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Edited Date/Time
1/27/2012 11:51am
Since we are now in the offseason and can look back over things I would like to hear ya'lls take on who radically changed the sport of MX.
I am fairly new to the sport (I've been following/racing since 2004), but IMO the most influential icons and riders of our sport have been:
Jeremy McGrath-basically put SX into the American Spotlight.
Travis Pastrana-his goal of pleasing fans is unprecedented.
Ricky Carmichael- He IS the most successful and dominant rider ever.
James Stewart- radically changed how you ride a dirt bike.
These are more of the recent icons of the sport, but thinking back I know Everts, Decoster, Hannah, Henry, Bailey and others were essential to influencing the sport to where it is today.
So which one rider was the most influential in MX history?
I am fairly new to the sport (I've been following/racing since 2004), but IMO the most influential icons and riders of our sport have been:
Jeremy McGrath-basically put SX into the American Spotlight.
Travis Pastrana-his goal of pleasing fans is unprecedented.
Ricky Carmichael- He IS the most successful and dominant rider ever.
James Stewart- radically changed how you ride a dirt bike.
These are more of the recent icons of the sport, but thinking back I know Everts, Decoster, Hannah, Henry, Bailey and others were essential to influencing the sport to where it is today.
So which one rider was the most influential in MX history?
I don't think American motocross would be where it is today without 'the man'. He made a huge difference to motocross in those early days and continues to place his stamp on the scene today.
The Shop
in the USA Edison Dye for introducing Motocross, or Mike Goodwin for inventing Supercross deserve a mention as well
I think it was quite popular with a lot of kids.
The Decoster model had an oval on the frame rather then the regular Mongoose circle..if I remember right.
Carmichael took motocross to a new level. His record will stand for decades.
McGrath took Supercross to a new level. His record will stand for decades.
S
For me, I think Stewart and Mcgrath made the biggest impact on the actual sport (how the bike is rode, soaking up jumps, etc), RC also charging the corners.
I think Reed's moves this year could prove to be influential in the ways teams go in the future.
RD fully invested in the Trans AMA races throughout his career, including long after when most of the other top GP riders stopped coming. It's impossible to overstate how significant his devotion to developing motocross in the US was to the growth of the sport in those beginning years, and he built on that commitment in his management career after the day he stopped riding. Not every years was a success, but Honda took even another step when he came on, and he eventually got that done at Suzuki when he rejoined them. And throughout that he has influenced and motivated multiple young American riders to reach for a level of performance and professionalism they might not otherwise have achieved.
No one else comes close.
Pit Row
Roger D
Marty Smith
RJ
MC
RC
Pastrana
Stewart
Bad Billy Robinson
its a hard choice, you have Rick for his insane natural talent and insane bike building skills
the smoothness of bad billy, plus without bad billy would any of us have worn neon?
Honourable mention to Gaston Rahier. His couple of visits to Australia with the works Suzuki's in the mid-70's got a heap of media and made people in OZ realise that this is a real sport.
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