Exhaust pod with Ricky Johnson

Farmer J
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Steelville, MO, USA

Anyone else listen and think it was one of the better ones in a while? Some of the things like guys training too hard and not being ready for the weekend. Helping Webb in the whoops. The lack of respect from Americans, which I totally agree. Who cares where you're from if you like racing you're experiencing possibly the best rider ever. (Not a jett or hunter super fan here) He talked about guys getting bored with winning. Oh he also touched on a topic that I think was discussed here by a couple guys this week. 

 

12
3
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9/26/2025 5:59am

Ricky is awesome. 

9
Mossy940
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9/26/2025 6:42am Edited Date/Time 9/26/2025 9:10am

I have mentioned this story once before, but I will mention it again - 

 

A couple years back, by pure luck, I ended up talking with Ricky in his garage for a few hours in a one-on-one setting.... About 20 minutes into the conversation the shock wore off & I realized just how down-to-earth Ricky really is.

 

Of course, we talked about his championships (he offered to let me hold his SX championship trophy, I declined but I did touch it), the Danny S. debacle, a few MXON stories, but where Ricky really got excited was when he could turn the conversation to me & my racing stories (I am a no one).

 

Ricky asked about every lap of my one shining result at an amateur national. From my starting gate, to where I was at the end of lap one, to how my fitness was on that day, all the way through what it meant to me/my family to finally get a top 5 after 12 years of trying...... He refused to let me speed through the story at any point. 

After I finished the story he wanted more. He could not have cared less about who he was and treated my stories the way any of us would treat his...Hanging on to every word and hoping for as much detail as he could get.

 

Anyway, Ricky is the real deal both on camera and in person. He is everything you have heard he is & more.

52
9/26/2025 6:55am

             Damn Mossy, that is a fantastic hero interaction story !  Some guys are the real deal.

8

The Shop

Farmer J
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9/26/2025 8:05am Edited Date/Time 9/26/2025 9:42am

That's awesome, I got the feeling he is the real deal on and off camera from the pod. 

 

Edited: forgot to quote mossy

1
Mossy940
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9/26/2025 9:09am

             Damn Mossy, that is a fantastic hero interaction story !  Some guys are the real deal.

He really is - 

 

My buddy was buying an old buggy off of Ricky & his son Luke but had no idea who he was. When we got there, I did my best to not yell "THATS RICK FUCKIN JOHNSON".

 

While Luke was going over everything about the car with my buddy, Ricky started conversing with me and the rest is history......

9
mxaniac
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Airway Heights, WA, USA
9/26/2025 9:16am
Farmer J wrote:
Anyone else listen and think it was one of the better ones in a while? Some of the things like guys training too hard and not...

Anyone else listen and think it was one of the better ones in a while? Some of the things like guys training too hard and not being ready for the weekend. Helping Webb in the whoops. The lack of respect from Americans, which I totally agree. Who cares where you're from if you like racing you're experiencing possibly the best rider ever. (Not a jett or hunter super fan here) He talked about guys getting bored with winning. Oh he also touched on a topic that I think was discussed here by a couple guys this week. 

 

It's a good episode for sure.

1
peelout
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Ogden, UT, USA
9/26/2025 9:28am

drank a beer with RJ and Seb Tortelli at the Hard Rock after the Vegas SX one year, RJ had the sickest mullet.  they leave then Reed stumbles over and me and a buddy have a couple shots with him.  epic night.  might have been the same night Tyler Evans one punched some dude.

RJ is the fuckin' man

12
gt80rider
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Boulder, CO, USA
9/26/2025 9:35am

I only know Ricky from short course truck racing, but that dood has sooooo many stories!!! Wish he would have gotten bigger on 4 wheels after mx/sx... he had the skills, no matter how many wheels... 

3
mx317
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9/26/2025 9:42am

Went to a Rick Johnson riding school at Muddy Creek that came with buying a Yamaha. He has us do a track walk after we rode and asked us about our lines. He then said how you don't just look at one corner, you think in sections. He picked out stuff we hadn't thought of and I ended up picking up a lot of speed using his lines. Top guys like that just think different and that's why they were so good.

13
chuckie108
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Location
Mira Loma, CA, USA
9/26/2025 10:01pm
mx317 wrote:
Went to a Rick Johnson riding school at Muddy Creek that came with buying a Yamaha. He has us do a track walk after we rode...

Went to a Rick Johnson riding school at Muddy Creek that came with buying a Yamaha. He has us do a track walk after we rode and asked us about our lines. He then said how you don't just look at one corner, you think in sections. He picked out stuff we hadn't thought of and I ended up picking up a lot of speed using his lines. Top guys like that just think different and that's why they were so good.

I was about to post the same exact experience!! Did the same school here in SoCal with RJ back in the 90's. He had us ride the track for a bit, then we walked the track with him while he asked different guys in the group what line they used and why. Then he would tell us what line he would take and why. It became apparent really quickly why he dominated the sport in his era. It was like we were seeing the track in 1080, while RJ was in 5K. Another thing that happened in that clinic, someone asked RJ if he thought Bradshaw or Stanton would have anything for Bayle this coming year(this clinic was in late '92). RJ's response- "Jeremy McGrath is going to win the supercross championship". Everyone kinda rolled their eyes, but RJ nailed it. He doesn't get the love he deserves because he started his career in sub-par machinery, and then his career was also cut short from injury, but Very few guys have dominated like RJ did once he got on Hondas- one of the more underappreciated champions in our sport.  

8
truck
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Louisville, KY, USA
Fantasy
9/26/2025 10:40pm

Made me laugh after reading on here hundreds of times about how soft we all are for noticing dirty riding, how it was normal back in the day, etc..... 

1
9/27/2025 6:54am

There’s a right way to be cocky, and there’s a wrong way to be cocky.

Learn from your elders, kids. RJ did it right.

5
Not hillbilly
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Gaithersburg, MD, USA
9/27/2025 7:13am

Ricky Johnson is solid gold. At one of the early Day in the Dirts, he autographed a picture I had taken of him years before at a Golden State round at LACR, the year he tried to come back from the wrist injury, rocking the number 13. Even though he was surrounded by people trying to get his attention, he still took a few moments to comment on the picture and reminisce about that season.

We need to get him back in the broadcast booth.

5

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