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1/3/2024
Location
Rochester, MN
US
Edited Date/Time
6/18/2026 4:31pm
Something about riding a dirt bike that engrains something in all of us.
My fix was riding/racing dirt bikes, then I had my children who took up a majority of my time. Its sometimes difficult to fill the void that racing leaves within us.
Thinking of some of the top talent in other forms of motorsports that started with MX.
to name a few;
Clint Boyer, Jimmy Johnson, Damon Bradshaw and TP are a few that come to mind.
Here is a good read on another
https://speedsport.com/sprints-midgets/sheldon-haudenschilds-dirt-bike-…
Brian Deegan (races trucks/ cars/ etc)
Jeremy McGrath (raced off-road trucks)
Ryan Beat (races trucks)
RC (raced NASCAR trucks)
Bob Hannah (raced Planes)
Zach Osborne (races off-road moto)
Robbie Gordon (races off-road trucks)
Johnny Campbell (races off-road moto)
Jeff Ward raced Indy cars
How could you leave Jeff Ward out of this? He and TP are really the only ones I can think of with serious post moto careers in another Motorsport.
That stupid truck racing Deegan and McGrath do doesn’t count.
Indeed.
Don’t forget, RC had zero talent on four wheels!
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Ricky Johnson went into short course off road truck racing and transitioned from that into desert/Baja racing.
Yea, how dare I leave out Wardy. He was my guy for many years.
That guy could excel at anything.
Surprised we never hear anything of him. Im sure he likes his private life.
https://www.instagram.com/p/DZnVHZRRHRE/?igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==
🤷🏻♂️
Shane van Gisbergen raced quads and won NZ national titles as a kid , and has also done some MX races here while he was racing V8 Supercars
Define :making a living:Most all of those car guys like Ward amd Carmichael were using their own money to buy a seat and would have to spend big $$ to keep driving.
Ward didn't, he said he made more money in one year of Indy car than his entire MX career. Ward was the real deal in open wheel racing, second at the Indy500 is no joke.
I see him all the time in Newport. He absolutely kills it on a bicycle.
Facts!
He also said he had to pay to keep his seat if he wanted to keep racing and he also said he got very little from getting 2nd at the indy 500 when he got second.
I’ll back RC up here.
It’s incredibly difficult to jump into NASCAR at the higher levels and be successful.
RC has said that it became about knowing what adjustments to make mid race and he didn’t have the history to lean on.
I’d say he did pretty decent. The dude didn’t suck at driving.
2x indy 500 2nd - big balls n $$$...
John Hopkins, aka "Hopper" started in MX, raced with Twitch and Billy Laninovich. He had an offer to ride for Team Green but chose road racing instead. He ended up in MotoGP, placing 4th in the 2007 championship behind Stoner, Pedrosa and Rossi. Dude has an absolutely crazy life story in general - drugs, parties, women, injuries, etc. His book or the Pipe Dreams podcast interviewing him are worth checking out.
Marc Marquez started as a motocross rider in Spain before shifting to road racing and winning (currently) 7 MotoGP titles. The guy absolutely rips on a dirt bike and races enduros as well.
In general most great road racers had some type of strong dirt background. Jake Gagne (former California moto guy turned MotoAmerica champ) and Casey Stoner (started in dirt track in Australia) also come to mind. When you take most road racing schools, they strongly encourage you to get on a dirt bike, and from what I've witnessed and experienced, it's much easier for an MX guy to learn road racing than it is for a street guy to learn how to ride MX...
Pit Row
He was actually pretty fast. He crashed a lot though.
he also said he could run competitive lap times when he had clean air in front of him. During races not so much.
I read a long time ago that the Americans and Australians tended to dominate on the 500 GP bikes in the ‘80’s and ‘90’s because almost all of them had backgrounds in either dirt track or motocross which gave them an advantage because it was so easy to break traction on the 500’s.
I was running in a nascar iracing league a few years back and the broadcaster used Ricky Carmichael as a verb in reference to a guy crashing out.
“Gets lose and overcorrects it and he Ricky Carmichael’s it into the outside SAFER barrier” 😭
That’s why he’s obsessed with it.
Except when he prefers to let the guy by to experience some learning lessons.
There’s this guy, named King Kenny Roberts, he introduced it in the 70s. Basically the way everybody rides super bike now is because of Kenny.
Robbie Naughton - Off road trucks.
Buddy Lazier - Indy 500 winner
Antron Brown - NHRA
Has Shorty and Dakar been mentioned?
JMB went to MotoGP if I'm remembering correctly.
250 gp first, then 500gp that became the motogp class
Jimmy Ellis, Supercross champ , left for Australia to race the “ NASCAR” type series there. Decided to stay in Oz as far as I know.
Post a reply to: How many former motocrossers now make a living in other forms of motorsports