Filmmaker, author, racer, motorcycle enthusiast Peter Starr died from cancer at the home of a friend in Colorado on July 3. He was 80.
He is survived by sister Lynn Greer, and nephews Stuart Greer and Richard Greer.
Starr fell in love with motorcycles while still a schoolboy in Coventry, England, where he was born November 2, 1942. He moved to the United States in the 1960s and worked as a radio DJ and record producer, before creating his first film. “Bad Rock” was a documentary about an International Six Days Enduro (ISDE) qualifier in Oregon that was funded by Hodaka and Penzoil, that originally aired on network TV in Los Angeles, and was later distributed all across America.
Starr is most famous for his award-winning motorcycle movie “Take it to the Limit,” which broke ground as the first documentary produced in Dolby Stereo and the first documentary to include current hit songs on its soundtrack. The film also featured several top riders of the day, including Roger De Coster, Mike Hailwood, and Barry Sheene.
Starr produced and directed over 40 TV programs and commercials, many about motorcycling and motorsports, that have been seen on ABC Sports, BBC, ESPN, History Channel, PBS, TNN, and USA Network. During these productions, Starr broke more ground by being the first to mount a film camera to a motorcycle during an AMA National road race at Laguna Seca in 1980 and the first to produce live video from a motorcycle in a race at the AMA Du Quoin Mile in 1985. He also rode motorcycles as a stunt performer in TV commercials and major motion pictures, including “Apollo 13,” “Batman and Robin,” and “Lethal Weapon 3.”
He authored two large-format autobiographical books, “Taking It To The Limit, 20 Years Of Making Motorcycle Movies” and “Motorcycle Traveler,” and has written articles for several motorcycle magazines.
In more recent times, Starr spent time traveling by motorcycle and promoting motorcycling. He also produced MotoStarr, a podcast/YouTube video series interviewing some of the greats of motorcycling.
He was inducted into the Trailblazers Hall of Fame in 2011 and into the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 2017.
Learn more about Peter Starr on the bio page on his MotoStarr website and from his AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame biography.
