RIP Mike Healey

Thats AWESOME!

Thanks for sharing your story.

Man, RIP Mike! Awesome memories of him from the 1980's on mini bikes at Indian Dunes. Rockstars tend to die younger than the rest of us, but they make sure to leave their mark while here. Healey was a rockstar. 

Rip Mike! Solid dude, came up to me at comp edge and had no idea who he was. Gave me riding tips, chopped it up, and gave me a business card for the barber shop dealio. Looked him up on the way home & called him a couple weeks later. Ill have to get that buzzcut on the other side of the fence. 

Mike with Shawn Kalos Saddleback '83

Some crazy stories in this interview, including being pronounced dead at the track in Europe and only surviving because the ambulance hit a hole on the way out of the track and he coughed up a blood clot and woke up. Gnarly.

https://youtu.be/OA6Ham0Pvz8?si=32eT4owf_4pQZF5Q 

Rest Easy My Friend

I loved that Sinisalo gear at the time. Mike and Wardy looked soooo clean in it. I was getting a few sets a year of free Answer gear at the time but if we weren't so broke growing up, I would have come out of pocket for that Sinisalo kit. 

Mike was before my time, but I loved the Cagiva and early KTM campaigns. He had awesome style. Always looked good on the bike and had KILLER gearsets. RIP.

Mike was a member here, although he didn't post much beyond this thread (where he acknowledged the mistakes he'd made and the better life he was striving for):

https://www.vitalmx.com/forums/Moto-Related,20/What-do-you-all-think-of…

I'll just remember him as a guy who shared 5 minutes of his life with me when he didn't have to. This was at Foxhill, when he was riding a KTM in a team along with Fredrik Hedman. I was standing on the edge of the valley, looking down at the track from the pits. It was a quiet spot, and maybe that's why Healey came and stood nearby. He was friendly, down to earth, and happy to chat to someone he'd never met before (and would never see again).

I'm sorry he's passed at a young age.

Very sad news. 

Thanks for posting this on the forum, I'm Demond from Blacklisted Mx, the one who did this interview with Mike..

I did this interview roughly three weeks ago, It's a pretty fresh interview, but I talked with Mike well after that, crazy how life timing works because his interview was the longest one i've done, and he had so much to talk about even off camera..

Way back in 1983, I got my first MX bike - an '82 RM80. I was reading MiniCycle Rider/Racer Magazine at the time and saw pictures of him running the #99 on an RM and I thought that looked so cool. When it was time for me to pick a number and go racing, I chose 99. 

Years later, after graduating college and getting back into the sport, I bought an RM125 and put #99 on in, like old times. One day in 1996, I went to go practice at Starwest, and Mike was there riding around with his son on a PW50. He let the kid out on the main track and ran interference for him. 
On one lap, I caught up to him and he was stopped on top of a jump to be a roadblock, so I stopped too. I shouted to him over the revs of our bikes, "I wear #99 because of you!" He dropped his bike and hugged me like I was a long-lost brother, then sped off to follow his kid again. 

I didn't know the man, but that one interaction tells me what I care to know about him. 

RIP Legend 

Respectfully,

Mike's brain needs to be donated for CTE research.

After listening to the interviews, learning about the crashes, addictions, then jail.... they all point towards CTE.

me and mike came together on start at the silverdome in 88 during day program qualifying. he was on cagiva, and we lined up next to each other. both got good jump and draggin down to first corner his arm was under mine when we hit the speed bump on the start strait.......and his bars goin up wiffed my right hand off my bars and i did a full cartwheel slam that was used on the yearly highlight reel advertisement. i was out cold and ended up with a major concussion.....don't even remember that weekend outside of that. thats my one interaction with mike outside of giving each other thumbs up before the start. RIP Mike.

I just watched the interview last night and was amazed how different Mike looked.  If I saw him in public somewhere, I would never guessed that was Mike Healey.  I used to watch him ride RM80's and CR80's out at Saddleback Park in the early-to-mid 1980's.  I'm guessing that was some of his happiest times.  Later, in the late 80's and early 90's, I was a wrench for another local SoCal pro rider and we would frequently race against Mike at the CMC Golden State and TransCal series.  My guy also ran all 3 pro classes (125, 250, and 500) and would typically place 2nd to Healey most of the time.  Like Mike said in the interview, the contingencies were really good back then from the factories, so you could make pretty good money if you ran multiple pro classes and placed up higher in the results.

Still one of my favorite photos. I met him at a bluetorch event in Irvine. One of the nicest guys I’ve met in moto! 

That xr400 was for sale at powerhouse of paso robles circa 97. Was pretty trick, had cr suspension and a bigbore. My dad almost bought it but we ended up with a husaberg fc501 instead which was a mistake, especially for a 14 year old kid.

I was a big fan of his back in the day and  recently saw his interview on Whiskey Throttle. He did look like he’d gotten pretty big but seemed happy and content with his new profession. Godspeed Gunner, and rest in peace. 

I just saw that one this week as well. Great interview and we’ll worth listening to. 

So Sad... RIP

I’ve always looked for more photos of it. Couldn’t find any. 

Mike was signed to Sinisalo in the first year they were in the US, around 1981.