Who is the Face of our sport?

ATKpilot99
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ATKpilot99 1/3/2021 1:14pm
1/3/2021 1:14pm Edited Date/Time 1/3/2021 1:14pm
It's Travis Pastrana . Sure he hasn't raced professionally in almost two decades , aside from one off events like straight rhythm of course, but he's still easily the most recognized personality related to this sport.
Edit mxtech beat me to it.
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-MAVERICK-
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-MAVERICK- 1/3/2021 1:16pm
1/3/2021 1:16pm
This was pretty major for SX/MX.

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Suicidal_Tendencies 1/3/2021 1:21pm
1/3/2021 1:21pm Edited Date/Time 1/3/2021 1:22pm
Suicidal_Tendencies wrote:
There always has to be one of you.
woody woodpecker wrote:
One of us that states our opinion and disagrees with something? Well sorry bro... it doesn't take anything away from Dungey's career to say that he...
One of us that states our opinion and disagrees with something? Well sorry bro... it doesn't take anything away from Dungey's career to say that he never had the personality or riding style to become super popular. The Wheaties box was 5 years ago, and even Tomac has more IG followers and seems to be more well known than Dungey.
If we are going by Insta followers, then TP has them all beat. If we consider other factors like what type of image, career, media outside of moto to extend to a wider audience then Dungey (or Roczen for that matter) isn’t a bad choice. I’d put Dungey’s career above Roczen’s in terms of accomplishments, and in my opinion, the face of motocross should be somewhat timeless so being on a Wheaties box, even if it was 5 years ago, is something you’d expect from that clean “face of motocross” image. Besides, Dungey also has that all American athlete look to him.

My point was that any time someone says something positive about Dungey, there is always that one guy who has to belittle it.
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Glassworker 1/3/2021 1:24pm
1/3/2021 1:24pm
mxtech1 wrote:
Pastrana has 4M+ on instagram Joe Public might not be able to name a single current racer, but most will still be able to associate Pastrana...
Pastrana has 4M+ on instagram

Joe Public might not be able to name a single current racer, but most will still be able to associate Pastrana with motorcycles and racing
Pastrana, I would agree to that.
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woody woodpecker 1/3/2021 1:31pm
1/3/2021 1:31pm Edited Date/Time 1/3/2021 1:33pm
ATKpilot99 wrote:
It's Travis Pastrana . Sure he hasn't raced professionally in almost two decades , aside from one off events like straight rhythm of course, but he's...
It's Travis Pastrana . Sure he hasn't raced professionally in almost two decades , aside from one off events like straight rhythm of course, but he's still easily the most recognized personality related to this sport.
Edit mxtech beat me to it.
Most of the general public know Pastrana as the crazy double backflip guy, if you google his name it just says "American stunt performer," I'm sure many people don't even know that he used to race. How can you choose someone to be the current face of the sport who doesn't actually compete in the sport anyway?
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mxtech1
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mxtech1 1/3/2021 1:39pm
1/3/2021 1:39pm
woody woodpecker wrote:
Most of the general public know Pastrana as the crazy double backflip guy, if you google his name it just says "American stunt performer," I'm sure...
Most of the general public know Pastrana as the crazy double backflip guy, if you google his name it just says "American stunt performer," I'm sure many people don't even know that he used to race. How can you choose someone to be the current face of the sport who doesn't actually compete in the sport anyway?
Because our sport is tiny with a short reach and there are very few "household names" when it comes to motorcycle riding/racing. Pastrana is easily the most recognized public figure OF ALL TIME. No other rider even comes close.

If you are only asking die hard fans who follow the sport, then I agree it's probably TOMAC, AC, ROCZEN, etc.
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Bruce372
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Bruce372 1/3/2021 1:40pm
1/3/2021 1:40pm
In the USA, let's face it, MX is just one rung up from lawnmower racing and will never evolve past its demographic of white non-college educated men.

Proof of this will be the number of downvotes from the following picture.


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ATKpilot99
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ATKpilot99 1/3/2021 1:41pm
1/3/2021 1:41pm Edited Date/Time 1/3/2021 1:41pm
ATKpilot99 wrote:
It's Travis Pastrana . Sure he hasn't raced professionally in almost two decades , aside from one off events like straight rhythm of course, but he's...
It's Travis Pastrana . Sure he hasn't raced professionally in almost two decades , aside from one off events like straight rhythm of course, but he's still easily the most recognized personality related to this sport.
Edit mxtech beat me to it.
woody woodpecker wrote:
Most of the general public know Pastrana as the crazy double backflip guy, if you google his name it just says "American stunt performer," I'm sure...
Most of the general public know Pastrana as the crazy double backflip guy, if you google his name it just says "American stunt performer," I'm sure many people don't even know that he used to race. How can you choose someone to be the current face of the sport who doesn't actually compete in the sport anyway?
If you mention motocross to the average mainstream sports fan that's what they think it is anyway , oh yeah those guys that do tricks on dirt bikes right ? I have a lot of avid sports fans in my family and none of them would know who Ken Roczen is unless I told them . Now if you want to say face of the sport to fans of our niche sport then sure Roczen is a good choice. Two different arguments I guess.
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woody woodpecker 1/3/2021 1:45pm
1/3/2021 1:45pm
Suicidal_Tendencies wrote:
If we are going by Insta followers, then TP has them all beat. If we consider other factors like what type of image, career, media outside...
If we are going by Insta followers, then TP has them all beat. If we consider other factors like what type of image, career, media outside of moto to extend to a wider audience then Dungey (or Roczen for that matter) isn’t a bad choice. I’d put Dungey’s career above Roczen’s in terms of accomplishments, and in my opinion, the face of motocross should be somewhat timeless so being on a Wheaties box, even if it was 5 years ago, is something you’d expect from that clean “face of motocross” image. Besides, Dungey also has that all American athlete look to him.

My point was that any time someone says something positive about Dungey, there is always that one guy who has to belittle it.
And I'd put RC's career ahead of Dungey's in terms of accomplishments, but he's clearly not the current face of the sport. I'm not belittling Dungey at all, your reasons for him being the face of the sport are weak. 4 years ago he was, not anymore.
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woody woodpecker 1/3/2021 1:51pm
1/3/2021 1:51pm
ATKpilot99 wrote:
If you mention motocross to the average mainstream sports fan that's what they think it is anyway , oh yeah those guys that do tricks on...
If you mention motocross to the average mainstream sports fan that's what they think it is anyway , oh yeah those guys that do tricks on dirt bikes right ? I have a lot of avid sports fans in my family and none of them would know who Ken Roczen is unless I told them . Now if you want to say face of the sport to fans of our niche sport then sure Roczen is a good choice. Two different arguments I guess.
You're right, and if the question is who is the most popular guy associated with the sport then Pastrana has to be mentioned along with Stewart, but I guess that's not how I interpreted OP's question.
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Pink
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Pink 1/3/2021 1:53pm
1/3/2021 1:53pm
FIREfish148 wrote:
Tomac obviously. Dude is top 5 greatest of all time.

Social media trends die, record books don’t.
-MAVERICK- wrote:
So, RC is the face of the sport?
Definitely, if he still raced. 🙄
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ButteryWaffles 1/3/2021 1:54pm
1/3/2021 1:54pm
Twitch/Deegan, or buttery films. The pros are too restricted in what they can do publicly.
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Brent
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Brent 1/3/2021 2:01pm
1/3/2021 2:01pm
ButteryWaffles wrote:
Twitch/Deegan, or buttery films. The pros are too restricted in what they can do publicly.
...maybe they are restricted because most of them are dumber than the dirt they race on?
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RalphS
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RalphS 1/3/2021 2:05pm
1/3/2021 2:05pm
There's a certain Aussi kid who is likely to become the face of the sport in this decade.
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woody woodpecker 1/3/2021 2:07pm
1/3/2021 2:07pm
ButteryWaffles wrote:
Twitch/Deegan, or buttery films. The pros are too restricted in what they can do publicly.
Definitely. I think if there was a good looking version of J-Law today who had a good grasp of social media they would be able to gain a huge following and become semi-famous. The riders now are too buttoned up, they need to take a page from the guys in UFC and do some trash talk at least. A brash personality and some controversy seems like the easiest path for someone to transcend the sport and go out into the mainstream.
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ButteryWaffles 1/3/2021 2:11pm
1/3/2021 2:11pm Edited Date/Time 1/3/2021 2:12pm
woody woodpecker wrote:
Definitely. I think if there was a good looking version of J-Law today who had a good grasp of social media they would be able to...
Definitely. I think if there was a good looking version of J-Law today who had a good grasp of social media they would be able to gain a huge following and become semi-famous. The riders now are too buttoned up, they need to take a page from the guys in UFC and do some trash talk at least. A brash personality and some controversy seems like the easiest path for someone to transcend the sport and go out into the mainstream.
Not sure if this is a sarcastic post, but either way I agree. I know Webb’s antics got a lot of members undies in a bunch, but I really think it’s what the sport needs. Tough personality and the ability to back the trash talk up.
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Jmicmoto13 1/3/2021 2:18pm
1/3/2021 2:18pm
Motodave15 wrote:
I saw a diagram, of the faces of sports across the board (Current faces of the sports). examples. Golf: Tiger woods NFL: Patrick Mahomes II F1...
I saw a diagram, of the faces of sports across the board (Current faces of the sports).
examples.

Golf: Tiger woods
NFL: Patrick Mahomes II
F1: Lewis Hamilton
NBA: Lebron James
UFC: Mcgregor
NHL: Crosby/ Mcdavid aka McJesus (In canada lol)
MLB: Mike Trout
Moto GP: Valetino Rossi maybe (Marc Marquez in some circles)

So it got me wondering, Who has the got damn torch for our sport SX/MX??
The 4 who had it are pretty much gone: MC/ RC/ CR/ JS

The person on the verge of taking that helm in my opinion was Ken Roczen, Before his arm injury.
The sport tried to push Jason Anderson into being the face of the sport, but he seemingly didnt like the attention.

Which kid will be able to bridge that Gap and get it on the verge of the mainstream?
Brent wrote:
All the other sports you list are "real" sports organizations with professional PR people at the helm that know what they are doing. Supercross is literally...
All the other sports you list are "real" sports organizations with professional PR people at the helm that know what they are doing.

Supercross is literally run by a former circus owner who treats racers like poorly paid help instead of world class athletes. Motocross is run by a loose knit group of local track owners and a motocross magazine editor.

This is a fringe "sport" to begin with, and the people in charge of promoting it don't have enough skills.

The athletes are no better, most being home schooled kids who can't do anything in front of a camera except "can't thank" their sponsors. Only Adam Cianciarulo or Ken Roczen stand out as riders who are articulate and confident enough to hold their own for television interviews.

It's ironic, the greatest athletes in the world in a sport that has no interest or ability in showing America how incredibly fit and talented these riders are. Even skiing does a better job at promoting their athletes than motocross does.

There is no push by the stakeholders to expand this sport past its base of young energy drink consumers.

This freaking nailed it on the head. For better or worse, we don't have people driving each individual portion of the business at a high level. That doesn't make them bad people at all, just makes them not the best or most qualified. Our typical Saturday broadcast, no offense to all involved, are a joke compared to most mainstream sports.
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woody woodpecker 1/3/2021 2:19pm
1/3/2021 2:19pm
ButteryWaffles wrote:
Not sure if this is a sarcastic post, but either way I agree. I know Webb’s antics got a lot of members undies in a bunch...
Not sure if this is a sarcastic post, but either way I agree. I know Webb’s antics got a lot of members undies in a bunch, but I really think it’s what the sport needs. Tough personality and the ability to back the trash talk up.
Not sarcasm, this is one of the bad-ass, intense, hardcore sports out there and the riders should be free to reflect that instead of biting their tongues and talking like businessmen, even if it doesn't go down well with some...



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Grovesy98
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Grovesy98 1/3/2021 2:31pm
1/3/2021 2:31pm
I'm in the UK and when I think of AMA racing I think of Tomac, Roczen and AC. When I think of GPs I think Herlings, Cairoli and Gajser. But I agree with whats been said above that to the general public that are not into the sport, the only name anyone would really know that is associated with dirtbikes is Pastrana. Mainly due to Nitro Circus. When your a moto fan you think the whole world knows about it, but in reality hardly anyone does. 9 times out of 10 when I tell people I race motocross they haven't even got a clue what it is
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RalphS
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RalphS 1/3/2021 2:53pm
1/3/2021 2:53pm Edited Date/Time 1/3/2021 3:41pm
Grovesy98 wrote:
I'm in the UK and when I think of AMA racing I think of Tomac, Roczen and AC. When I think of GPs I think Herlings...
I'm in the UK and when I think of AMA racing I think of Tomac, Roczen and AC. When I think of GPs I think Herlings, Cairoli and Gajser. But I agree with whats been said above that to the general public that are not into the sport, the only name anyone would really know that is associated with dirtbikes is Pastrana. Mainly due to Nitro Circus. When your a moto fan you think the whole world knows about it, but in reality hardly anyone does. 9 times out of 10 when I tell people I race motocross they haven't even got a clue what it is
Depends on the generation, 20/15 years ago the X-Games were DA SHIT and that's when mainstream millennials and youngest generation X met Pastrana. Nitro circus feeds that demographics and includes generation Z
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Suicidal_Tendencies 1/3/2021 2:55pm
1/3/2021 2:55pm
Suicidal_Tendencies wrote:
If we are going by Insta followers, then TP has them all beat. If we consider other factors like what type of image, career, media outside...
If we are going by Insta followers, then TP has them all beat. If we consider other factors like what type of image, career, media outside of moto to extend to a wider audience then Dungey (or Roczen for that matter) isn’t a bad choice. I’d put Dungey’s career above Roczen’s in terms of accomplishments, and in my opinion, the face of motocross should be somewhat timeless so being on a Wheaties box, even if it was 5 years ago, is something you’d expect from that clean “face of motocross” image. Besides, Dungey also has that all American athlete look to him.

My point was that any time someone says something positive about Dungey, there is always that one guy who has to belittle it.
woody woodpecker wrote:
And I'd put RC's career ahead of Dungey's in terms of accomplishments, but he's clearly not the current face of the sport. I'm not belittling Dungey...
And I'd put RC's career ahead of Dungey's in terms of accomplishments, but he's clearly not the current face of the sport. I'm not belittling Dungey at all, your reasons for him being the face of the sport are weak. 4 years ago he was, not anymore.
Well, considering you think a good looking version of J-Law would make a good “face of motocross” poster boy, I’ll take your responses with a grain of salt, and we will have to agree to disagree. I wouldn’t exactly consider a guy who has gone to jail, been in drunken fights, threw a good career down the toilet the poster boy for motocross whether they were a good looking version or not.

Jason was a character and brought a lot of fun antics to the table, as well as being incredibly talented. But that’s about as far as that goes. I’ll stick with Dungey, but also think Roczen fits the bill.
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Spudnut
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Spudnut 1/3/2021 3:00pm
1/3/2021 3:00pm
Bruce372 wrote:
In the USA, let's face it, MX is just one rung up from lawnmower racing and will never evolve past its demographic of white non-college educated...
In the USA, let's face it, MX is just one rung up from lawnmower racing and will never evolve past its demographic of white non-college educated men.

Proof of this will be the number of downvotes from the following picture.


DING DING DING DING
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Suicidal_Tendencies 1/3/2021 3:07pm
1/3/2021 3:07pm
Bruce372 wrote:
In the USA, let's face it, MX is just one rung up from lawnmower racing and will never evolve past its demographic of white non-college educated...
In the USA, let's face it, MX is just one rung up from lawnmower racing and will never evolve past its demographic of white non-college educated men.

Proof of this will be the number of downvotes from the following picture.


The flip side of that coin is that many might downvote your post because they don’t agree with your opinion of them and/or your views.

...or they are just sick of this sh*t when we are here to bench race. 🙂
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Max Petro
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Max Petro 1/3/2021 3:07pm
1/3/2021 3:07pm
It’s still Ricky
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TeamGreen
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TeamGreen 1/3/2021 3:14pm
1/3/2021 3:14pm
Bruce372 wrote:
In the USA, let's face it, MX is just one rung up from lawnmower racing and will never evolve past its demographic of white non-college educated...
In the USA, let's face it, MX is just one rung up from lawnmower racing and will never evolve past its demographic of white non-college educated men.

Proof of this will be the number of downvotes from the following picture.


You do realize that as you we’d trying to be “politically correct” or whatever...in your moment of genius, you forgot to consider folks that’re simply NOT FANS of “The Hamilton”.

Epic Fail.
Man Card Revoked.
Grinning
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BigBoreFan58
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BigBoreFan58 1/3/2021 3:15pm
1/3/2021 3:15pm
If you just use stats, it's RC by a mile. I personally put RC in the same league as Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods. RC is a world class premier athlete. Dude had a 10 year career and won every year, who does that?

SX only, then McGrath is the guy.

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Ted722
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Ted722 1/3/2021 3:15pm
1/3/2021 3:15pm
Bruce372 wrote:
In the USA, let's face it, MX is just one rung up from lawnmower racing and will never evolve past its demographic of white non-college educated...
In the USA, let's face it, MX is just one rung up from lawnmower racing and will never evolve past its demographic of white non-college educated men.

Proof of this will be the number of downvotes from the following picture.


Thank goodness. Keep it simple stupid.
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TeamGreen
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TeamGreen 1/3/2021 3:16pm
1/3/2021 3:16pm
Bruce372 wrote:
In the USA, let's face it, MX is just one rung up from lawnmower racing and will never evolve past its demographic of white non-college educated...
In the USA, let's face it, MX is just one rung up from lawnmower racing and will never evolve past its demographic of white non-college educated men.

Proof of this will be the number of downvotes from the following picture.


Suicidal_Tendencies wrote:
The flip side of that coin is that many might downvote your post because they don’t agree with your opinion of them and/or your views. ...or...
The flip side of that coin is that many might downvote your post because they don’t agree with your opinion of them and/or your views.

...or they are just sick of this sh*t when we are here to bench race. 🙂
Soooooo wanna have a beer with this Suicidal Tendencies person.

Tho, we may have to settle for good tequila.
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slipdog
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slipdog 1/3/2021 3:18pm
1/3/2021 3:18pm
I don't feel like anyone has really stepped up as "the face" since Dungey retired and while I think AC has the potential, I also think that it's possible that little teenaged Aussie cunt from Queensland might just be poised to steal the spot from AC
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