In life, all we wish for is meeting the right people, who will add a positive and productive meaning to your existence. For many of us, we have that with family, friends, or business associates. It is a long road to where we all end up, and while life is without doubt one of the most beautiful things, it has to be spent with the type of people that give you good energy.

For me, as the owner of mxlarge, I have made many friends in the sport of motocross, maybe not a long list, but a group of people who have made my life better. Some come and some go, but the ones that stay are forever in my heart.

Giuseppe Luongo is without doubt one of those people. A man who’s respect, loyalty and love of our sport cannot be counted in his years involved, or the investment he made to the sport, but his undying loyalty to those he respects.

Through the 30 or so years I have known Giuseppe, I have seen it time and time again. A man who has raced in the sport, and who has made sure our sport is as strong on the Grand Prix level, while so many other levels of the sport (outside GP) have struggled.

From his continued support of the GP paddock during Covid, where he continued to pay his staff, while no races and no income arrived from the racing to his loyalty to so many of the media. No company in the sport supports the media like Infront, as he knows that the media is what makes the sport visual to its fans and grows the numbers.

It is no secret Giuseppe isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but in my opinion, the people who dislike him, or don’t understand his methods, don’t know his goals. Sure, he has a business, the goal is to make money, but believe me, without Giuseppe Luongo, Grand Prix motocross is not nearly as successful as it is. We have seen it with so many national championships in Europe, how the sport is struggling in many ways as the European economy and closure of tracks take our sport to its knees.

The worldwide coverage of the sport hugely outnumbers the coverage by other sectors of our sport. Nothing in pure numbers compares to the television coverage MXGP has worldwide. Those numbers are built on hard work and also investing in the media coverage. For me, as a media guy, the respect I have for Giuseppe is huge. MXGP media is the best service in the world of motocross/supercross and not just by a little.

Its little surprise that team press releases are out within hours of the GP finishing and the service Infront allow us to work it, makes that job easier. No series in the motocross world has their media getting the job done as quickly as MXGP. That is a fact and its all because of Infront and Giuseppe Luongo.

I have watched as MXGP grew and as we travel to amazing countries like Argentina, Australia, USA, China, Thailand, Indonesia, Brazil, South Africa, Mexico, Qatar and many more beautiful places, I sometimes have to remind myself when I first arrived on the Grand Prix scene, and we had the odd race to Brazil, or Indonesia, then two in Belgium, two in Holland, three in Italy and so forth. Often the series was only run in Europe, with no fly-away races.

We have more factory teams and factory riders than ever in the sports history and this in a time when the world economy is struggling. The investment from Japan comes from the worldwide coverage the sport has and that is something many factory team owners have mentioned to me. That television coverage was a major goal for Luongo, and he knew Japan would react on it and they did.

So, while we lose Giuseppe Luongo to the sport, his son David will follow with the same goals, the same passion and loyalty that GL brought us decade after decade.

For me, it’s a sad day, and I know it’s a sad day for everyone who knows Giuseppe. I know when I got the e-mail of his retirement this morning, I shed a tear and felt a sadness you only feel for somebody you care about.

Only those close to him will know the effort he put into a sport he has loved as a young boy, and only those who have either worked with him, or enjoyed his company in friendship will also know the sadness he also carries today, as the Giuseppe Luongo era ends, the sport carries on, healthier for his commitment.