FEW families have had an impact on a sport as a whole quite like the Dunlops of Ballymoney. The motorcycling monopoly can boast 56 TT wins and 37 North West 200 wins between them.
Now fans can witness the ups and downs and hairpin turns of the greatest family in road racing history through photographer and journalist Stephen Davison’s new book, The Dunlop Dynasty.
The book provides a peek into the lives of Joey, Robert, William and Michael Dunlop as they rode themselves into the history books in Ireland and the Isle of Man.
Stephen has been following the Dunlops through their careers but only started photographing them in the 1980s, having worked for several publications covering road racing both locally and internationally.
“I bought a camera to photograph Joey Dunlop initially, and very quickly that became my day job, within a couple of years of getting a camera, I was working as a photographer for local newspapers,” said Davison, who is still travelling as far as Dacau photographing road racing.
“I did a book on Joey in 2000 and I picture-edited a book on Robert in 2008...this is my tenth book on road racing and what I wanted to do was move on to the next generation.
“This book is 240-250 pages long and goes chronologically, the first 50 pages are on Joey and Robert and then moves onto, after Joey’s death, Robert bringing the young fellas into the sport, he dubbed them ‘the next generation’.”
Joey was the pioneer of this family affliction, having won his first award in road racing in 1972 when he finished fifth on a 200cc Suzuki at the Mid Antrim 150.
He was an unassuming, reserved man who didn’t much care for the limelight, he just wanted to travel around racing, doing what he was born to do.
Many a fan of a certain age can tell you about seeing him in his race van, hiding from the press and attention with a cup of tea and a sandwich whilst tweaking his bike for the next time he pulled his leathers on.
However, when it came to competition, Joey was not one to shy away from the big occasion as he has won the most Isle of Man TT races, the pinnacle of road motorcycle racing, and in doing so is the reigning ‘King of the Mountain’, even having a statue made of him overlooking the Bungalow bend on the island’s famous mountain course, around which he raced a staggering 102 times.
Along with Frank Kennedy, Mervyn Robinson and Jim Dunlop (Joey and Robert’s brother), he was one of the “Armoy Armada” quartet of 1970s motorcycle racers from Armoy, County Antrim
Joey won 24 Ulster Grand Prix titles and 13 NW 200 titles in various classes, which puts him way out in front as the most successful Irish motorcycle racer of all time and led to him being named Northern Ireland’s greatest sports star by readers of the Belfast Telegraph, ahead of the likes of George Best and Rory McIlroy.
On 2 July 2000, the first big tragedy struck the Dunlop family when Joey died in Tallinn, Estonia.
He appeared to lose control of his bike in the wet conditions and died instantly on impact with trees, and his funeral drew in a crowd of around 50,000 people, with BBC NI showing live coverage. To the unassuming eye, you would be forgiven for thinking that Joey was a king, and in many ways, he was.
Joey’s brother Robert (born Stephen Robert Dunlop) also caught the racing bug and enjoyed a successful career on the scene as well, however, it would prove to be the legacy he left behind his sons that would be his proudest achievement.
Robert won five Isle of Man TTs, nine Ulster Grand Prix titles and 15 NW 200s, so whilst Joey reached astronomical heights, Robert earned his reputation as a great rider.
Davison said: “As a journalist and a photojournalist...you get carried along by the story, I have been carried along by their triumphs and their tragedies.”
Robert began introducing his sons, William and Michael, to road racing soon after Joey’s passing, with both brothers working under him on apprenticeships, teaching them the mechanics of the bike and giving them the tools to forge their own futures.
Robert died during a practice lap for the North Wet 200 race in 2008 after sustaining severe chest injuries.
His son Michael was racing in the same event and the following day won the race, dedicating it to his father, whom he had looked up to and learned so much from.
Stephen Davison has been with the family throughout their careers and indeed lives, and as a consequence gotten to know them on a personal level, which makes it hard to see them put themselves at risk every time they pull their leathers on.
“You do start questioning yourself about it [the Dunlop dynasty continuing after so much loss] but the way I resolve that is that it’s not my decision to make, they’re the ones making that decision.
“I follow what happens, I try to document it...the one thing I do, and I have gotten in trouble for this in the past...I do not try to gloss over the bad side of it [road racing], I make it absolutely clear.
“I try to do it in an empathetic and sympathetic way, William’s death was particularly troubling.”
The torch was passed down a generation and William and Michael let it shine as bright as ever, continuing to race and keep the Dunlop name in people’s mouths when they talk about road racing.
William accumulated 108 National Irish road race wins in his career, which started in 2000 in the 125cc class, the year his uncle Joey died.
The eldest of Roberts boys, William was more successful on home soil, winning four North West 200 races and seven Ulster GPs, with his best finish at the TT being second place in 2016, however, he was consistently in and around the top 10 places.
However, his career would be cut short in 2018, when he crashed during the Skerries 100 racing meet in Dublin when his Yamaha YZF-R1 bike spilt oil from the engine sump onto the back wheel, and as a result, William lost control and crashed into a ditch and trees at the Sam’s Tunnel part of the circuit.
Davison said: “I find particularly William’s death really troubling, he was such a lovely fella, he was someone I knew from a youngster and got to see him on the days when the champagne was flowing, the backs were being slapped and the greatest days but there is a sore side to the sport and I have never shied away from covering that.”
Now stands only one Dunlop left, Michael, who has lived to see it all, the days when Uncle Joey and his dad were on top of the motorcycling world, the tragedy of losing them both and seeing his brother suffer the same brutal fate, and yet he carries on, carrying the banner and braving every course he can.
‘Mickey’ showed promise from an early age, breaking his family lap TT record around the mountain in just his second year, the same year his father died.
In that same year, in fact, in that same race, Michael recorded his only win at the North West 200 to date.
Michael has risen to new heights and, in the coming June, will look to match and overtake his uncle Joey’s 26 TT wins and reign as ‘King of the Mountain’ in the Isle of Man.
This year, Michael looked to be on course to accomplish this feat, collecting four wins throughout race week and recording an unofficial TT lap record, going around Snaefell at an average of 135.531mph, however, Peter Hickman won the other four solo titles, including the Senior TT which will keep Michael waiting until next summer for his moment
At just 34, Michael has still got a lot of miles left in the tank and hopes that he can further the family dynasty and cement their place in racing folklore.
For more than 50 years, the name Dunlop has been synonymous with the sport of motorcycle road racing and the sport has only grown in popularity both in Ireland and further afield.
However, due to rising insurance costs, Irish races are being cancelled, including the Ulster Grand Prix being cancelled for four consecutive years and next year’s Tandragee 100 being cancelled recently.
“It is so sad that, because of the problems around public liability insurance, there was no racing in the Republic of Ireland in 2023 and there will be no racing in 2024.
“It’s a terrible thing because...there were great weekends at those races.”