Defying all odds

Motorcycle racer Monty Klein: ‘I’ve been racing my whole life, so it is in me. To stop doing something you really love would kill me.’

Open-heart surgeries, a pacemaker, four broken ribs, a shattered left shoulder blade, punctured lung, punctured spleen, and a broken right hand never stopped Monty Klein, 56, from getting back on his bike and pursuing his passion for motorcycle racing.

Of course, he had to wait for the OK from his doctors.

“When you have a love or passion for something, you’re not going to let anything stand in your way, no matter if it’s golf, bowling, or motorcycle racing,” he says. “Why would you? Look at some of these veterans who come back from overseas with their legs blown off. They go get prosthetics and you see them competing or running a marathon, and that is very inspiring.”

Monty has been racing since age 9, starting with go-carts, then motocross, and now he’s regarded as one of Florida’s best in the 30-plus, 40-plus, and 50-plus age categories of the flat track series of the Southern Dirt Track Association, where he has earned multiple state championships.

He competed in the nationals of the American Motorcyclist Association Dirt Track Championship hosted over the Fourth of July weekend in Du Quoin, Illinois, where his goal was to win and be declared the fastest amateur racer in the country.

After finishing second in several individual events, he was in position to win the overall championship in the 30-plus class and take a solid second place in the 40-plus and 50-plus classes.

“But in the last series of events, my engine blew up!” Monty says, devastated to drop to third. “It was a huge bummer, but that was my first time out there. Now they know who I am, so I will be back next year and kick some butt!”

Monty’s determination drives his desire to succeed.

“I don’t believe I ever heard Monty say the word ‘can’t,’ or that there is something he can’t do because of either his age or health issues he has had. He just sees them as challenges and works on ways to improve and change things up,” says Jan Taylor, Monty’s girlfriend. “He is unique as far as anyone I have ever met, and he’s amazing to watch. I think what I had learned from him is as long as you’re breathing, there is no excuse. Go for it and live your life.”

Monty doesn’t see himself giving up racing anytime soon. He even jokes about racing at age 100: “If I was able to, I’d race my wheelchair.”