Former Irish Sidecar Champion, Martin "Marty" Murphy, 37-year-old, was killed instantly when he crashed during the 1995 Ulster Grand Prix at Dundrod, on Saturday, 19 August 1995. Murphy lost control of the 700 Yamaha outfit as he approached the Leathemstown corner, on the fifth lap of the race.
His passenger Mark Graham sustained a broken arm in the crash. Ironically, 1995 was the first in 16 years that the sidecars had been included in the Ulster Grand Prix programme.
A father of four young children, Marty Murphy was a lorry driver from Hannahstown, outside Belfast in Co. Antrim, Northern Ireland. An experienced racer since almost twenty years, he made 21 starts in the Isle of Man Tourist Trophy, competing as pilot as well as passenger. His best result came in the 1980 Sidecar Tourist Trophy, second leg, when he finished fifth as passenger to Lowry Burton.
The magazine Motor Cycle News, issue of 23 August 1995, erroneously indicated that Marty Murphy won the 1986 Sidecar Tourist Trophy, as Lowry Burton's passenger, thus becoming the first Irish crew to win an Isle of Man sidecar race. This is not true, the passenger of Lowry Burton in that occasion was Pat Cushnahan.
Two years after Marty Murphy's death, another fatal accident at Dundrod claimed the lives of sidecar racer Steve Galligan and a seven-year-old spectator. These two accidents led to the cancellation of the sidecar class at the Ulster Grand Prix.
