Good/Bad experiences with meeting riders?

Only bad one I've ever had was reed. 03 us open, I was there racing as a kid, waited in line at his semi for quite a while. He shows up walks right past everyone goes inside and then a team person was like "hes done for the day" never signed an autograph or anything. 

If I remember right, I think this was like the day before the race or something? I was quite young but that one stuck with me as a kid. 

I met Casey Stoner at the Milan airport a couple years ago as we were both heading out from the EICMA show. He was sitting at his gate with no one around as it was super early in the morning. A bit reserved, but it was great chatting with him for a few minutes on the state of road racing here in the States.

I met this legend once, in a van down by the river.

I don't care what anyone says...Travis was/is the most beloved rider in the sport.  He's like the Pied Piper.  I mean he was adored.  If you ever saw him him trying to get around at the races it was unbelievable...a human magnet.

One that sticks out the most for me was meeting Josh Grant and Chuck Sun at the same time……at the base of the chuck sun jump, we all chatted about music, Washougal and such for about ten minutes as if we’d all been friends for years. 

I met Josh Hansen while he was walking the track back in 04? I believe. He was an awesome dude as well and seemed pretty stoked when I told him my yz85 had the same graphics kit as his 250f 😂

I'll avoid the "bad" experiences just because the only really "bad" experience I had as a young fan, the rider had a terrible incident hitting someone on track right before signings so probably not the best sample size. Hurt at the time but as an adult, I get it. However, the 3 BEST:

1. Josh Grant became my idol because of how kind he was to 6 year old me at STL SX in 2009. It was my first pro race and I was kind of standoffish in the pits because it was a lot to take in. He saw me standing with my mom looking at his bike from a distance and came over to visit for a few minutes. Not during a signing or anything, just because he saw a young fan. Was super impactful for me as a fan of the sport.

2. Marvin Musquin did a cameo style video for my cousin who was a die hard fan but couldn't make it to the race a couple years ago. Wasn't during a signing either, and was super genuine about it. Ended up being his last season so was glad we caught him.

3. Anthony Rodriguez (and actually the whole traders racing operation in 2016) were awesome to me. Talked how the track was shaping up, hooked me up with a couple sponsor freebies, etc. once again, was just watching their guys wrench and came up to visit.

*Want to add: Trey Canard was probably the best in his time of balancing his appreciation for fans with his schedule. I believe he used to sign posters in advance in case he had to early. Saw him doing it on at least one occasion I can remember when I was younger.

Also, highly suggest anyone with younger fans adventure to the more privateer setups, those guys usually are more willing to spare a minute and aren't as stressed generally 

I've been fortunate to meet quite a few over the years. A couple that really stuck out:

Marty Tripes- Unadilla 1978 - after Saturday practice gave me some stickers he snatched from Keith McCarty (who was meticulously placing them on Bob Hannah's bike). Marty then got into a Trans-Am Or Firebird rental car and did donuts with it in the pits to the delight of the crowd. As a 9-year old kid I thought this was just the most awesome thing ever!

Rich Eierstedt- at Glen Helen in the late 90's... found out that I had traveled from the east coast to finally check out the SoCal MX scene for the first time after only seeing it through the pages of MX magazines. Rich treated me like a special guest and took me under his wing all weekend to include sharing brownies and Gatorade in his pits with him and introducing me to everyone he knew... His kindness to me was off the charts...

Larry Brooks and Mitch Peyton (and a couple others from the Pro-Circuit crew) - I was at the mall in Daytona getting pizza probably around 1989 and must have had a MX shirt or hat on when I got approached by the crew. We just started talking about Daytona and all the cool stuff about Bike Week. I figured they were there just there like me for Gatorback and the Daytona amateur Supercross. We finally got around to talking about where we were from when the guy about my age said he was from "California". I was pretty impressed that he had come that far to race! When we finally exchanged names- he said his name was Larry Brooks! It finally dawned on me that It was Mitch and Larry and crew... LoL!! They were super-cool and fun to talk to.

Magoo- I met him a couple times. Once in California at Glen Helen and once at Budds Creek at the '07 MXDN... When I met him at Glen Helen he had an album of photos of him racing that he gladly flipped through and shared with me- including some of him on his Maico railing some sand dunes and absolutely getting insane air on it. I got to shake his hand the last time at the MXDN and reintroduced myself telling him about the photo album experience that he enjoyed hearing.

1979 Oakland Supercross…my cousin and I were standing outside the pits looking thru the fence…we were eyeing Hannah and Burgett’s OW/YZs…they were too trick. 

Rick Burgett told us “Follow me” as he walked by us on his way into the pits…told the security dude,”They’re with me”. Walked us over to his pit (Yamaha) and introduced us to his crew…told us he could tell we were real fans. 

He made a 15 & 16 y/o kid’s day…

John Dowd happened to be hauling down my street here in Southwick last year and was nice enough to stop and chat for a minute, I wanted to talk Moto and he wanted to talk about my truck! Was as humble as could be and definitely made me even more of a fan. 

Also, the Star Yamaha guys were super cool about me just rolling right into their compound one Sunday afternoon. I found myself overnighting in Cairo just a few miles away and figured I had nothing to lose by swinging by and seeing if anybody was there. They gave me a quick tour of the tracks and were happy to talk moto for a while.. unforgettable experience.

John is a class act. 

Man, these are fantastic. You guys are jogging my memory now.

James Dobb was super nice and cool. Way back in the day, Weinert was a jokester like you wouldn’t believe. Marty Smith was extremely approachable as was Kent Howerton. Met Gary Jones at a SX and still on an Ammex. Great guy and easy to talk too. 
Keidrowski and Larocco very cool. Damon Huffman would go out of his way to make sure you got the picture you wanted along with an autograph. 

DV12 had a resting bitch face like no other. Lol 

Being around this sport since the late 70's I would say the top 3 coolest people I've met that really standout are ,Doug Domokos, Guy Cooper and Brian Deegan. All were and are super nice and very down to earth people.  Seven Duce Duce is also another that is super cool and very friendly. 

Ronnie Mac stayed at me house 1 nite. He spitted tobac on the porch, I scooped it up and save it in an ol cool whip container.  Its still in my mamas freezer til this day I shit u not.   She was more pissed than a cat stuck on the shed roof in a downpour in the morning when she see'd her pills was gone

I’ve met dozens over the years and honestly most (except Carmichael) were amazing. 

Two that left lasting impressions on me were Mike Larocco and Stu Baylor. I was probably 10-12 years old when I met Larocco. He took me to his bike and sat me on it for a while and we talked about dirt bike stuff. He then told me to meet him back at his semi after the race and he’d give me his goggles. After the race I was walking through the pits and he actually saw me as he was exiting the track. He stopped, gave me his goggles and a high five. 

I met Stu at High Point last year. We talked for a while and he seemed very genuine and happy to be talking to a fan who noticed a GNCC racer at an MX race. He seemed very out going and just as funny in person as he is on videos. 

Ran into Stanton at the Detroit airport around 93-94. He was on the payphone ar the time but smiled and waved. 
Caught Rodney Smiths hat off the podium at PA GNCC in 2004. Went up to his truck with my young son after and he gladly signed it for him. 
Was at the Steel City national in 2009 with my son, who was then 14. We were camping there for the weekend. While walking around the pro pits on Friday, Coy Gibbs yelled to us and asked if we wanted something to eat. They had food and drinks at the rig and just invited us to come into the hospitality area and eat with them. Super cool guy. 
I belonged to the same moto practice tracks as the Delong brothers from GNCC. They run a riding clinic for kids at the one club and are super kind and they will donate there gear at the end of the season for club members. 
Have met Coty Shock at Pagoda MC when I was a member there and he was racing D6. Super nice kid. 

My buddy bought justin hill a shot and we all took a shot with him at honky tonk central at Nashville 2019 after he pulled out of the main event early, we took the shot with just after he got done singing on stage

Was standing near Hannah at 1986 Gainesville round of the Winter AMA. I was a fan of his for probably 9 years at that point and chickened out of saying anything.  He did ask my friend where the riders meeting was.  He also wheelied across the pits  the crispest sounding RM250 I ever heard.  That was a great day.  

For me it was Larry Ward, Brian Manley, Jeff Glass, David Bailey, Travis Pastrana, and Andrew Short. 

All very nice and willing to take a few moments to chat. Larry was even cool after a really bad race. I'm sure he just wanted to go back to the hotel or get on a plane, but he chatted it up with the fans. 

Manley always had hot women around so I don't know how he couldn't have been happy. Very nice guy to fans.  Travis and Short the same. 

One of my favorite stories was of Stephane Roncada. One year at the Washougal national a couple hours after the races were over me and my friends were hanging out at our campsite by the creek. As we are sitting there Stephane walks by and says hi. He then proceeds to sit around our fire and talk shop with us for quite some time. It was awesome, he gained several fans that day. 

My best memory I have was with RC, Heath Voss, Chad Reed at Seattle Children's Hospital back in the day. 

At the time, I was a volunteer for the MX for Children charity and Seattle was our 'home race'. Feld always held the Thursday press event at the hospital for the Seattle race. It was a win/win for everybody - just good vibes and good PR... At the event patients at the hospital got the chance to hang with the racers present: just chat with them, play some pool, swap stories, get autographs, etc. One year select riders (Heath Voss, Chad Reed, RC)  got the chance as well to visit the normally off limits Cancer (Oncology) ICU ward. The ward is not really a happy place as the kids present are really ill, in fact all of us had to suit up in gowns with gloves and masks! But, the kids and the riders were all smiles during their visit. My best memory of motocross is from this day - watching RC pull a little Red Wagon around the ICU ward and visiting as many kids as he could handing out MX and Suzuki trinkets. Total good will. Great memory. 

-Was parked next to Bogle at Pala, during his peak Geico days, he was super cool and talkative.

-Barcia in elevator in Vegas after he won a 250 championship, was cool and humble.

-Rode off-road with a group that included RV2 (shortly after his retirement), he was hilarious and nice.

-John Dowd, several encounters in New England and always an awesome dude.

-Doug Henry, same as Dowd.

-Troy Lee, always super nice and funny

A bunch of other good interactions I won't bother listing, bunch of fmx guys back in the day. I think the only neutral/negative I had was Webb.

Met Pastrana on practice day before xgames in LA in '06 or '07. Waited in line with my dad for like an hour before security started turning people away. Travis came up to the fence and asked the security "Can you guys just give me like 15 minutes?" Always thought that was super cool of him, even as a kid. He said hi to everyone personally, when he didn't have to, straight off the course still in his gear. 

My dad and brother were out at Pala one weekday afternoon in probably 2010 when Barcia and Tomac were out practicing. Barcia must have seen them setting up to take a photo in front of one of the bigger jumps on the track, because he threw down an absolutely gnarly whip in the background. Made for a pretty great photo.

Shot the shit with RC once. Couldn't have been a nicer guy. Asked me if I wanted a photo and was graceful when I said no, I'm a Bubba guy. 

2000 Morgantown WV, We went eat to eat at Applebee's the night before Mt Morris, as we are sitting waiting for a table Roger Decoster and Travis Pastrana come in. I start talking to them and tell Travis my 7 year old daughter is a big fan of his. She keeps telling him "your not Travis" Roger is getting a big laugh out of it as Travis tries his hardest. Finally Travis gives her a marker and asks if she wants to sign his cast. She says no because you are not Travis. We all had a big laugh. They were very nice and polite. We still pick on her today about it.

1994 Red Bud, we were racing the on the Saturday night track before the national and Jeff Glass shows up in our pit. We hangs out most of the evening with us even going up to cheer us on. Jeff was a really down to earth guy told us the story of how he got Surf on board as a  sponsor.

Was eating at a local taco spot and TP walked in and sat down waiting to pick up food. My wife and I bought him and his buddy a drink, he turned around and we just waved said hi and thought that would be the end of it. He bought a round of shots then came over and sat with us for about an hour and we drank the entire time lol. Its cool to see all the stories about him from people who have had the same/similar experience. 

1998 Atlanta, after the sx wife and I went to the Sun Dial restaurant,  Saw David Bailey and Marty Reid. They invited us to their table, David was telling stories from his racing days and what it meant to ride for team USA. They treated us like long lost friends.

I also met Jessy Nelson and Broc Tickle at Mt Morris in the Pits. My daughter was a fan of both and wanted pictures with them. They were both very kind. Tickle even had her come behind the barrier at the truck to get a better picture. 
Never met DV, but chatted with him briefly over DM about a bike build. I was doing something similar and picked his brain on a few things. I didn’t expect an answer but he answers quickly and helped me out. 
I feel the autograph lines are the least personal experience. It is just an assembly line of people and autographs and pictures. The couple I’ve gotten for the kids have been very impersonal. Those lines I can see giving you a bad taste for riders in some cases, especially the big names.