Kevin James Schwantz[1] (born June 19, 1964) is an American former professional motorcycle road racer.

[2] He began his competitive career as a trials rider, following his father and Uncle, Darryl Hurst (the original 34), in that sport.

[2] At the end of the 1984 season, he was offered a test ride with the Yoshimura Suzuki Superbike team, who promptly signed the Texan to a contract.

[2] The 1987 Superbike National Championship marked the beginning of Schwantz' fiercely competitive rivalry with Wayne Rainey.

Rainey eventually won the National Championship but Schwantz closed the season winning five out of six races.

[2] So intense was their rivalry that they continued their battle during the 1987 Transatlantic Trophy match races in which they were supposedly teammates competing against a team of British riders.

[3] The late 1980s and early 1990s are remembered as one of the most competitive eras of Grand Prix racing with a field rich in talent that included Rainey, Wayne Gardner, Mick Doohan, Eddie Lawson and Randy Mamola.

[3] His last lap pass of Rainey to win the 1991 German Grand Prix at the Hockenheimring, with his rear tire fish-tailing on the verge of control, typified Schwantz' "do or die" riding style.

In the late 1990s, Schwantz ran a couple of seasons of the Australian NASCAR Championship before returning home to the United States where he competed in the NASCAR Busch Series, running 18 races with two top tens, an ARCA Bondo/Mar-Hyde Series event, and touring car races.