Agostini talks with Eraldo Ferracci at the Laguna USGP circa 1994. Ago was both a world champion and team owner in Grand Prix. image by dean adams

Fifteen time world champion Giacomo Agostini turns 67 today. Agostini's contemporary, Mike Hailwood didn't live to see Michael Doohan and Rossi pass his win total. As Valentino Rossi steams towards 100 career Grand Prix wins, Ago still holds a healthy margin: 122.

A charismatic figure, Agostini saw Grand Prix bridge the gap between the primitive early 1960s through the first Japanese invasion and then for MV Agusta's eventual final domination of the series. After being the first man to win the title on a two-stroke (1975), he actually won the final four-stroke 500 GP race before the class moved to MotoGP. After his career as a rider ended, Agostini rolled well, and became a Grand Prix team owner, with backing from Marlboro and Yamaha.

As a rider Ago, ("Mino" to his friends and family) dominated Grand Prix like no other. He won both the 350 and 500 titles from 1968 through 1972. In five seasons he scored at least ten wins in the blue ribbon (500) Grand Prix class. His margin of victory in some of those races were over a minute in length.

Typically very colorful and somewhat controversial, Agostini was among the first riders to swear off racing the Isle of Man GP, saying it was insanely dangerous. He was in the middle of the 1980s schism between Eddie Lawson and Yamaha, which saw the Californian make the shock move to sign with Honda for 1989. Agostini hired Freddie Spencer to make a comeback on the Yamaha and it ended badly for Spencer and even worse for Agostini. He lost his long-time Marlboro sponsorship to Kenny Roberts' Yamaha squad.

Through it all Agostini never lost his love for a good time nor his reputation as a racing blue blood. He showed up at Daytona in the late 1990s with a girlfriend--who wore scandalously ventilated jeans--many many years his junior. And at the final Yamaha Weekend of Champions celebration at Daytona, Agostini tried to dissuade a tow-truck driver from towing his car by telling him he was indeed Giacomo Agostini.

Even being "Ago", a former Daytona 200 winner, wasn't enough to stop the Daytona grease monkey from hauling his car away.