are too many pussies out there now who have no desire win or enough guts to lay it all down to win. that’s why u.s. men’s track cycling is so pathetic and cannot compete internationally. hanging around mark, animal, youth, and evelyn back when i was young taught me about respect, compassion, and the passion for winning. learn some respect and know who you are talking about before you spout off about someone.
Winchester. I lived at the Animal House. I don’t remember you. Animal is dead now, and so Meathead and Lip. So, they can’t defend themselves. I fit in with those guys, because I was a hard-partying asshole. I also knew how to win races. I didn’t have much respect for anybody, and that goes for all the Sprint Factory hoodlums. Compassion? I don’t think so. Passion? Oh Yeah! Lots of that! Evelyn divorced Animal, because she was actually a very nice person. I could tell tales, and name names, but I won’t.
I think Mark and Gary Wiggins would have been good six-day partners, Nobody messed with the “Doc” on the Gent boards or anywhere else. I think Mark could have been just as tough. RIP Mark Whitehead and Gary Wiggins.
Hey, Winchester. I think I do remember you now. Is your name Larry? I think you had a black Colnago, right? I don’t remember you riding the track with us. Weren’t you a roadie? About the whole “respect” thing you said you learned from us outlaws on the “Sprint Factory.” You weren’t paying attention if that is what you came away with. We barely respected each other, much less our competition. We liked a few guys who weren’t in our clique, like Jerry Meyers. But, mostly we were hard racing, hard partying jerks. That’s why were liked Ice Hockey so much! And fights!!