Eli Tomac confirms Supercross only for 2027

Eli is the Tom Brady of MX 

Kenny vs Tomac for the 2030 SX title, stamp it

I remember an interview from Tomac at the Whiskey Throttle show (it's probably 6-7 years old by now) and Ping asked him how long he thinks he's going to race. Tomac said he'll probably race as long as he can go out there and fight for wins. With how he looked in SX this year it doesn't surprise me that he keeps going. 

Any reasonable cost/benefit analysis supports this decision.

Tomac retiring or sitting out a series is solidly in the "believe it when I see it" category. 

ET3 did the exact same thing with Star. confirm SX, leave door open for outdoor.

If Eli is winning races and competitive one would strongly suspect he will be racing outdoors next summer

tell you what, he dont owe us nothing. i'm satisfied to see him race anything. he has gave us some wonderful years of racing.  made the sport better. some of the biggest moments (good or bad) happened when that guy was on the track. 

It's probably partly open from KTM's side as well. See how he likes the bike outdoors this year, and if Jorge or Lucas gets hurt, he can can keep going. 

It’s the best thing for him to do. He’s not going to be winning anymore SX or MX titles but SX is much more manageable. I don’t want to see him ride around in 6-10th every weekend. 

If he rode like he did the first half of SX he def can win an SX title. Not saying he will but I wouldn’t say for sure he won’t. Tomac def looked like the best in SX until he chipped his tooth after winning Daytona. He got in that mode of just riding around, not pushing it because he wasn’t comfortable and taking big swings on setup, even though he had a winning setup to start the year..Pulling out the paddle even. And there was injury speculation which he denied and laughed at. It was bizarre.

Coenen and Prado will do the job for KTM Outdoors in 2027.

I get to see anther year of The Beast?!

NICE!

If it's true Eli was pretty sick, and it lingered, that could explain his 'slump' and then the crashes did him in. As we all know, being sick can take a lot out of you. 

It can be easy to hide if you feel weak from being sick, but being in a pro race exposes it.

It seems more reasonable in his position to only commit when you need to do it. An emerging talent would need to commit to all year. Eli doesn't need to do that. If he feels good at the end of Supercross and wants to do MX I'm sure a door will open for him. 

From Racer X/Travis Delnicki

Aside from the improvement in riding, there are whispers that Eli’s return for 2027 may not be as certain as it once was. Eli himself recently said that he would be back for a SX-only deal in 27’ but there is smoke that may not be happening. Like most things Tomac, there is a lot of unknown, and it will be a waiting game, but it is something to be aware of as we close out remainder of 2026.

tht wht I was saying in the conens thread , if Eli does hang it up , tht neck injury really did him in 🤦🏾‍♂️

I really think that Eli will get announced tomorrow as a member of Team USA for MXdN...and then will call it a career.

He will ignore the mental side of his neck injury he got at Pala and give 110% at Des Nations, leaving nothing on the table.

He will steal the show and ride off a legend no matter where he finishes. Herlings, Prado, Giasjer, Fevbre etc will give him lots of respect.

It is how he should go out in my opinion.

I just wish these guys had another avenue to explore after moto.... for example - if utv racing would take off that would be a great place for guys like et3, webb, ando, etc to go after retiring from moto... but that type of racing, even short course trucks, has reallyyy fallen off... these guys ain't like u or i... they've been racing and training nearly every day since they were 4... sitting behind a desk just ain't a good place for them.... they still need something competitive to do after moto, something they could actually look forward to.... horseshoes and chess ain't gonna cut it.... 

Loretta Lynns seems to be the destination you are describing

@ML512 @LewisPhillips 

Can we get a vibe check on Eli? He has done zero interviews, zero press, and zero posting. I saw some Rupert picks and he’s smiling with the team. I’ve also heard his dad left the track a few weeks ago the bike was so bad. 

I’m not really sure where to even post this except in here. 

after he signed the contract people tried to pin him down on this, then things started leaking like they always do. Finally, during a longer interview with a very relaxed looking Eli, he confirmed HE had an option in the contract for outdoors next year based on some not revealed milestones he would achieve. Nothing revealed since then or speculation contradicts his earlier statement.

after the chipped tooth episode people blamed that for his performance drop off. Eli kept insisting nothing was wrong and he just had to fight through the slump. Finally, it was revealed he had re-acquired COVID but eventually started riding better and the hip injury knocked him out for a few weeks. The neck injury came after that. That's a lot for a rider to endure in 1 year. Even though he's not challenging for podiums since he came back, at least he completes races now instead of DNFs or missing multiple entire races while recovering. Never write off Eli until he announces something himself.

There’s a million avenues, track racing, rally, Baja truck racing. Eli is a pilot as well. 

The last thing I’m worried about is how they’ll feed their competitive fire after racing. 

I’d be more curious to know if Eli will keep riding when he hangs it up. He’s a very serious guy but also seems to really enjoy riding his dirtbike. 

GNCC, Hard Enduro

I agree 100% , might be a KTM vs Honda showdown with those 4 rides going for it. 

KTM would not field an outdoor 450 team in an American motocross series without an American rider.

Why is Tomac considering retirement? he's obviously fit. 

burnout?

Dudes been through the ringer the last few years

Anyone looking objectively at Eli’s results in the last year or so would reasonably come to the conclusion that he just isn’t the rider he was 3-4 years ago.  

Why not?

Unless Eli changes his mind they won’t have an American 450 rider next year for outdoors.

My worthless opinion is that he is just over it.

Wife, kids, farming. He doesn’t need the money.

It is likely that he could keep on ripping if he wanted- look at Herlings , roughly same age, way more injuries, and faster than ever…

I know it isn't going to happen, but it would be cool to see Tomac alongside Roczen at Suzuki next SX season.  End his career on the brand he rode on mini's.  A guy can dream.