Robert Dunlop's 23rd season in motor cycle road racing gets under way when he wheels his 125cc Crossan Honda onto the grid for the Cookstown 100 on April 27th.
The fact that Dunlop is still able to ride a motor cycle at all is a minor miracle. The fact that he is still a contender at the top of his sport is testament to the steely resolve that has carried him from hospital bed to winners podium on more than one occasion.
By the time he began his road racing career at the Temple 100 in 1979, his older brothers, Joey and Jim, were already well established in the sport. Jim Dunlop retired after a successful but relatively short involvement with the sport. Joey Dunlop lost his life on a wet Sunday in July 2000 after crashing his 125cc Honda in Estonia.
Joey's life has already been well documented. It was a lifetime of sporting achievement that made him the most successful and popular rider Ireland has ever produced.
Robert's decision to go racing came after an accident when his road bike came off the worse in a collision with a car. Older brother Joey advised that road racing was a safer option than risking life and limb on public roads with everyday traffic.
Robert's first major breakthrough came with a win in the 250cc Newcomers' Manx Grand Prix in 1983, heading home an illustrious top three of Ian Lougher and Steve Hislop. Over the years success followed success, including 14 international wins at the North West 200, eight wins at the Ulster Grand Prix and five Isle of Man TT victories, among many others.
The inevitable comparisons with his older brother began straight away, and continued to be the yardstick by which many measure Robert Dunlop's ability. "I didn't mind, I was proud to be Joey's brother," he said, and got on with the task of adding to his already over-crowded trophy cabinet.
Robert is small and slight, built like a jockey. Over the years his body has taken more than its share of punishment. His hardest battles have been won off the track, fighting injury and proving the officials wrong, who said he wasn't physically strong enough to race in the first place.
By 1994 the diminutive star had already recovered from major accidents in the Isle of Man in 1986, and at Monza in 1992, to establish himself as a major force. The 1986 Isle of Man crash in the Formula Two TT at the Thirteenth Milestone resulted in a broken cheek and jaw, a broken ankle, shoulder blade and ribs, and a punctured lung.
He shrugged it off and was back in the saddle for the Ulster Grand Prix in August. With the same characteristic bravery he took the small matter of a dislocated pelvis and broken shoulder in his stride after being pitched into the straw bales in Monza.
But on a sunny Sunday afternoon in June, during the 1994 Formula One TT, racing bit back, and this time Robert Dunlop wasn't going to walk away. While lying in third place, he approached Ballaugh village, aviating his RC45 Medd Honda over the landmark humpbacked bridge, and nicking through the gears as he headed back towards open countryside. Then without warning the back wheel disintegrated. At 130 mph Robert Dunlop was thrown like a rag doll into a wall. This time it was serious.
His injuries included a broken tibula and fibula, right arm, ribs, and a smashed heel. Those who saw the aftermath said he was finished.
After almost two years of suffering and countless operations, Robert Dunlop proved the doubters wrong once again, when he made his comeback at the Cookstown 100. Not everyone was convinced he should be there. He was refused permission to ride at that year's North West 200.
An emotional third place in the 125cc Ultra Lightweight TT the following year went a long way towards silencing the critics, but not completely. He only earned the right to compete at the 1997 Ulster Grand Prix after employing the services of a team of legal experts, who successfully overturned the race official's ruling that he was not fit enough to ride.
Yet another fight back to fitness stood in the way of one of his greatest victories, taken on the track that nearly ended his career and cost him his life.
At the 1998 North West 200 Dunlop was knocked off his machine on the first lap of the 125cc race. He was sent cart-wheeling upside down and backwards into a Give Way sign, suffering a fractured right leg and broken collarbone. Two weeks later he took to the stage at the Isle of Man TT on crutches to receive the plaudits for a famous win in the Ultra Lightweight TT.
"There's no doubt about it, I am a selfish man. I've sacrificed everything for racing," he once said. It would be hard to disagree. When Joey Dunlop was killed in 2000, many expected Robert to retire. Once again he defied expectations and kept going.
With his sons William and Samuel now involved in the sport, Robert Dunlop now plies his trade exclusively on 125cc machinery. The legacy of 20 years of injury makes it impossible for him to race anything more powerful. He has less time on his hands nowadays, helping out his boys, showing them how to prepare racing machinery, and handing out advice, just like Joey used to do when his younger brother started as a wet-behind-the-ears novice.
Central to Robert Dunlop's ambitions for the 2003 season is that elusive, one more TT victory.
"I enjoy winning, that's about it. I don't like competition, I get butterflies, and I hate that. If I wasn't winning I wouldn't go out the door. I would like to win another TT, it's within my grasp. The TT is not a place I particularly like, it's hard work, two weeks of early starts, very dangerous, very little forgiveness from the circuit. I don't like it but I would just like to do it."
It would be the perfect and deserved end to an outstanding career. If Robert Dunlop wins in the Isle of Man in June, there won't be a dry eye in the house. On the other hand, with thousands of his fans ready to celebrate, the pubs in Douglas will run dry long before the party ends.