Isle of Man TT rider extraordinaire Guy Martin has never been the type who follows popular convention. So it certainly didn’t come as a surprise when he told Rick Broadbent of the UK’s The Times that he plans to take a long break from competitive motor racing and all the engagements that come with it in order to focus on enjoying his life more.

Martin’s quirky personality has earned him legions of fans, a lot of whom probably identify with this quirkiness ad revel in the fact that he was still able to carve out a legendary motor racing career because of it. But it’s this kind of personality that also has him thinking about giving up all the fame and adulation that comes with being a top bike rider just so he can return to fixing trucks.

That appears to be his plan now. Race in the 2015 season and hang it up after that. And if we know Guy Martin, he’s the type to stick with it, consequences be damned. While he didn’t explicitly say that he’s retiring for good and will continue to live his life the way it was before his fame, his comments to Broadbent do paint a picture of a man who has always lived by his own rules.

He’s endearing and frustrating at the same time, but it’s his openness about his life that makes him one of the few sports personalities in the world today that people can say behaved without any hint of plastic about him. He’s as real as it gets and when he says that he’s planning to hang up his helmet so he can return to being a truck mechanic, there’s really no reason to believe otherwise.

Click past the jump to read more about Guy Martin's plans moving forward.

Why it matters

If Guy Martin pushes through with his plans after the 2015 racing season, and there's no reason to really doubt him, then this year will probably be the most important season of his illustrious career.

He's arguably the most successful rider to race in the Isle of Man TT and there's no doubt that he's the best one never to have one the race. In 15 tries, he has finished second seven times and third eight times. That's a remarkable run of consistency that only needs an actual win to validate his claim as one of the best to have ridden in the Isle of Man TT.

If he can finally break through and win around Snaefell, then that would be the perfect finish to a career that has somehow become synonymous with consistent success without really experiencing outright success.

For everything that Guy Martin represents, I'm going to be rooting for him to finally win at the 2015 Isle of Man TT. If anybody deserves to win the race this season, it's him.