Some of you might know John Moschetto, aka Gypsy Jack, who I have mentioned a few times on this blog. I am sad to announce that John Moschetto passed away a few weeks ago on the morning of Saturday October 27th while riding on the way to one his favorite local car events, Hunt Valley Cars and Coffee. I am not sure of the all the details but it seems Jack got into a collision with a Toyota 4Runner at the intersection of Shawan Road and Beaver Dam Road.
The Baltimore County police crash team is still investigating the accident, although early reports suggest that Moschetto lost control of his motorcycle and crossed the center line, heading into oncoming traffic. Moschetto was declared dead at the scene, according to police.
Reported the online newspaper, the Hunt Valley Patch. You can also read the original Patch story (with a quite a lot of comments) here.
What's surprising to me is that Jack was always a careful rider and had never been in a motorcycle accident in the 40+ years he was riding. (He was however struck on the back of the head while riding his bicycle.) He was very enthusiastic and passionate about safe riding techniques. He would never ride in bad weather or unsafe conditions and avoided them most of the time. In my opinion he gave sportbike riders a good name. I would have liked to learn to ride from Jack and he was going to help me get my Yamaha Virago running and rideable. Now, very regrettable, I won't have the chance or opportunity to learn to ride from him.
Jack was someone who was very enthusiastic and passionate about anything to do with wheels and it really showed. He could talk your ear off about the latest MotoGP race and was an avid fan. As most know he loved customizing his beautiful motorcycles to perfection and riding. Jack was a great photographer too and allowed me to use some of his Hunt Valley Cars and Coffee photos for this blog. He also had quite a toy collection and used to compete with RC cars.
You can still visit Jack's website, Gypsy Jack Racing, and visit his Examiner page to read some of the motorcycle articles he wrote there. He never liked writing for Examiner much but he clearly was passionate about writing. I encouraged him to start his own blog so he could showcase his motorcycle and toy projects. I wrote a short post about him awhile ago on this blog and shared a few pictures He wanted me to write other posts about him and his motorcycles and I sadly won't be able to.
Life is short and when accidents like this occur it is just reminder we should be happy of the time we have on earth. If you were a friend, neighbor, or family member of Jack, please a leave a comment below and share an experience or memory you have of him.
