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Are you saying 2 riders who finish 1 place from each other aren't a similar speed?
Are you seriously using one year of Wardy's career as a comparison? Leisk was a bad ass and had a great career but in comparison to Wardy's he wasn't even close...
All that effort and no Hollywood.
You can only relate to what you’ve actually witnessed. Reading about it or hearing stories only goes so far. I grew up watching Bob Hannah, then RJ, then Bradshaw, then MC etc. So I know how amazing they each were.
You can tell me how great Tony Distefano or Gary Jones was but it has no impact on me as I didn’t see it.
Any of the greats would be great today given the modern training and machinery. MC won a staggering number of races, against many great riders. He is the King. Long live the King
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Tough to compare young generation to older generations in Moto, F1, NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, etc.
McGrath is not only the King of SX, but is close the Man (RDecoster) in staying relevant a long time past retirement, and is still impacting the sport. It is also very special to see McGrath at Mammoth, World Vet, and local races. He is very approachable, easy going and talks with most fans at the track....and most importantly, almost all people have great things to say about him.
The Greats are all great!
So how old are you exactly? In 1999 there were 18 full factory riders and a couple of satellite riders on a 20 man gate. This was pre-KTM Group with 3 factory programs. And please explain to me how they are more "factory" now than before. The Yamaha, Kawi, Honda tracks are still in the exact same places they've been for about 30 years. Not much has changed. Winning a SX race is difficult, in any era. You can't just decide that one era is more difficult than another. Now, are the guys better riders now than before? That's debatable and here's why. How much better is the equipment now compared to the '90's? I would say massively better, EFI vs. a carb?? Suspension components , better engineers, etc, etc. Are the riders going faster, yes, but on better bikes, so to debate the era's is futile.
You also probably think Lebron is better than MJ. Championships and race wins trumps your feelings everyday of the week and twice on Saturday nights!
And as an FYI, Jeremy was fucking difficult to beat.
His level of progression was about a decade ahead of his competition. Still relevant.
Today’s technique is far better than it was even 25 years ago. The guys racing in 1999 could learn that technique if they were current pros
You might want to study even harder this time around , on your ratio , right here , on this thread.
" It's stupid ".....hence why you have a 99% thumbs down on it. Maybe try thinking a bit different , or actually understanding the sport better would help?
Based on the image, it looks like he's trying to use one race (Daytona). Overall for the year (1988), though, Wardy was 3rd in SX (Leisk was 6th), 1st in 250MX (Leisk again 6th) and 5th in 500MX (Leisk was 3rd), so he had a much better year. Wardy was also part of Team USA winning the MXdN, but he rode a 125 to Leisk's 500, so not comparable.
@Regis claimed there was only one "flying freckle", that is incorrect, there are 2 professional riders who were known as "the flying freckle".
The photo I posted showed them next to each other on the starting gate of the 1988 Daytona supercross, they finished within 1 position of each other, to do that they had similar speed, not the same speed, but similar speed on that day, at that track. They were both great riders.
Ricky Carmichael is known as the King of supercross, Ricky Carmichael is known as the GOAT, but some time in the future, somebody will come along and take their titles, records are made to be broken, crowns don't last forever.
Fun McGrath fact. When our daughter was in the Navy she was on the Ronald Reagan carrier. (CVN76) Mcgrath showed up onboard on one of her deployments and bullshitted and swapped stories with the sailors. Nothing about it in the Magazines or internet, no attention seeking about it. Just hanging out swapping stories and taking a few pictures with the crew. The guys a class act besides being the winningest supercross rider ever. Why someone would start a thread to downplay his role in the sport is beyond me. OP must've really wanted to bitch about something. Surely there has to be a better fish to throw in the roasting pan than MC.
Great story, hearing things like that just add to the legend 👍
I love this post. So many iconic nicknames. Not to derail the thread, but I've got some more. See if anyone can pick the riders. Most of them are pretty easy. In no particular order....
Yogi
Hollywood
The Diesel
Factory
One Punch
Chicken
Ernie
The Little Professor
RonRon
Hot Sauce
Wacho
Ping
El Hombre
Nate Dog
The Doctor
Mini Coop
Rocket
Troll
Shorty
Holeshot
Seven Deuce Deuce
Mookie
MX Kied
Bam Bam
Kickstart
The Professor
Philthy
The Beast From The East
El Chupacabra
The Cowboy
Junkyard Dog
Bad Boy
Six Time
The Man
Have Fun!!!
The math of the situation makes it relevant. even if somebody had multiple perfect seasons, it would take 4.2 years to get 72 wins. just think about that math for a minute? you cannot lose a race for 4.2 years to get 72 wins. So let’s cut that number in half. If you won half the races every season, it would take 8.4 years to get 72 wins. And so on.
All the variables involved to achieve 72 wins in a career is mind-boggling. just the last two races is proof of those variables that you cannot predict on achieving that amount of wins in a career..
Yet it has been done by McGrath, so it's possible to do, if one person can do it, another person can do it.
A perfect motocross season was considered impossible until Carmichael did it, now it's been done four times.
I never said it was impossible for someone to do. I said this is the reason McGrath is still king of SX and is relevant. The math of the record speaks volumes of how hard it is to do.
Pit Row
OMG
cannot believe I forgot Hollywood.
Well done
OP definitely screams "DEEPEST FIELD EVER" at A1 every single year
What show/movie is this? Friends?
Everyone took it so personal, like MC is your uncle or something. I never said anything about him as a rider just the records and whether it was relevant today given how the sport is changed. My position is that the 72 wins thing is not apples to oranges. You guys are in here talking about how he visited marines or something on the carrier and how he's nice to fans at races. What?? What is wrong with you lmao
dude that was so funny and heckin relevant I hope you get a lot of likes for that comment because that is literally me.
'Cause we need a placeholder until Jett crushes 72
The wins should speak for themselves but another reason I think it is very relevant Is the fact Jeremy did quite a bit to bring the sport more mainstream as well as setting the stage for the current riders to receive bigger paychecks, he also brought in numerous sponsors outside of the industry. Of course you have your opinion and others have theirs
Friends.
I am not sure what response you are looking for out of people. I mean what do you mean its not "apples to oranges" are you saying his wins aren't irrelevant bc he raced before you watched the sport? Like I am not getting the specific points you are making to signify his wins being "easier".
It is really not that hard, you line up 20 guys on the gate and drop the fucker, whoever wins, wins. He won 72 times, and won 7 titles.
If you want to make a case for some titles being easier than others, sure. But that extends much outside of MC. Dungey, Reed, etc all won titles in years where the field was mostly depleted...
Until someone knocks him off, he’s the king of all times!
Yes. It was Friends. Funny thing is, I just learned about this a few years ago myself here on good ol Vital.
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