who was the most influential in the sport?

snackfedbear
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snackfedbear 9/26/2017 4:06pm
9/26/2017 4:06pm
Brett Michaels without a doubt
motogrady
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motogrady 9/26/2017 4:07pm
9/26/2017 4:07pm
captmoto wrote:
Edison Dye for bringing MX to the U.S.?

Winner winner chicken dinner.

http://www.motorcyclemuseum.org/halloffame/detail.aspx?racerid=163

Can't discount the guy in jail for murder either. Goodman? Promoter of the first SX?

Riders, a lot of them, Steve McQueen, DeCoster, McGrath, 199, JS7.
Heck, I used to know 3 guys that dressed to ride just like Marty Smith......
The Oracle 9/26/2017 4:14pm
9/26/2017 4:14pm
I agree it kind of depends when you started watching it, but for me I'd say Travis Pastrana and Ricky Carmichael.

James Stewart as well. Who rides regularly and has not seen a how to scrub video on YouTube? Laughing
stantdm
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stantdm 9/26/2017 4:24pm
9/26/2017 4:24pm
McGrath probably gets the nod for Supercross but for all around it is Ricky Johnson. He was a great interview, a terrific racer, and his determination was hard to bear.

The post above that said it depends on your generation is spot on. There were a lot of guys who chipped in on being influential and it's difficult to narrow out down. David Bailey, Jeff Ward, Hannah. DeCoster in the formative years of American MX was also important.

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motogrady
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motogrady 9/26/2017 4:27pm
9/26/2017 4:27pm
captmoto wrote:
Edison Dye for bringing MX to the U.S.?
motogrady wrote:
Winner winner chicken dinner. [url=http://www.motorcyclemuseum.org/halloffame/detail.aspx?racerid=163]http://www.motorcyclemuseum.org/halloffame/detail.aspx?racerid=163[/url] Can't discount the guy in jail for murder either. Goodman? Promoter of the first SX? Riders, a lot of them, Steve...

Winner winner chicken dinner.

http://www.motorcyclemuseum.org/halloffame/detail.aspx?racerid=163

Can't discount the guy in jail for murder either. Goodman? Promoter of the first SX?

Riders, a lot of them, Steve McQueen, DeCoster, McGrath, 199, JS7.
Heck, I used to know 3 guys that dressed to ride just like Marty Smith......

Holy crap. After looking up Goodmans history as the father of SX, I found he wasn't the first to run a big SX event here in the USA.
And really, the first big one wasn't even in the USA.

Fun facts galore right here kiddies....

https://r.search.yahoo.com/_ylt=AwrBT8S138pZUUcAqEHBGOd_;_ylu=X3oDMTEzbTRvcG83BGNvbG8DYmYxBHBvcwMxBHZ0aWQDVFBSREMwXzEEc2VjA3Ny/RV=2/RE=1506496566/RO=10/RU=https%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fAMA_Supercross_Championship/RK=1/RS=xOeR1N5cIjyfKtz8CaSNa4s1As0-
BMSOBx2
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BMSOBx2 9/26/2017 4:28pm
9/26/2017 4:28pm Edited Date/Time 9/26/2017 4:28pm
DavetheVintageGuy wrote:
Roger for sure. 5 time 500cc World Champ. Gave Hannah and Lackey someone to aspire to beat in the 70's. Rode for CZ, Suzuki, and Honda...
Roger for sure.

5 time 500cc World Champ. Gave Hannah and Lackey someone to aspire to beat in the 70's. Rode for CZ, Suzuki, and Honda. Managed teams for Honda, Suzuki and KTM. Was involved in the testing and design of some of the most iconic motocross bikes of the past 5 decades(70's Suzuki RMs, 80's Honda CRs, current KTM). Led Team USA to numerous MXDN wins. Turned KTM into a player in US motocross.

And made wearing a full face helmet cool after nearly ripping his face off during the Trans-AMA series when the front end fell off his RN. Roger made the cross up cool too.
olds cool wrote:
Good summary. IMO the only thing missing would be mentioning all the odd, one-off races he did in countries that no one cared about back in...
Good summary. IMO the only thing missing would be mentioning all the odd, one-off races he did in countries that no one cared about back in the day to expose the world to word class level MX. He took this sport to the far away corners of the earth. He didn't invent the sport or retire with the most titles but he paved the way for all of those that came and are still coming behind him. The Man is the best ambassador of this sport, ever.
Nailed it. Amazing career. I was there when he broke that Zook in half. No one has influenced the sport more.
norcal3737
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norcal3737 9/26/2017 4:40pm
9/26/2017 4:40pm
Most Influential...

JS7. There isn't a single professional modern day racer that doesn't race with the influence and style of JS. He changed how dirt bikes were and are ridden period.
TheOriginalPancakee 9/26/2017 4:43pm
9/26/2017 4:43pm
I’m young so I didn’t watch old school. But Carmichael changed the way people trained, stew changed the whole style of the sport with his scrubs and style. Dungey definitely helped the sport with his professionalism.
TheOriginalPancakee 9/26/2017 4:44pm
9/26/2017 4:44pm
norcal3737 wrote:
Most Influential... JS7. There isn't a single professional modern day racer that doesn't race with the influence and style of JS. He changed how dirt bikes...
Most Influential...

JS7. There isn't a single professional modern day racer that doesn't race with the influence and style of JS. He changed how dirt bikes were and are ridden period.
This..go on a track and there’s kids scrubbing everything including breaking bumps Laughing
ruy
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ruy 9/26/2017 4:45pm
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imoto34
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imoto34 9/26/2017 5:36pm
9/26/2017 5:36pm
Yes. When I wanna get pumped up the night before racing, I dig up the old Bubba Stewart videos. After watching them all over and over, it is still amazing.
swtwtwtw
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swtwtwtw 9/26/2017 5:43pm
9/26/2017 5:43pm
Tibblen, Joel Robert etc. Never forget Joel Robert laughing at a hand on the helmet start at Poso Park. He just jammed his CZ into gear and rode a wheelie to the first turn, hand never came off the helmet.
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SwingHard 9/26/2017 7:01pm
9/26/2017 7:01pm
RC taking training & commitment to a new level!Mitch Payton on the tech/Team owner side.
Jamal#440
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Jamal#440 9/26/2017 7:22pm
9/26/2017 7:22pm
Robbie Van Winkle ..
Flip109
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Flip109 9/26/2017 7:27pm
9/26/2017 7:27pm
MC for style
RC for training
JS for the scrub and pushing the speed to next level. Single handedly changed the way fast riders ride forever!
VicDaMoan03
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VicDaMoan03 9/26/2017 8:00pm
9/26/2017 8:00pm
MC for sure.
Forty
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Forty 9/26/2017 8:21pm
9/26/2017 8:21pm
There are a few that come to mind. Edison surely, he brought it to us, and Malcom of course, however The Man has a history in our sport that is unmatched. He brought and still brings excellence to every facet of mx racing and his influence can be seen on every bike sold today.

No one is close.

Roger Decoster.
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wreckitrandy 9/26/2017 8:25pm
9/26/2017 8:25pm
Forty wrote:
There are a few that come to mind. Edison surely, he brought it to us, and Malcom of course, however The Man has a history in...
There are a few that come to mind. Edison surely, he brought it to us, and Malcom of course, however The Man has a history in our sport that is unmatched. He brought and still brings excellence to every facet of mx racing and his influence can be seen on every bike sold today.

No one is close.

Roger Decoster.
Agreed.

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drt410
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drt410 9/26/2017 8:29pm
9/26/2017 8:29pm
Im gonna have to say McGrath since I always hear it from the pros racing now, and he was who got me into racing... along with my dad and my pw50. Something about watching McGrath race made the sport seem elegant and he was showtime so he brought that spectacle to it as well.
TheOriginalPancakee 9/26/2017 9:12pm
9/26/2017 9:12pm
Serious question..when McGrath was winning and Carmichael moved up did RC beat him most of the time?
SoCalMX70
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SoCalMX70 9/26/2017 9:22pm
9/26/2017 9:22pm
TheOriginalPancakee wrote:
Serious question..when McGrath was winning and Carmichael moved up did RC beat him most of the time?
RC got his butt kicked for 2 years. 1999 and 2000.

Got his act together for 2001 (went through his transformation with training) and won from then on out. McGrath was 28 at that point iirc.
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drt410 9/26/2017 11:00pm
9/26/2017 11:00pm Edited Date/Time 9/26/2017 11:14pm
Yea from what I remember McGrath was right at the end of his career and beat Carmichael flat out in 2000. Carmichael had a lot of growing pains that first year and didn't ride good at all but everyone knew what was coming. Then in 2000 McGrath won the championship but everyone saw that Carmichael was coming into form he was getting better and better the whole year and won I believe 1 race. Then in 2001 he finally rounded into form and came in like 3rd the first race then him and McGrath went back and forth a couple times and then after that Carmichael won I believe every single race from there on out and the rest was history. One of those races was the infamous look over by both of them where they hit a huge triple and both looked over at each other and it was kind of like the passing of the torch passing happened right then and there on that triple.

From that point on McGrath chased him around for a couple years, retied, tried to come back on a ktm- the bike sucked and he retired again before the first race. Then he came back for races here and there but never raced a full season again and Carmichael went on to become the greatest rider in the history of the sport, never losing a championship that he lined up for in his entire career. In 2003 he crashed in practice and tore his ACL keeping him out of the 2004 supercross season- this is the one Chad Reed won.
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SCR 9/26/2017 11:01pm
9/26/2017 11:01pm
Forty wrote:
There are a few that come to mind. Edison surely, he brought it to us, and Malcom of course, however The Man has a history in...
There are a few that come to mind. Edison surely, he brought it to us, and Malcom of course, however The Man has a history in our sport that is unmatched. He brought and still brings excellence to every facet of mx racing and his influence can be seen on every bike sold today.

No one is close.

Roger Decoster.
Yep.
Hannah, Johnson, and the rest were very influencial but they were all first influenced by The Man.
In the 70s there was no internet, no MX on TV but millions of young men that never rode a dirt or read a Dirt Bike magazine knew who Roger DeCoster was.
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AzTrooper 9/27/2017 12:20am
9/27/2017 12:20am Edited Date/Time 9/27/2017 12:30am
In my opinion Edison Dye has had the biggest impact and influence on American MX.
John
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SoCalMX70 9/27/2017 12:28am
9/27/2017 12:28am
drt410 wrote:
Yea from what I remember McGrath was right at the end of his career and beat Carmichael flat out in 2000. Carmichael had a lot of...
Yea from what I remember McGrath was right at the end of his career and beat Carmichael flat out in 2000. Carmichael had a lot of growing pains that first year and didn't ride good at all but everyone knew what was coming. Then in 2000 McGrath won the championship but everyone saw that Carmichael was coming into form he was getting better and better the whole year and won I believe 1 race. Then in 2001 he finally rounded into form and came in like 3rd the first race then him and McGrath went back and forth a couple times and then after that Carmichael won I believe every single race from there on out and the rest was history. One of those races was the infamous look over by both of them where they hit a huge triple and both looked over at each other and it was kind of like the passing of the torch passing happened right then and there on that triple.

From that point on McGrath chased him around for a couple years, retied, tried to come back on a ktm- the bike sucked and he retired again before the first race. Then he came back for races here and there but never raced a full season again and Carmichael went on to become the greatest rider in the history of the sport, never losing a championship that he lined up for in his entire career. In 2003 he crashed in practice and tore his ACL keeping him out of the 2004 supercross season- this is the one Chad Reed won.
Can't really say RC "never lost a championship he lined for his entire career". I mean, he still lost in 1999 and 2000. Wink I've noticed that people (not directed at you) tend to forget he was in the 250s for a couple years before he turned it around. 1999 was definitely a warm up year and he always said he wished he stayed in 125s for one more year. He also said many times that the intention was to win in 2000 and he absolutely HATED how bad he got beat that year... This is where he figured out he needed a drastic change in his life.

Another tidbit about 2000 is that RC wasn't even MC's main competition. It was Vuillemin. RC only won Daytona, which favored his outdoor style big time. From what my memory serves he was never a real threat in any other race. Even when he started toward the front, he typically faded. Mustered up 3rd place on good nights. Carmichael absolutely did a 180 for 2001 and was suddenly the best. It was an amazing change.

I know this is off topic, but I've always felt that MC was in better shape in 2000 than he was in 2001. I've re-watched those years back to back many times and his overall strength, speed, aggressiveness... the whole package looked better in 2000. But hey, 7 championships, getting older... He probably thought he had the field covered again anyway. MC's best performance in 2001 was Las Vegas. Yes he lost, but he showed something that race that he didn't/couldn't for the past 12 races by running RC's pace and staying with him until the end.

Then MC trained his ass off for 2002, looked super cut and ready and he couldn't even hold on for 10 laps at the start of the season. A secret (at the time) back injury and/or over-training ended his season before it even started. Then the KTM dislocated hip crash before 2003 and it was all she wrote.
DrinkMoreWater 9/27/2017 12:31am
9/27/2017 12:31am
As a child I was watching Carmichael absolutely loved how he rode and the sheer domination and dethroning the king, then along came James Stewart coming up in the 125 ranks and I could not believe the skill the style and the aggression this young man had I was in complete awe.

He made higher peaks of fame outside of the sport also so I guess what he was doing on the track was very attractive to people on the outside.

McGrath got the sport on the map James rode the wave after.
struth
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struth 9/27/2017 2:34am
9/27/2017 2:34am
Chad reed smooth style....whoops n this

UpTiTe 9/27/2017 5:00am
9/27/2017 5:00am
Soichiro Honda. He started HRC and dominated the motorcycle world from 1980 to 1995.
motomike137
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motomike137 9/27/2017 5:07am
9/27/2017 5:07am
My list is from a USA perspective.

The Man
Edison Dye
Malcom Smith
Torsten Hallman
Bruce Brown
The Jones Family
Bob Hannah
Jeremy McGrath
rjg
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rjg 9/27/2017 6:10am
9/27/2017 6:10am
In most cases, the most influential are the unsung hero's all sports..... Mom and Dad. From a 35 year old.

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