It’s tough to put away racing. I’ve seen very few who leave racing satisfied with their career, ready to move on to the next phase of live. Eddie Lawson and Ricky Carmichael come to mind, but beyond that it’s hard to come up with high-profile riders who walked away from the sport while they were still on top. It’s much more common for riders to hold on beyond their peak or they’re forced out by injury. In the case of both Lawson and Carmichael, they both had auto racing careers to pursue, had they not, who knows?

I’ve interviewed hundreds of racers over the years and it seems the biggest reason riders can’t seem to pull themselves away from the sport are both for financial reasons and almost as common is the notion by these riders that there’s unfinished business. A common psychological thread among champion racers is the undying belief that they can still win. Eternal optimists. There’s always one race out there that they’ve yet to win or a championship that is still within their grasp – at least that’s the way it is in their mind.

This subject seems especially relative today, on the eve of the Mid-Ohio Honda Super Cycle Weekend. It’s with much fanfare that two of biggest names in American road racing are making their respective returns – Doug Polen and Eric Bostrom.

Polen, a four-time World Champion (two in World Superbike and two in World Endurance) is slated to race a Ducshop Ducati in the Daytona SportBike class, while Bostrom is coming back in the Superbike class for Cycle World Attack Performance Yoshimura Suzuki (is that team name even going fit on the entry sheet?).

Now in the case of Bostrom it’s easy to understand. Two years ago Bostrom walked away from the sport, arguably at the peak of his career. The reason given by Bostrom at the time was so he could move to Brazil to attend to business interests, immerse himself into another culture and play guitar. It seemed like an idyllic “off into the sunset” moment. But Bostrom left the door open for return and today at just 33, fit as a fiddle, there’s plenty of good reasons for Bostrom to return.

Polen on the other hand is going to be 50 in a month and a half. He’s been staying sharp on a bike by way of his riding on the track doing instruction for his 1on1 Riders School, but to expect Polen to be a contender this weekend is pushing it to say the least.

I’m of mixed feelings when it comes to Polen’s return. When he walked away (or was forced out depending on who you believe) from Honda’s World Superbike squad early in the 1995 season, he went on a tailspin and seemed to lose his magic touch overnight. He came back and added a couple of World Endurance Championships to his resume, restoring some of the luster lost after the abrupt end to his World Superbike career. Since then Polen has never officially retired from racing and he’s shown up to race various events from time to time for the past 10 years. Until now it’s been pretty much under the radar.

The DMG is making a big deal out of Polen’s return, and knowing Doug like I do (I was his PR man when he won the AMA Superbike title in 1993) I guarantee you in his mind he thinks he can win this weekend. Now I hope I’m wrong and Doug is just coming out for a little fun, but I just don’t think that’s the case. He’s going to ride as hard as he can. If there were a class for plus-40 riders I guarantee you Polen would probably be a prime contender, but to race the current crop of racers like Josh Herrin, Danny Eslick and Martin Cardenas? Let’s just say there’s a reason John McEnroe isn’t out there trying to chase tennis balls hit by Rafael Nadal.

I wish the best for Polen this weekend. If he somehow could become the George Foreman of motorcycle racing and run up front at nearly 50 years old, it would be one of the biggest stories in the history of American road racing, but I think we need to face the facts. I just hope Doug can.