Pop Quiz: Who Coined the Term "SCRUB"?

Easy one. Jojo Keller

It’s debated that that is the original scrub, but was it called a scrub back then?

All I know is.... bubba scrub 

Scrubdaddy, of course. 

Jo Jo was doing it in the 1970's. Someone from New England, maybe photographer Paul Buckley?

My Mom SCRUB THAT TOILET!

TLC 

If I remember right, they weren't a fan of the technique.

I though David Bailey said it first 

I always coined the JOJO Keller photo too. Until we hear later, he was just doing a kickout for the cameras. He never did that as a scrub during races to stay low. Back in the 90's the guys would "Soak-up" the jumps. NOT scrub them. Best soak up of a jump was Reed in 2002 at Minneapolis supercross on his 250F. Saw it in person. I'll tag the video. Start at 11:34 if it doesn't auto start.

I have heard the term scrubbing jumps from BMX in early 80's long before hearing it in Motocross.

I remember watching that clip over and over back in the day. 

Anyone remember people on Mototalk (TFS site) and RonRonMX saying he did it by hitting his front brake. Holy shit, I used to argue until I was blue in the face with those people. Haha 

Did you see how many whoops there were? How did they survive?!

This is a great question - and as some have already said, Jojo Keller gets the honor at Southwick. Back in 1982, they had a few tabletop "style" jumps that had really short landings - meaning the fast guys could easily over jump them.  Southwick still has a few of these today.  Anyway, here are two images of Jojo "scrubbing" back before it was a thing.  The photo of him on the 39X bike is perhaps the most famous, and that hump is still in the same spot at Southwick today,.

And here is the second image....i believe this is in a different part of the track, coming in from the back....

But to your specific question Bayo, I am not sure it was called "Scrubbing" until Bubba's famous last to first ride at Budds Creek ride from 2003 (?) on his KX125.  That is easily where he took the technique that Jojo sorta started, and made it go mainstream.  I dont think it was called Scrubbing before that point, as it really wasnt a thing until James perfected exactly what it was. 

Once the photos of James doing it surfaced, I think that Fox coined it "The Bubba Scrub" and made a bunch of posters / magazine ads out of that one image from Henry Hill (running it backwards from where Doug jumped). 

That is really where it began. 

Bayo, come and say hello if you make it to Southwick or Unadilla this year! 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCMC6hPxyX8 

I concur. I'd also like to add that I clearly remember MXA using the term for a different thing: braking. Jody used to say things like [paraphrasing] "The KX250's new disc rear brake really helps scrub speed at the end of straights." I believe the terms are related, in the sense that Bubba's Scrub sometimes involves dragging the bars or footpegs, or braking at the last minute to reduce excess speed and altitude. 

The act of staying low over jumps, like Jojo Keller did, was a thing way back in the '80s, too. A whole skillset of finding the low lines became a thing for a while, and I remember "pre-jumping" being a term. Pre-jumping was the art of finding a bump or lip somewhere on the face of a jump and using that instead of the top of the jump as your departure point, effectively making it a smaller jump. This was the precursor of the Bubba Scrub, as James did this while laying the bike over. Watch any good modern scrub and the rider's wheels are off the ground long before he reaches the top of the jump. 

Great question! I just checked the footage of Budds 2003 on YouTube, during the race David didn’t have a name for it. He actually started laughing when he saw it, you could tell he was just blown away. He could have started using it later but “scrub” didn’t seem to be the vernacular as of that race. This might even be a question for DC!

Pretty sure it was David Bailey during that 2002 125 outdoor series. I thought he said "scrub" later in the race when they watch the replay of it.

Same, the term was being used in BMX even in Australia in the early 80s. Back in those days, things usually took a few years to filter in from overseas, so I assume it may have been even earlier over there.

I remember Broc Glover talking about “scrubbing” in an older 80s instructional video.