Cameron Hanes - Keep Hammering Collective - KHC 128 - Adam Cianciarulo

Episode Date: March 28, 2025

Join us for a conversation with Adam Cianciarulo, former pro dirt bike racer, current broadcaster, brand ambassador, and podcast host.  Adam and Cam talk about pro racing and the sacrifice and discipline as a kid, the pressure in racing as a pro in Supercross, highlights in Adam’s career, and more! Follow along: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cameronrhanes Twitter: https://twitter.com/cameronhanes Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/camhanes/ Website: https://www.cameronhanes.com Follow Adam: https://www.instagram.com/adamcianciarulo/  Black Rifle Coffee: https://www.blackriflecoffee.com/ Use code KEEPHAMMERING for 20% your first order Hoyt: http://bit.ly/3Zdamyv use code CAM for 10% off Sig Sauer: https://www.sigsauer.com/ use code CAM10 for 10% off optics Grizzly Coolers: https://www.grizzlycoolers.com/ use code KEEPHAMMERING for 20% off LMNT: Visit https://drinklmnt.com/cam for a free sample pack with any purchase Ketone IQ: https://www.ketone.com/Cam use code CAM for 30% off your first subscription Timestamps: 00:00:00  Adam’s Fanbase & Industry 00:04:12  The Hype Behind Supercross 00:05:30  When Adam Turned Pro 00:08:05  Pay Days in Supercross 00:13:31  How Supercross Has Changed Over the Years 00:15:09  Adam’s Mindset Winning His First Race 00:16:32  Obstacles in Supercross 00:18:15  Doing Your Absolute Best 00:20:15  The Highlight of Adam’s Career 00:32:12  Ad Break (Black Rifle Coffee & Grizzly Coolers) 00:33:47  Dealing with the Pressure from Racing 00:42:43  Perspective in Racing: Broadcasting   00:50:58  Art Eckman & Ricky Carmichael 00:53:49  Ketone Shots & “Locked-In” 00:57:53  Aggressive Racing 01:03:52  The Strategy in Staying Focused During Racing  01:08:04  Track Maps & Rain Races 01:11:07  Where Adam’s Confidence in Racing Came From 01:16:11  Visualization, Adam’s Best Podium Comment, & Golf 01:24:09  Letting Go of Expectations 01:32:01  The Next Best Racers of All Time 01:38:06  Wear & Tear on the Body & Mind 01:41:38  F#$k, Marry, Kill: Supercross, Broadcasting, Golf? 01:43:44  New Knowledge in Supercross 01:45:54  What Adam Wants his Legacy to be 01:47:36  Importance of the Announcers Perspective 01:49:10  What Adam’s #1 Intro Song Would Be 01:50:27  Outro (Hoyt Bow & MKC Knife)

Every step I take, I move my truth. Every time they tell me stop I use. Every comment hate that makes my feel. Gather up my energy and boom. I hear them talking, saying the way that I move it's so reckless. That is a part of my mind I've been blessed with. Giving my blood so I am relentless. This is a Keep Hammering Collective with Adam Sienzrello.

Stoke to be here, man. Thank you for having me. How was that? You crushed it. Yeah, I got it now. I got it now. Well, at least for that time. But Adam, man, it's a honor to have you here.

It's a pleasure. I did not. Well, I knew you were a badass, but we put up a few posts today. People love you on social media, dude. What is the deal? I guess it's just a lifetime's worth of work in a single industry, right? I've been super blessed to have a really, really supportive fan base. And it's really sustained me through, you know, in my sport, in anything, a lot of ups and

downs, right? And the fans have always been, yeah, it's just been the best part of it, my interacting with people. And you're just able to, you know, able to have some influence on people. And I've always tried to kind of maintain a positive attitude, no matter what the circumstances are. And I find that people appreciate that. And I certainly appreciate them. Yeah. Well, I mean, this podcast is going to be so easy for me because you're so well spoken. You're so good at this. And it's like, it's no wonder that. So you talked to, you mentioned, your industry. What is your industry? Tell the people. I mean, I know because we've talked about it all day, but for those who don't know, tell me your industry and then tell me what you're doing now within it,

because as I mentioned, you're such a good spokesperson, but what do you have to? Well, thank you. Yeah, my industry, so I was a professional dirt bike racer for, I mean, I raced my whole life since I was four years old. I'm 28 now. I had 11 year pro career, so racing supercross, which is, inside stadiums, you know, that's like the, that's kind of the pinnacle of our sport is super cross. I did that starting in 2014. And my last full season was last year, 2024. So retired from that recently, which we'll get into that. There's plenty there.

But yeah, now I've moved into a broadcasting role, which has been very exciting. and it's actually something, it's something that I've kind of always wanted to do. It's not one of those things where you see a lot of athletes just get into broadcasting because that's kind of convenience, what they know. And it's always been something since, you know, I was a big fan of the sport organically. From the time I was a kid, I just gravitated towards it. And I loved it. And I used to hear Art Ekman was the play-by-play and David Bailey.

They called him the professor because he could just break stuff down so well. I remember listening to them in the early 2000s. And as much as I wanted to be a racer, I also wanted to be that. And I think that's what people don't realize. You know, I'm not here to, when it comes to this career, I'm very motivated. Like I want to work hard at it. I want to be the best I can be at it. And so it's been perfect.

I mean, to stop racing May of 2024, and I think my first broadcasting gig was maybe six weeks later, And so I've had a great opportunity to go right into it. It's had its challenges, of course, kind of learning to be an adult too at the same time, right? Answering emails, doing all this adult type stuff. You're just, I guess, not really used to doing as an athlete, but it's been it's been so fun and rewarding. And, you know, I'm able to, I love my industry. Like, I love the people that I'm around. And, you know, we have every weekend, every Saturday, there's.

25 semis and we call it the pits the paddock right and just everybody in there it feels like I've grown up with them all those people I have so many friends and the fans have been great and so the fact that I still have a job within the industry that I'm passionate about I feel very very blessed what what is it what's the draw is it's like the big shows come into town and like everybody is hyped is that the excitement to it the Saturdays and here comes Supercross and it's going to be a big show. Is that, is that what it is? Yeah, I mean, it really is just a, man, it's the closest thing to like gladiators and in an arena,

besides like UFC type stuff, right? There's something so, in a way, it's so intimate about it, man and machine and it really is. I mean, Supercross is such a big show, you know, opening, you hear a lot of riders talk about opening ceremonies, right? They introduce the riders, everybody picks their, you know, picks their song. And those are the elite, really the 10 best dirt bike racers in the world get that opportunity. And I mean, I remember my first opening ceremonies like it was yesterday, right, going into a packed stadium and Anaheim, 50,000 people on their feet, fireworks. And it's just the, it's what you grow up. It's what I grew up thinking about every day, right?

It's just, it's the most, I guess, mainstream. It's the biggest platform. we have. So if you perform on Saturday night, if you perform at a supercross race, there's no higher. There's no higher than that. Yeah, that's the pinnacle. And so you started that. You mentioned your first race. Did you win your first race? Is that, isn't that right? I did. Yeah, I did. And you were, what, if I do the math, 17 or 16 or how old? 17. So, yeah, so I went, started racing when I was four. Of course, there's like an amateur motorcross. circuit, right? You go to all these. They're normally like week-long events. So it'd be the same

schedule every year. You go to Texas for a couple events. You'd go to Las Vegas for the world many. We'd have this big, the biggest race as an amateur is called Loretta Lens. And so that's kind of where you get scouted. You get scouted by these teams. Teams will come and watch these young guys ride to look out for future talent down the line. And back then you could go pro at 16. I had a I had a really good amateur career, signed with Kawasaki in 2004 as a seven-year-old. It kind of brought me up through their team green program. And then, yeah, I signed my pro contract, signed the first pro contract when I was 14, which was like a big deal at the time.

Nobody had really signed that young. And then, yeah, turned pro. It's crazy. It really is crazy when I look back now because I was such a little kid. when I went when I turned pro I mean I looked at 14 I mean I turned pro at 16 signing that contract at 14 but even you look pretty young right now yeah I I I've got the baby space thing going on but you face killer yeah yeah and yeah I was able to win my first supercross race um in the cowboy stadium in arlington well actually which was just how many people were there 50 I mean it had to

yeah I think it was a sold out crowd so whatever that is 50 60 000 wow it was you know how still just a little kid. I look at pictures of me, like on the podium from that night. I was thinking I was so grown up, right? And you're racing against men? Yeah, yeah. I mean, my teammate at the time was, you know, in his late 20s. There's a lot of guys in the 250 class. It can, it can vary. There's a lot of 18, 19 year old. Not a lot, but a few really good. Hayden Deegan comes to mind in the 250 class. He's 19. So every once in a while, a teenager comes along and like stirs things up. Like you can tell, like, this guy's going to be good, right? If you're already that good, that young. Yeah. But yeah, I was out there racing against men and, yeah, I was able to win my first Super

Cross race and just the best feeling ever, something I'll never forget. 14. And 17. 17. Oh, 17. Oh, sorry. Signed the pro contract. When you're 14. Yeah, yeah. One when you're 17. Okay. And then 17 years old, what was that payday like to win that? So payday back then, it's so funny that you ask me this because I've been trying to kind of push it in our sport more talking about the kind of the financial side of things. Because most of the time, people say, I tell people I'd race dirt bikes for a lit. I tell people I race dirt bikes and they're like,

okay, well, what do you do for a living? Right? Like people aren't aware. It is kind of a niche sport that's growing. But I think my bonus structure at the time, I think it was like around 60,000 that I got from my team. So it was in the 250 class, I was racing for Kawasaki, but Kawasaki's fast. factory team in the 250 class was ran by a man called Mitch Payton who owns pro-circuit. So it was

Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki. Yeah, I had a great relationship with those guys. But yeah, it was, you can definitely make a fair amount of money at the top level. And I think as a 17-year-old, you win. I didn't even care though back then. I mean, 17. I was like, I just wanted to win. I would have done it for free. Yeah, I get that. Well, I've talked about that, the business part of what I do also. And it's like we start off where we're just excited to be there. And then as now you say you're talking about the money because nobody ever talks about it. But that is eventually you're like, wait, I am kind of putting my body on the line out here.

I'm working my ass off. This is what I'm doing, spending all thinking about doing, training. You do deserve to be compensated. We start off like, this is incredible, this opportunity. It's all I've ever wanted. And then it's just like, wait, this is a business. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, as a kid, like you said it. I think when I when I got into racing dirt bikes, I did it because it was fun and I did it because I was competitive and I wanted to be better than the other guys. I didn't think about money at all. All I wanted to do was when. I was fortunate enough to be just in love with with what I was doing, you know, and I was in dirt bike racing, there's only a handful of guys really in the grand scheme of it that are able to to make a lot of. living and to set themselves up to, you know, retire at a young age. So yeah, I'm very fortunate.

Definitely. I had great opportunities. And of course, it has its bumps and bruises along the way, just like anything else. It was difficult. But it's so worth it, man. And I feel like I'm in such a good spot now. I'll get to do cool stuff like this with you. You were shooting bows earlier. I know. It was amazing. Yeah, it was. I just love, you know, the whole premise to this podcast is talking to outliers. It's like, what have my guest done to reach the top of their field, essentially? So how did you become an outlier and what you do? So that's why you're here. And I see the comments. You're definitely, I mean, people are rabid fans of you. And so that's a testament to how you raised, how you carried yourself. I was curious when you're talking about

the money part. You said, Kowasaki, the team paid you? Or who pays you? Who pays you? if you win a Supercross event, it's not, it's not the event? So you do get, you do get money from, you do get money from the event, yes. But a majority of the money comes from the factory. Okay. So from Cali, it was from Kawasaki. I see. Yeah.

So that's normally, yes, the event, you know, the event pays some. And now we have what we call the SMX world championship where our three, our two series, supercross inside stadiums and preempts. pro motocross that's in the summertime. They're two separate championships. They're two different disciplines. So you ride Supercross a lot differently than you ride outdoors, right?

And so you can, they've basically combined them into being, we call it the SMX World Championship. So points are kind of combined between Supercross, motorcross, and then we have three playoff races in September at the end of the year. And that is a very, very big payday. We've never seen anything like it in dirt bikes. You get a million dollars, like you get a million dollars in the 450 class if you are the

SMX world champion. And it's a big payout down the list of the top 20 guys. So that's just kind of been put into play over the last couple of years. 2023 was the first kind of inaugural year for the SMX World Championship. But it's such a big step for our sport to see that much money on the line. And I think it makes a lot of people, even casual fans realize, wow, guys are you know you're really racing for something yeah and i would imagine too that it also gives more credence to the dream the dream of becoming this i don't know the best in the world

it's something because it's one thing to do it because you love it and you're like you're not thinking about the money but it's another thing when kids are watching and they hear their parents talking about and they're like you could win a million dollar you know this now this turns into It's why kids always say, I want to make the NBA, right? I don't know if it's about the money, but it's just like being at the top. It's part of it. But then also that I can take care of my family. This is generational type thing.

I don't know who has that perspective. But you know that it's out there in this big payday, this big tournament, this big contest, whatever it is. And if you're the best, you could win a million dollars. That's going to get people hungry. Yes. And the sport has changed so much from when I was, you know, I started riding in 1999, 2000. The sports changed so much.

Now you have six, seven, eight year old kids basically living full time at training facilities. Right, where back in, you know, I can only speak from my experience, there was a couple little training facilities, but I grew up in this little town, Port Orange, Florida, hour away, it was the closest track that I had.

And my dad and I would load the van up every day and we go drive and, find a track, find wherever it wasn't raining to get our work in. So it was just a different, it just becomes so much more serious, right? And I think it requires, just like anything else, it requires such a sacrifice. And you got to be willing to, you got to be willing to give everything up. You know, I gave up, I gave up a normal life. Like I gave up, you know, I was homeschooled from the time I was in third grade, right? Like all, all that stuff. I went all in on dirt by. you know, when I was six or seven years old.

And that's what you have to do to be the best and to be one of those guys. And it's nice to know now you're looking at that payday now, right? And you really have something to strive for where back in my day, I knew, I kind of knew once you know, once you get to be a teenager, I knew that there was good money in it if I was able to be one of the best. But it's definitely, there's a lot more opportunity in our sport now. Yeah. No, I can imagine.

Well, how did, what was your mindset like for that first one that you won when you were 17 going against all those veterans essentially? And what was your mindset? I mean, did you have an advantage because you were young? I think so. I mean, I think a little bit ignorance is bliss in a sense. I had a really good amateur career in terms of results. I won a lot.

And so I was used to winning. You know, I think my mindset was at the time, I do remember getting out front in that race, and I wasn't surprised, right? You got to be able to. You're right. This is what I do. Yeah. And there's guys that can, it takes time, like to learn how to win a race and be at the front of the race. Nobody else in front of you.

That's like almost a different skill in itself. A lot of guys are not comfortable in that position, right? So I guess for me at the time, I figured, well, I was doing it as an amateur. So why, you know, why would it be any different? I always wanted to be the best. I always demanded perfection out of myself at all times. And of course, it was kind of surprising in a sense because even leading up to the race in the off season,

it normally takes kids a little while to learn supercross because as an amateur racer, you're only riding motocross, at least back then. It was you're riding motocross only, which is completely, there's different obstacles, different techniques. so many different things about Supercross that young guys have to learn. What's the biggest thing?

So we have an obstacle in Supercross called the whoops, which are basically like a series of series of dirt jumps probably five to ten feet apart, something like that, and you're basically having to, you kind of skim across the tops of them, right?

And it gets difficult. Sometimes the whoops are bigger, sometimes they're smaller as riders go through them they get all chewed up in ruts everywhere and so your bike is kind of all dancing around so that i guess that was the biggest thing i mean i remember going to a super cross track for the first time and being scared to death to go through the woops yeah right like it's it's a kind of a trial by by fire thing you know i definitely that off season leading into my first super cross race i definitely had some times where i was uh i was on the ground yeah i remember i don't know if you ever watched like Nitro Circus.

I have, yeah. And you see sometimes you'll see Travis wear like a full basically like a chest protector, but a full kind of jacket almost of protection all the way down his arms. And all like I literally used to put one of those things on to go and learn a whoop section because I essentially knew I was going to hit the ground. Yeah. It requires so much commitment to you have to carry a lot of speed into it. So little things like that.

But I guess, yeah, it was just like anything else. I guess I did it and I was like, well, I guess this is what I do. Yeah. Well, that's, I mean, I'd love to hear it. You know, you said you're used to winning. So when you're out in front on that first race in the Supercross, what was your mindset? Because I could see where people would be like, I don't want to have to make these decisions on being a leader. You know, I mean, they don't know what the PAC's probably doing.

what's going on back there. Like, what was your attitude? Like, I'm out front. I'm just going to make this gap. I'm putting the pressure on everybody and nobody can keep up with me. What were you thinking? It's a great question.

I think, man, back then, feels like a lifetime ago. Now, I mean, I think at the end of the day, it's all about anything in life. It's all about doing your absolute best and not, it's hard to do these days, especially. Not comparing yourself to anybody, right? I had some of my teammates behind me.

You're hearing the motorcycles, and you know they're right there, right, behind you. And the key is, especially in Supercross, you got 60,000 people, you got a bunch of guys over the intercom, something you don't deal with as an amateur. So, really, I think it was just about being present. I think it's easier to do that when you're a kid, right? And you're a little bit less aware of what's going on. but I just remember locking in in the moment, just doing everything I could and I think it would sometimes I would just say to myself, you know, if I do my best and it's not enough, it's not enough. And I could live with that. But I couldn't live with interfering with myself mentally and

not getting the best out of myself. So if somebody was going to beat me, somebody's going to beat me, somebody's going to beat me. But I was doing my, I was doing my best. And I think that was always kind of my mantra throughout my career, right? It's just trying not to, because you go through so many ups and downs with injuries and everything else. There's plenty of wins, but there's plenty of really low moments too. And you really just got to stay honed in on you and stay present and do the best you can get the most out of yourself. What's, yeah, that's a great attitude, obviously. But what's the highlight of your career now looking back? Highlight of my career. Well, this requires a back story. Okay. So you'll, you'll like this one. So I, in 2014, when I won,

I won three out of the first five races that I entered. Your first pro races. Yeah, my first supercross pro races. So I had gone pro, I had done some pro motocross races, which is kind of, that was kind of the norm back then. You did the big race at Loretta Lens, your last amateur race, and then you would go, you would go pro and you would race some outdoors. So I did a handful of outdoors the year before and got some okay results, nothing crazy. But this was my first real full-time season. I never raced professional supercross before. So yeah, three out of my first five wins there. And then I had, it's two rounds to go and never thought, never thought I would win the championship my first year. But I'm like, two rounds ago, I had a good points lead. I'm like, looking good. I'm like, man,

this is like, they were saying this was hard. I'm like, well, this is no problem. And of course, as a kid, just have so much confidence and when you're winning everything's coming easy i mean it just feels like you're floating and you can do no wrong well i go to toronto two races to go i think 14 point lead and i'd kind of injured injured my shoulder in the gym actually in the off season so i was riding with kind of a partially torn labrum and of course toronto decides to just come out of the my shoulder decides to come out of the socket in the middle of the race and so that So I lost my, you know, I lost that championship. I actually, I pulled off the track during the race.

I had the medics put my shoulder back in the socket. And I went out there and tried to keep riding, couldn't do it. So I lost that championship. And then got back on the bike, four months, you know, kind of was losing that whole year. Couldn't race outdoors or anything. Got back on the bike. First day back on the bike in July, I tip over in a corner, weird angle. bike hits me, broke my tip fib.

And then this is crazy, but came back, my next race, kind of a warm-up for Supercross, was in Geneva, Switzerland in December, crashed, shattered my socket in my shoulder, knocked myself out for five minutes, like bruised my lung, did a bunch of different stuff. So I missed all, after winning those races in 14, I miss all of 2015 with injuries.

I come back in 2016 break my wrist like right before the first race so I miss all of 2016 and so you go from the highest of the highs to like this guy is going to be the best ever to like I wasn't even sure if I had a place in the sport anymore you know these guys these are key developmental years

and you're losing time like you're not on the motorcycle everybody else is getting better so what were you doing? Rehab PT. Every day. I mean, just, yeah, just working out and rehabbing my injuries.

I mean, I had depressing. Yeah, I mean, it was the first, I was living on my own. You know, I moved out when I was 17. It was like the training facility I was riding at was a couple hours away from like where I grew up. So I'm on my own in this big house trying to learn how to do life. And it was really the first time I had dealt with any type of, of course you have some adversity. You know, as a kid, I had adversity in kind of more of a personal way, not some of a, much results, but I always did so well. I never really had any crazy injuries. Like I had broke my arm

or this or that. So it was a lot, you know, to feel like the sports leaving you behind. Going into third year of injuries almost. Third, yeah, third year of injuries. And then I come back, so I miss all of 15, all of 2016, 2017, race Supercross, lose the championship by one point, second. Who beat you? Zach Osborne. Yeah, it was this crazy race. I actually won the last race in Las Vegas, but it was him and my teammate

were kind of battling for the championship and Zach took my teammate out in the last corner. It was insane. I'll send it to you on YouTube. It's a good one to watch. Zach Osborne, he's a good friend of mine now, but I didn't like him then at all. And then 2018, again, second place.

Like by three or four points, right? So come to 2019, this is my last year. This was my last year in my contract in the 250 class. And I knew I had to make, this is a big year for me. I knew I had to make it happen. I knew it was now or never. I won five races that year, had my best year in Supercross by far. Was pretty dominant.

Is it five out of ten? I believe it was eight or nine races at the time. So I, I mean, most of them. Yes. And I felt the best I ever had. I mean, I put in a great offseason leading up to that and felt like mentally I was right. where I needed to be.

And yeah, it was all there. And so we come to the last race again in Las Vegas. And I think the guy behind me, Dylan Ferrandis, he was second in the championship. He was seven or eight points, but down. And you get like 25 points to win. And so if he won the race, I had to get fourth or better, I believe.

And so he's winning. We've got like three laps to go in the race. And I'm in third, like cruising around. I mean, I'm not taking any chances at all. So you're okay if you stay right there. I'm in control. Even in my mind, like I was so calm and present and there was nothing. I always felt so good when my back was against the wall.

When I had to absolutely had to do something, I felt like there's so many times as a kid, I made it happen. And I just thought I just had the confidence in myself to do that. And I crashed in the weirdest spot. I'll show it to you on YouTube, but it was like I could hit that section. The way that I crashed, I could hit the section just how I hit it a hundred more times and not ever do that one time. It was just like I came down.

I landed on the backside of a jump and there was just like a tiny little, like almost like a little rut, like a little edge. And it's like imagine you ever ride, try to ride a bicycle or something over a garden hose. And you know how you kind of like. So it basically did that. and it swung my back end into, we line the tracks, the way we outline the tracks, we have these things called tough blocks. And so it kind of slid my back tire into the tough block, eject, I go off the bike, fly into the air.

Still would have been fine. But when I went to get back on the bike, my bike was destroyed. The bars, I couldn't even, you know, I couldn't even go, I couldn't really jump the jump. I stayed out there at principal just to finish the race, even though I knew I was going to lose. but just the worst i mean talk about traumatic like like i told you that 2014 going from here going from so high and then 15 16 you're like i don't even know if i can do this anymore working my way back all the way to being the best guy and for me to blow it like that with two laps to go you know i I mean, half a million dollars on the line for the championship bonus there.

Not that money mattered at all to me at the time, but a lot was on the line. It was my last chance to really win a 250 championship, I thought, because I was always better at the supercross discipline than the outdoor discipline. I only won a couple times during outdoors, and I had like 12 wins in Supercross. So I thought, well, I just blew it. Like that was my shot and got to right there and just, I mean, I still won't watch it. Like I still won't watch it back.

I mean, it hurts, man. Like, it really does. Because you think like an inch or two, right? Or a reaction, some slightly different, just the tiniest, why? And I would be able to, I would have, I would have been able to, you know, I think I've come to a place of acceptance. Like, I think there might be a little part of me always. It's like, it bothers me, right? I mean, it was such a big thing.

the win of Supercross Championship so bad. But I think I've worked through it enough where it doesn't have any like negative impact on my life, but it's still like, dang it. I wish I would have done that. And so that was the, and this is where the good part starts. Because this is supposed to be the story of your best. Yes, but it has to go here. It has to go here before it goes there.

Good, because I was getting depressed. Yeah, right? Same, honestly. And so we only had a one weekend off between the end of Supercross in Vegas and the start of the Pro Motor Cross Championship. And so I blew in Vegas, whatever, feeling bad, but got to get back. Like, you know, got to get back. Got to try, you know, for outdoors.

And I had only won, I literally had only won one outdoor before. I didn't really have much. But I was so pissed off. And from that, just that low of a moment. and I went and I won the first four outdoors in a row. Wow. After only went in one in the five years prior. Yeah.

Right. What changed? I think that I don't know. I felt like my back was against the wall. I felt like I didn't have an option. Like I had to. You blew it in Supercross. Now you got to make up.

I have to. And I knew that I was going, I knew that I was going 450 next year. I knew I was making this step up into the Premier division. And I'm like, I got to do it. So I won the first four in a row as a 12 race championship at the time. And yeah, I won the 2019 Motorcross 250 Motorcross Championship, which was like just, it was still gives me goosebumps. I mean, that day in August, whenever it was 2019, like just so many, all the hard.

all the stuff that you go through, right? All the down days when I'm 2015, 2016, where I'm wondering if I'm even going to continue to race anymore. And just that moment to me just, it meant, it just meant so, it meant so, so much to me. And it was just, it's kind of, it was kind of like a encapsulation of my entire career, like the lows and the highs. And for that to come, if, had I not blown it,

at Vegas. There's no way I would have won that championship, that pro motocross championship. Like there's just no chance I would have. And just for me to be able to, I look back and I'm so proud that I was able to overcome literally the worst moment of my life and then turn that into something that I couldn't even imagine. Like the performances that I had, how I was riding, the competition that I was racing was so high. And so it was just, yeah, it was a, yeah, it was incredible. So as low as the Vegas moment was, it really, it set me up to do something that I never thought I would be capable of. And it taught me so much in terms of life, right? Like when we have, we all think we have so much control over our lives and the way we wanted to go. And so now when I

want to do something, it doesn't quite work out. I'm not, you know, I don't waste time punching walls. Right. I'm like, it's set me up, set me up for something. And I just thought that was such a, a lesson that was in broad daylight so simple and just yeah it was really cool be able to turn it around like that yeah i'm wondering if i'm thinking about when i've had a lot of pressure was it um do you think it was so powerful and you and felt such relief because you won or because because i'll just say like sometimes I go on these premier hunts and it's it's they're expensive there's a lot of pressure there's like the best out hunting in the world mostly I just don't want to screw it up and I just want to do I just want to honor the effort honor the opportunity honor all my work and when I do it I'm like

it's like a relief almost it's yes I'm happy oh I did it but it's just like I don't have to deal with the thought or like failing and how bad failing her so it's like I'd so it's like I'd Sometimes I don't know if I loved that I did what I was supposed to do or that I didn't fail. Because failing, you know, you talk about like winning is great and it feels good, but the pain of failing is like 10 times worse than that high. I always say that I hated to lose more than I wanted to win. And there was definitely that, and you'll hear guys talk about that still, you know, was that sense of relief and great champions in every discipline.

But I think I gave myself no choice. I think I thought to myself, I don't know how I'm going to live with myself if I don't. Like if I don't win this and I have to deal with the idea of just blowing the championship and then moving on to 450s without a title. If I had like, I don't know how I'm going to live with myself. So I had to. Like every time I put it,

every time I put something in my mind like that, I had to do something. I almost always did it. Was there, how much outside pressure was there? A lot. Yeah. Yeah, a lot. So did it feel, did it get that pressure off you too? Or like, how did your family interpret your success?

How did my family interpret my success? Well, that's maybe a story for a whole different podcast. We could go on forever. But I will say that kind of at the time, you know, I've always had very supportive parents. My dad wouldn't have been able to, you know, reach the level I did without his time and his effort. And that's greatly appreciated my mom too. My mom is like just the biggest sweetheart ever. I mean, she's my hero.

She really is. And of course, you know, they were happy for me. But they were actually a lot of personal stuff behind the scenes, just, you know, kind of family-drawn. stuff was was going on during that year I was having my best year ever even though I you know messed up Vegas like in terms of wins and where I was at I was the best I'd ever been and all the you know all that kind of personal stuff was kind of just lingering in the background right and so I didn't have I didn't have I didn't even have a family member at my race at the last race when I won the championship you know and so it really puts it I think it really put it into perspective

for me I think that's one of the reasons why I was able to to handle the pressure because it was kind of the same situation going into the last race of pro motorcross i mean i had a bigger points lead but you still got to get over the line you know you're still you got vagus lingering in your head like oh man you blew it last time right and i think the fact that i was always so driven to win and i didn't have time for i didn't have time for any type of broader perspective i didn't care like i just wanted to win and i think that family you know the family stuff going on in the background i think it was like really really made me look at it from a different perspective for the first time of like hey you can be

having all this success and all these results but if you don't have this you know you don't have the people you love around you and um you know just along for the ride it's just not as it's not as fun it's not as cool so i i think in a way i think that helped me like that helped me deal with the deal with the pressure uh like you had a chip on your shoulder or you said your family wasn't there so it was like you're going to win in spite of them kind of like i'm going to show you that i can do this on my own yeah yeah there was some of that yeah there's some of that i i kind of uh yeah it's it's you know what i mean it's hard to talk about that kind of stuff but yeah nobody wants to yeah family but yeah i mean there's definitely part of that of me you know i really took the reins of my

own program that year and it was really important me really important to me not only not to prove to really really anybody else other than myself of like I was always so good at following orders as a kid right like dad was my coach he pushed me hard and I would do what I was told and no questions asked I'm doing it and I think I think I wasn't sure if I could do it without that type of support like that with without having kind of with me having full control over my program making decisions and doing all that kind of stuff, I kind of took a chance on myself going into that year. And so personally, to prove to myself that I was capable of doing that was meant a lot to me. It still means a lot to me. Like even just in my personal life,

the fact that I stepped up to the plate there and, you know, the fact that I got it done was cool. And you were 20 at that time? Was that, you said, or wait, how old were you? 23? I must have been 22 or 23. Okay, yeah. So that's still damn young. But when you think about you went pro at 14 and you're doing this whole thing, you're making this money, you're basically, you have a career. Yeah. So you've had a career now at this time for maybe nine years. You're used to pressure.

Definitely. Yeah. Still, does it make you immune to it? Immune to the, there's pitfalls. Yeah. Think about your family and your challenges there and the pressure. you're feeling from that and then like, well, no, I want to make, I want to be my own. At 23, make your own decisions.

So it's like, do you think that that, your journey there and coming through that is why you're such a good resource to these young writers? Because do these writers have the same type of pressure? Because they need family to get there because they're kids. And then it turns into this career. Yeah. And is that how you can offer such good advice? Yeah, I think so. I mean, I don't, I don't, I don't really have any formal role in anybody's program or, you know, of course, I have friends that race. But just in terms of, you know, what I'm able to offer the sport long term. You know, I'm just big on, I'm big on just contributing to your community, contributing, you know, I want to see the sport grow. And that's a big reason why I'm, you know, I'm in the position I am now.

You know, I think it's, you have a lot of responsibilities sitting in that seat and, you know, calling, you know, calling the races of doing it, you know, doing it the right way. But I think my perspective is, it's definitely unique because I was more or less the golden child, you know, from the time I was five or six years old. I, for whatever reason, I got on a dirt bike right away and I was just good. You know, I was jumping jumps that nobody else was when I was five years old and you stand out, you get sponsored, you get the target on your back, everybody wants to beat you. and you feel like everybody's waiting for you to fail. You know, we kind of do that in society. We build people up and come, they come tumbling down at some point.

But I always had to carry that. I always had to carry this, you know, this sense of these expectations, these outside expectations. And it was difficult. But that being said, carrying, you know, dealing with all of the things that I dealt with and all the things that happened,

like I was talking to you, lunch about this, but it's just I can't, I can't even imagine if it, if it didn't go the way it did for me to, you know, one of those things, it's like, I just feel like I'm in such a good spot now. I have everything that, everything that I want in life. I'm in a dream, I have a dream opportunity to be doing this broadcasting so, so quickly out of racing. I never thought it would happen this quick. So I think it's just, it set me up, you know, and it wasn't the way that, to be honest, my career was not didn't go the way that I that I thought it would you know I thought I'd win more I thought I would I thought I would be the grace of all time right and I'm not that but I think

it's just what happened needed to happen well and you mentioned a few times perspective and I think that perspective is probably what makes you great at calling races and and also getting to into the minds of the writers you know so you you know what the pressure they're going through so you You can maybe articulate it. You talked about your community and protecting your community. It's like that perspective and that that glimpse into how they're thinking, how they're interpreting different challenges, race day, wrecking. That gives you, because you've lived it.

And that's why they always want athletes to call these race, or not races, but other sports, you know, like basketball, they have the, but not all those guys are good at articulating, you know, the details or the emotional part. They were great players. Right. But you have, it feels like, and from what the feedback I've got from people who are deep into it,

which I'm not, but it's like you have that respect and you have just that, that, you know, tested in the fire mentality and the metal that it took. And now you can kind of explain that to the viewers. Yeah. And to be real, I mean, I love this sport. And that doesn't always happen, right? I mean, this has been a job for me since I was eight years old, 10 years old, had those expectations, had ups and downs. A lot of times there's guys that

retire that were, you know, great racers, but it's almost like they're bitter at the sport, right? Like, they don't, they don't like it as much. And through everything for me, that's what sustained me. It's like, I just, I'm in love with this, this damn sport, man. Like, I just love it and I always have. and so I take a lot I mean it's just super brings me joy to do this job and to watch these guys I love watching racing and I love breaking it down and yeah having that perspective having you know having the experience I was telling you telling you at lunch but I think as a broadcaster what you say on the air like I you know I'm responsible kind of for some of these narratives a lot of fans will kind of latch on to some of the things that broadcasters say, right? And you're,

you kind of, you have the first take on what's happening. This guy runs into this racer runs into this racer. The way that you react to that is kind of how a lot of the fans are going to feel about it, too, right? So for me, to make my perspective, to make my perspective as educated as possible, to break it down as fairly and, you know, breaking it down in a way that these fans can kind of digest it. I just, I take a lot of pride in doing that, and I really work hard on doing that the best I can. That being said, I mean, I can definitely be better, right? I mean, I'm early in this thing, and I'm still learning, trying to learn as much as I can. Luckily, I have a lot of really good guys working, you know, that I'm able to work with.

One of those guys, Ricky Carmichael, grace of all time, right? So these guys have been nothing but kind to me and, yeah, just very helpful. So that's been part of the fun of this new gig too. It's just as a racer, you're kind of, it's kind of like everybody else. Excuse my language, right? But it's like, yeah, and this kind of to be a part of this team, like this whole broadcasting team, the camaraderie behind it, it's just, it's really fun, man. It makes me grateful for my community, as I said.

I bet. Yeah, I mean, so I've been saying writer. You say racer. Am I not supposed to say writer? Oh, you can say writer. Okay, that's okay. No, you're good, man. We're loose.

We're loose. Our community's loose, man. What I was thinking about when you were saying that about, you take great pride in being fair, calling it, you know, with perspective, I think, and probably said that too many times now. But it makes me think of, you know how the guys in the NBA now, they don't like the old heads, you know, kind of. of talking shit on them like oh these guys couldn't play in the 90s is way too physical so i get what

you're saying about sometimes people are bitter because sometimes you hear these old NBA players and you're like man are they bitter that they didn't make all the money these young guys are making and you know now it's all offense defenses it used to be a defensive league back in the 90s you know hand checking yeah and just so physical and now they're like oh jordan would average 50 in today's game So I do get that where the old heads can get a little bit bitter and for whatever reason. Yeah, I think, yeah, like you said, luckily for, luckily for us, the guys like Ricky Carmichael is kind of the, he's been the main guy in the booth in terms of analysts for the last probably 10 years or so. And that guy loves the sport just like I do. What makes him good at Colin races?

What makes him good at con races is, I mean, his perspective is gold because what he was able to do. I mean, it's not even, you look at his, like, record is he won 10 outdoor championships in a row, never lost. In a row. Never lost. From 19, I think, 1997 to 2006, then 2007, he was semi-retired, and won every race he did on the semi-retired schedule, right? Just the experiences and what he was able to, what he did is almost like alien. So to get his analysis on something, I mean, it's like having Michael Jordan call an NBA game, right? You're going to, those words are going to mean more.

Right. Right. And just the fact that, you know, that guy probably got $50 million in the bank. He could be on a boat in the Bahamas, but he's getting on a plane, you know, every Friday, coming to the races, doing it. I just think it's a great asset, you know, for the sport to have the greatest to ever do it in the booth, right? It just shows that a lot of, I feel like a lot of people in our sports share my perspective in terms of, like, how much we love it. You know, it really is like a passion project as well. Yeah, you know, then I was thinking of you talk about the goat because Tom Brady, he went into the booth and he got mixed reviews on how he was calling games.

and he's the goat. It was like you'd hear a few times. He did have some, I thought some great, he analyzed great and great insight. Sometimes he would kind of judge the quarterbacks for their decision making, this and that. And I don't know if that's part of it, but there's probably a way to present that better.

I think there's so many, there's so much stuff that goes into it. You know, I had some, as a racer, you know, when I was injured sometimes, I had opportunities to do some, some guest commentating. You know, I knew what this is what I wanted to do post-racing when I was 15. So every chance I got, you know, whether it's trackside reporting or up in the booth or anything,

I did it. And so I had an idea of, I guess I had an idea of everything that's involved, you know, a producer talking in your ear, all the meetings and just how you, how they want you to present kind of the sport, right? But yeah, it's quite a lot. It's quite a lot of work. And it's it's just it's harder than you, it's harder than you would think. I bet. And it's easy to sit. Even when I'm watching a basketball game or I'm watching a football game, I'm sitting on the couch. I'm like, well, you should have said that. You should have said this, this, whatever. It's hard. It's hard. And I think broadcasting is one

of those things that's so subjective. Like one person's going to love what you say and the other person's not so you got to kind of my my previous career of racing has set me up perfect for this because I know I'm going to get criticized right you every hall of fame commentator there is Mike tariko Joe buck all these guys Jim Nance they all take their licks on social media anytime they call an event right that's just the nature of the game so I take the same mentality I did in racing do my best do my best try to improve you know listen to people around me and yeah it's it's a perfect opportunity you mentioned Ricky Carmichael and what makes him good. You also mentioned a couple other announcers earlier. I can't remember their names now that were like you wanted to be like them or they

were. Oh, yep. David Bailey, Art Ekman. Right. Exactly. Yeah. So what made them good? Why were they good at what they did? Well, Art Ekman, he was the play-by-play guy or I think in most of the 90s. I mean, I started watching like 99. So for one, nostalgia. Let's just get that out of the way, right? I'm a kid. I'm falling in love with this sport. And these voices are, Art Ekman just had a perfect play-by-play voice,

just a strong voice. And you just wanted to hear, you just liked the way he talked, really, though he was super concise. And David Bailey, who is kind of, I guess, was in, you know, kind of my role now as an analyst, former champion, former racer.

I told you they called him the professor because he was just the way, he was able to break down like really complex things that are going on out there. I mean, to ride a dirt bike, as fast as these guys ride around track, I could sit here and talk about it for five days, like with all the things that you have to do and, you know, what makes this guy special, like all these little things that he's doing. I think the key is the way that David was able to kind of break down these really complex things and make them. digestible to a wide range of audience, right? Because you're not just talking to the hardcore fans.

If I was talking about just hardcore fans, I would completely, I wouldn't talk the way that I talk, right? You have to cater to the audience, right, which is casual fans, people just tuning in. You know, sometimes we have shows that are on NBC and like kind of like more of a prime time slot. So we're kind of trying to cater to more of a casual fan audience, right? So I think just being able to break things down and making it easily digestible for people, that's what I, that's what the challenge of it is for me, and that's what I find so stimulating, right? It's just trying to articulate these things the best I can. Yeah, that's what I like about UFC and when Rogan calls, you know, obviously most people aren't black belts in jiu-jitsu.

So he's kind of stepping him through what's going on, what the move is, what they need to be aware of, what the fighter should be doing. So it's like, yeah, it's not talking to black belts, because they already know that, it's talking to the casuals. And that's why UFC is blown up. So it's like you being that liaison between the pros and the casuals, that's what you see your job.

That's a sweet spot. Yeah, right. Yeah, that's super interesting. Oh, did we do our ketones yet? yet. Oh, let's do it, man. Have you tried it? Oh, I'm a bit, oh, keytone IQ. I've been all over this stuff for years. Do you know Michael Brandt? He's a CEO. Sounds familiar. Yeah. Should I give him my, should I give him my address right here on the spot? No, give him your cell phone number, right? Nobody listens to this. You'd be fine. Nobody?

I'm a tough time with this cap here. There you go. Now we're going to really ramp up our conversation. I want to be locked in. Yeah. Do you know where locked in started? No. What's that guy's name? David, somebody. Do you guys know who that is who shit his pants running? Goggins? No, not David Goggins.

He never shits. He never shits? No, he's a machine. David Clark. Davis. Davis. Oh, my gosh. Oh, I know Davis Clark.

So that's locked in. Yeah. So remember he would say you got to get locked in. You got to stay locked in. I actually have a comment on one of his posts. Yeah. I said, you know how everybody says, it's a bad day to whatever under his.

Yeah, be it, whatever. I said like, he said something. I'm like, it's a bad day to take full accountability for your mistakes or something. It's got like 25,000 likes. It always pops up on my feed. Yeah, that guy's awesome. I had one too that did that.

Really? Yeah, and I said, he shit his pants running Boston. You know, my, my other house says, nobody cares to work harder. Yep. So I said nobody cares shit harder. No. And that got a lot of lights.

You got to put that on a t-shirt. Well, it's just because he shit his pants. Yeah. And he showed it like in the race, he's got shit running down his legs. That's locked in. That's wild. That is locked in now. Hit those spreadsheets.

I know I know. Yeah, I was just asking True of my son. I said, is Davis Clark still posting? I don't know if I fell out of the algorithm, but I haven't seen this stuff. The algorithm's weird. Yeah. Like the algorithm's so weird. I'll have 150,000 views on my story one day and then like 8,000 on the next.

Could post the same picture. It's weird. You got to get Davis Clark on here. I know. He came out to California one time, I think, for business. And we were going to try to make it work, but didn't work. I'm sure it'll happen at some point. No, I love his attitude.

He's pretty funny. I mean, and he's like talking about going into the office on Friday because nobody wants to work Fridays. I think he's in, must be Boston. Yeah, it looks like it. more back there. But yeah, he's locked in with the spreadsheets on Friday. Got to stay locked.

Yeah, I love it. You got to stay locked in for this 240-mile or you have coming up. 250. 250? Yeah. Wow. That's going to be rough. Well, you're ready now.

You did Pisco. That's true. Yeah. Well, we did an interview this morning. Like we did a little, you know, cameras following. We were talking, getting to know each other going up that climb this morning. I was doing my best. You did great.

To not look like I was sweating. at all. You were trotting up there pretty good, man. You crushed it. But I felt good. I felt good. Open me up a little bit. Got the blood flowing. What was the best part of the day? Best part of the day? Might have been that view from the top. Yeah. Or doing 65 in our Kawasaki side by side in the neighborhood. Yeah. Hey, we didn't get pulled over. I know. We were trying to get that mugshot picture. That's what I wanted. We could sell some serious merch off that. I love it. Yeah. Who did we say just got a, oh, that was Deegan, right? Hayden Deegan. Oh, yeah.

Hey and Dagan. I need one of those shirts. Yeah, you'll get one. I'm sure you go over to his rig this weekend. I'm sure you talk to Brian. Yeah. I'm sure they'll get you one sized up. I got to be brown.

Doing donuts, doing donuts in an Audi R rate, I think. Was it? Yeah. On an off weekend. So I bet he's probably sold 50 grand worth of merch off it already. I'll pay for that bail. Yeah, it's only $1,000. Oh.

That's no problem. See, that's just a good business decision. Absolutely. Wasn't it? Right? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, yeah, it's pretty funny.

I was thinking about something. What was I thinking? Oh, so you said, you mentioned wrecking, kind of that one year, obviously, with two laps left. Then you mentioned another race or somebody wrecked. What is your feelings when you're doing great and somebody fucking takes you out? I mean.

Rage. Yeah. Does that turn into big issues for the racers? Well, so you have guys, most of the guys, most of the guys at the top level, the sport race, just like an F1 most of the time. You don't see anybody going and spinning out Lewis Hamilton on purpose to pass them, right? There's like an etiquette involved in like the best racers there are, Eli Tomac, Jet Lawrence, Chase Sexton. Those are kind of the guys at the top right now. like they will they'll pass you aggressively but unless it's for like the championship or unless a person

ran into them and they're paying them back like they're normally they leave the guys some room and there's a way to do it right and not knock people down i mean rubbing is racing but when you're intentionally going in trying to put the guy on the ground to me that's not great etiquette and some people might call me soft for that which i get right i mean i've taken my fair share of people out you know I've been taking up plenty of times. But yeah, I mean, there are guys out there. Justin Barsha is like the guy in our sport. They literally call him Bam Bam.

Like that's his nickname. Bam, bam. And he is just the most aggressive racer there's ever existed. Like if you pass him, you know if you're not like hugging the inside of the turn and the next turn, like you are getting blasted into the stands. Right? So there's guys out there that you have to take into a game. count like how you pass them right and like if I got around if I passed Justin Barsha you better

believe that next half lap was going to be the fastest I would do all day because I need to get some space for him right yeah but definitely just this past weekend Jason Anderson who was my teammate my last couple of years on Kawasaki he's a former supercross champion great rider he's one of the more aggressive guys on track and chase sexton who's second in the championship right now was coming through the pack and took him out, right? And just that's, uh, it's definitely, it's an accident? No, no, I don't think so. Okay. I don't think it was an accident, right? But like, I think if you take somebody out, especially somebody aggressive like Jason, like Chase knows he's got it coming now. It's just a matter of when. Yeah. Like he's always got to be looking out for the 21, right?

So that's part of the way in taking somebody out. Yeah, maybe sometimes it'll be easier. to pass them, it's almost a lazy pass, you know, taking somebody out. To get by somebody clean is harder. But if you make enemies, like you don't want a bunch of enemies out there. And if you go running into everybody, like those guys will put you down. Right. So it's like it's kind of, it's kind of a bit of a chess game. Like sometimes you do have to take somebody out.

But yeah, it's very important not to make too many enemies. It's hard enough as it is. Yeah. I mean, I can see that. You want to be aggressive. Yeah. But not overly aggressive. Totally.

With the enemies. Yeah. Does it ever happen where, so we got one teammate winning, another team may be coming up. Does somebody on that, the team that's winning take out the guy who could beat him ever? Is it ever like a lower tier guy take out the challenger for the top just for his teammate? off the top of my head it does it if it's I'm sure it's happened like I'm sure it's happened here and there but most of the time I mean yes it's a team sport in a sense we have teammates but it's a solo sport okay really I mean you're not it's kind of good etiquette

I mean you're not going to race your teammate overly aggressive right but there's not a whole lot of there's not really a team atmosphere I mean you have your team guys in the truck right and everybody's on the same but even like even in the 450 class like i i have my own like last year when my last year racing i have i have my own crew chief i have my own mechanic um so it's like a two it's like two separate teams within within a team right so it's we're we're all out there for ourselves yeah at the end of the day sometimes at the end of a championship if one of the guys on the team is in position to win the championship like you may be asked to let somebody by Like if he's going to win the title.

How are you asked? Like what do you mean? I can think of one time that I was asked and it was just like before like it was, we do our practice and stuff during the day and then we have like a couple hours downtime before the night show starts before the main, you know, the main show starts. And it was just like, hey, you know, this guy's in position to win. And you may be asked to, you know, step aside basically and let them through. And were you?

But it doesn't happen. It doesn't happen. No, I won that race. Yeah. So you can ask me, but no, I'm going to win. Yeah, right? It really doesn't happen. It's nowhere near like a Formula One or anything like that.

It's very rare when it happens. I see. I was just curious. I just know how competition works and it's like there's only one winner. What does it take to be that kind? There's definitely a lot of discussion over if that's right or not. But it's funny how, in some sports, it's totally accepted.

And then in our sport, it's very, you know, there's been some instances where the fans are definitely bummed out, like where somebody lets somebody buy. Right. But it's, I mean, it's rare once every 10 years maybe. What, and I should know this, I should be more, but I'm the casual who you're educating. You're good.

So in a super cross, say, championship final, everything's at say. How long is that race? 20 minutes plus one lap so you leave the gate the timer starts whenever that timer gets to zero

the next time you cross the finish line it's white flag one to go one lap so we used to it used to be for the 250 class which is you know where I won my first super cross when you go when you go from amateur to pro you race a 250 class and that's the displacement of the motorcycle 250

cc engine that's 15 minutes plus one lap And then the Premier class, 20 minutes plus one lap. It used to be 15 laps for 250s, 20 laps for the Premier class, 450s. But now it's just, it's better for TV because some tracks are different every single weekend. There's a new design. And so sometimes a lap time might be 45 seconds and sometimes it might be a minute and 15 seconds.

Right. So it's just a way to where you know exactly how much racing, you know, the fans are going to see. Is the clock counting down or up? Down. So it starts at 20. Okay, he goes down. It seems like... You're going to have fun this weekend.

I know. It seems like, tell me if this is right or wrong, but for 20 minutes plus a one lap, you're, Davis Clark, are you locked in on every single second? I mean, you can't, has your mind ever wandered? And then you rack and you're like,

what? How did I lose focus? Does that ever happen? Yeah, I mean, I think definitely in, it's something that you have to learn. I think it comes with experience, kind of being able to keep your, because everybody's mind wanders.

Yeah. Everybody's mind wanders. But it's what you do with it. It's how disciplined you are about bringing it back, right, and focusing on the task at hand. But I mean, yeah, it gets to a point where,

especially like in practice, we normally have the same super cross track that we practice on during the week. We call it like the test track. I mean, I could be thinking about, you know, going to Chuck E. Cheese and jumping in the ball pit.

I don't know. That's random. But I could be thinking about that. How about a girl that you saw? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Something like that.

Like I could be thinking about something completely different and do laps and be fine. So much of it's muscle memory. Right. But yeah, very important to stay locked in. And really, it's not a situation where you just go out there. And it's like, of course, you're trying to go as fast as you can, but there's strategy to it, too. You have to know where to put. your effort it's like working smarter not harder right so there's different sections of the track

that you need to put a little bit more emphasis on people know their their strengths and their weaknesses right and it's like how do you kind of mitigate some of these weaknesses what can i do here what can i do there so there's a lot of like strategy involved with it a lot of the 250 class like the young kids they just go out there and you know try to go absolutely fast as they can the whole time but there's there's an art to winning races right and it's a lot of times the the fastest guy doesn't win. Do you see racers now that you're like, they need to change our approach,

or you see things, mistakes they make? Can you see those from the booth with all your experience and everything? Can you watch and be like, and this guy would have a lot better, more success if he'd race this way? Like they got the talent, they're just not implementing your right.

Do you see that? Yeah, yeah. I mean, it's so easy for me to see from an outside perspective, right? a whole lot of different story. I mean, when you're in it. That's life, right? Yeah, and if I could take a look at myself,

like if I could be calling my own race two years ago or whenever it was, it would be the same thing. I would be like, well, why are you doing this? Why are you doing that? It's harder to change when you're in it, of course. But yeah, that's part of the fun. You know, it's part of the fun. It's like everybody's, of course,

everybody's doing their best. Yeah, what they think is their best. Yeah, what they think they're the best. Exactly. You can't see the force of the tree. type thing. Sometimes you're so close to it. When you were saying that, these tracks, do you ever show up to a track when you were racing and be like, this is my event? You just know how it was laid out that it just fit your

skill set? Yes, in a way. We'll look at track maps the week. So for Supercross, you know, they build the track the week of on the stadium floor. But they come out with the kind of the track maps almost like six months in advance. So you can take a look at like, and you can kind of get a general idea of, you know, if somebody's really good, like I told you about the whoop section,

being very technical. It's a lot of time to be made or lost in, in a section like that. There's guys that are really good in there and not so good. You know, you see somebody, somebody that's amazing in whoops and they see a track map with three sets of whoops on it,

right? Obviously, you're going to think that, you know, you're going to do better there. for me it was always like a it was a vibe it was like an energy right it was just how I felt when I got off the plane it's like sometimes I just knew like sometimes just knew it was it like I was winning that's kind of the way it always was and for me anytime it rained I was like let's go baby

I got this I got this yeah even I have no idea yeah I have no idea I can I can trace it back to one story of of when I was a kid. And it was the week before, like, our biggest amateur event. There was, we did a week-long race in Oklahoma. They called it, Panka City. And then you would, you would do that. And then you would go to Loretta Lens after kind of besides the point. But I remember I was racing at the time.

It was an 85, it was like the 85cc open. So it was like 10 to 16 years old. And I'm like 10. Like I'm on the, you know, most 10-year-olds wouldn't even try to race that class. But you're a golden child, remember. Yeah, exactly, right? Golden child. And I remember, I always hated the mud because I won everything else.

And if it rained, it kind of levels the playing field a little bit. So when it rained, I was like, that was kind of some of the only times I was scared of losing. But I remember, for whatever this day, August 2008, I remember I did this 85 CCC open. It was practice, I think. but I was racing against guys older than me that I never really raced against traditionally, right? You never get a chance, 85cc open. That class isn't at every event, right? So I was racing guys like Eli Tomac, some of these amazing riders that were four years older than me or whatever.

And I just remember I went out there and I was just so fast, like my lap times. I don't even exactly remember what it was. But I remember that day when I got done with that practice as an 11-year-old kid, 10-11-year-old kid, ever since then every time it rained i was like let's go baby let's go i got it yeah i've no idea why but it's funny it's just little moments like that and i think the rain is just so much about attitude really yeah you know that makes sense yeah um you mentioned like sometimes you'd get off the plane and you just knew you're going to win like you had that what how did how did you get that mindset where did that come from was that from watching other athletes like a jordan where you looked at him

He looked confident all the time. So how did, where did your confidence, where was it cultivated from? Work. Yeah, just putting in work. Like I told you, and you know, a lot of kids do this. It's more popular.

I guess it's more of a popular thing now to kind of go all in at a younger age. But when I say I was all in, I mean, I was all in. I wanted nothing else to do with anything. Like I didn't want to go to Disneyland. I didn't want to go to my cousin's birthday party. I didn't want to do anything else

other than win dirt bike races. And I would do whatever it took. What was that? Was that just reps on the track, riding? Yeah. I mean, it was a training? I think at the end of the day, greatness comes down to deliberate practice.

It's like how much attention to detail are you keeping when you go out there. Everybody can go out there and ride laps. You know, we can all go out there and do a 20-minute motto. But it's like, are you really locked in and focused on getting one percent better? Like getting better at the whoop section or doing this or doing that. And I think the intensity in which I worked from such a young age, I think I thought to myself,

there's no way in hell anybody else is doing this. So that gave me confidence that, that gave me confidence that nobody was doing what I was doing. and I worked hard enough and I didn't doubt there was nothing there was I couldn't do anything else like there was there was nothing left for me to be done and so I think that's where my confidence started and I think I was just a crazy competitive like it was just really competitive and I'm not really so much that way anymore I think the trials and tribulations of life have you know shown me a lot more perspective where it's kind of hard to be that I guess kind of that all-in mindset you know F everybody and this is all that matters.

Because in a way, it's a selfish place to, you know, live. But if you want to be great, you want to be the very best at something. I mean, that's how you have to be. And, yeah, I was just competitive. I mean, I wanted to kill those kids. Like, I wanted to embarrass them. Like, that's just how I was. Yeah, that's unique for a kid.

It's, yeah, did that ever, how did that manifest on the track? I mean, were any other kids, like that or did you ever have issues with that fire? I think my biggest, I guess my biggest hurdle maybe as a kid would be, I didn't, I didn't lose a whole lot. But when I did, I guess really not even, didn't even matter in results. I was just scared to death of losing. Like I just didn't, like I, I just really didn't want to lose and it just caused me a lot of stress. I think that was maybe the downside of it. Yeah, I mean, you get, of course, with anything that, you know, you care about a lot, you're going to get

your identity wrapped up in it a bit. And I didn't have a, you know, I didn't have a chance to, wasn't something, you know, dirt bikes wasn't something I got into when I was 18 and I already kind of established who I was. It is who I was completely, 100%. So when I was doing bad on a dirt bike, I was a bad person. You're like failing as a human. I was to complete failure. And, you know, that's some of that 2015, 2016 is overcoming that, right? That's a lot of pressure for a kid, though. Yeah, yeah, it's a lot of pressure. I mean, you know, we got to, it takes a lot.

It takes a lot of time. You know, my dad was just me. I have a younger sister and my mom, of course. So it was me and my dad on the road a lot. And like I've always been a pretty aware person even when I was a kid. And just knowing that they were like how much people were sacchar- you know how much people were sacrificing and it's like you know if i if i don't win this race if i don't turn this into something like i couldn't i couldn't bear that thought of like doing all this

doing all this seeing all these sacrifices being made around me and even just going through what i was willing to give on a personal level if i didn't like just the amount of really of suffering i was willing to put up with as a kid in order to make it um yeah it's it's a it's a it's a lot it was happening for me you know and I wanted to even if I didn't get there I wanted to do everything I could you know I wanted to do the best that's I felt like I had that responsibility you know to do my best even even as a young kid and there's definitely some psychological implications of that you know as you move forward later in life that I definitely had to deal with yeah there could be some scars from that I was curious how much

maybe not when you're a kid or maybe when you're a kid, but did you visualize? Like, how much is visualization part of racing? Yeah, I visualized. I mean, I would sit on the starting gate. And so for one, as an amateur, a big part of why I was good there was because I never stopped watching races. I mean, there's a million classes happen. There's racing all day. The track's changing all day.

And I would always be out there on the track, looking at lines, watching the track develop, right? And so I would sit there, I would sit there on the gate and I would close my eyes and I would go through, you know, imagine myself getting the whole shot, imagine myself the feeling that that's going to give me, you know, going in the first corner, not seeing anybody to my right or to my left. And I would visualize and I knew exactly where I was going, like on the first lap. I knew every single line throughout the entire track where I was going. And so I would sit there and close my eyes and just do laps in my head of, you know, hitting those lines and doing that. And I did that. And I did that. I did that my whole career. Did you? Yeah. Okay. Yeah. And I think a lot of the visualization, I mean, even, it's more like daydreaming in a sense.

But, I mean, there would be times where there would be times where I would be almost, I knew what I was going to say on the podium because I had rehearsed it in my head. Like the night before. Night before. Yeah. Or a week before or a month before. There was times where I was like, I don't know. Yeah. I don't know why.

I was like this, but there was times where six, you know, six months ago I thought about something I would say on the podium if this happened. And I win a race and snap of my fingers. It's just there on the top of my head. And I just say it. Like I always wanted to be,

I wanted to win more than anything, but I wanted to be more than that. You know, I wanted to really, you know, I really wanted to give people show. Being an icon. Yeah.

And just, yeah, just do my best in all areas. You know, and I love, I love that part. I love the, I guess, kind of like the... The Stroman?

Yeah. Yeah. I like that. What was your best podium comment? My best podium comment. Hmm. Well, I think I said, so Denver of 2023, that was my last podium in the 450 class. And, you know, I was dealing with the, I was dealing with this nerve injury, which,

just one of the reasons why I retired, but this nerve injury in my arm where I wasn't able to like really hold on to the bike that well. In 2022, I'd missed all of 22 due to a torn ACL. And so 23, I came back. And I was kind of, I wasn't that, I wasn't as good as I was. I wasn't like that elite guy anymore. I lost it. You know, I kind of like missed my window of opportunity. I wasn't healthy enough. But it got towards later in the championship. And like I said, durability is a skill and to be out there as a skill. And we, We had lost a fair amount of guys due to injury at that point. So the field was definitely a lot thinner.

But I was able to get on the podium. It was a huge moment for me. And two of my friends that I race, like the two probably best friends I have in racing, which I never really had a whole lot of friends in racing. It's just kind of the nature of the game. But they were the first two spots ahead of me. And like these guys that I'd grown up with,

we had trained at the same training facility. And on that podium, I remember I said, gosh, Oh, now I'm losing it. What did I say? I said a winner. A winner is just a loser that kept trying. That's a good one. Yeah, I probably stole that off a coffee mug or something.

But it hit hard, man. I had a little tear going down my eye. Did you? Oh. Yeah, people come up to me all the time and they're like, they talk about that podium speech. Oh, that's perfect. Well, yeah.

I mean, you know, there's this, there's a tactic with, I'm going back to the visualization now, but there's a strategy where you're like your perspective writing, going through everything. And then there's a perspective from like a bird's eye view, like where it's not you, but you're watching you going through. Did you take both those or was it always you on the bike?

I would love to sit here and say both, but it was always just first person for me. but I can tell you that recently, and we don't have to spend much time talking about this because our audiences will not be stugged. But I'm super into golf. It's like the one hobby that I found outside of racing that I can do. I never played any other sports growing up or anything. So it's kind of cool for me.

And visualization, geez, Louise. I'm a broadcaster, folks. My goodness. But yeah, that's a big part of it. For me, so. They use that word this weekend. Yeah, for real. Every once in a while, there's a word like that just,

Yeah, I know. Sometimes it just escapes your mind in a moment. I just read my book and there's a certain like cadence of words that, well, when somebody, so I had quotes from outliers and how somebody else says something is not how I say something. So even though I see the words and I'm reading it, my brain is like, well, no, that's not how I say it. Right. I say it with these words in this order. Yeah.

So it's like I'm looking at it. My brain will not say it. But anyway. No, there's times, man, I keep a little note pad, like a little pocket in my pocket all the time with some, just some bullet points. Because every once in a while, I'll be coming back from commercial break and I'll have something I want to say. And if just last second, it'll leave my mind, right? It happened to me earlier in the year. And then you're like, oh, God.

I'm live. Yeah. So you kind of have to learn to get around those little things. So what was the golfing visualization? Yeah, just visualizing the shot. Oh, you want to hit and seeing yourself do it, right? I just, yeah, seeing myself, dude, I've seen so many videos of me swinging the, you know, in golf, you're always getting videos of your swinging, kind of analyzing, right?

So I think it was just easier for me to visualize that. But my game, I just shot a 77 a couple weeks ago is my career best. That's good. In the rain, like I told you, I was always good in the rain. What was par? 72. Okay. Yeah.

Five over. Yeah. It was pretty damn good. And my home course, too, is very, it's like a pretty difficult, pretty difficult course. So it was a big moment for me. I'm still kind of riding the high a little bit. That's a good effort for sure. Yeah, when I think about a lot of people,

like, you know how we had that elk target at the bow rack and you were shooting it? And I was saying, pick a aim small, miss small, that type of thing. So a lot of people visualize that where they're shooting the arrow. Where I've tried to do is, yeah, I want to see the perfect arrow hit right where I want. But I also want to see from above and see how I'm reacting. so I can see what I do, what the bull does,

and see that whole process just to give it even more power in my mind. Right. You know what I mean? I don't know if that works. And has there been a moment for you where you're like, wow, like what I visualized was like so clearly happened? Have you had those moments? Yeah, yeah.

It's just like, I saw this. I saw this happening. This exact thing. Yeah. And then. You know, you get to a place where I think you get to where you make a perfect shot and you're like, yeah, that's what I do. Yeah. That's, I shouldn't be surprised.

I'm surprised when it's not perfect. Right. You know what I mean? Yeah. And that's a big, because when I first started and maybe when you first started, if the arrow went where I wanted it to, I was surprised. I was like, holy shit. Wow. I didn't know that was going to.

But now it's like I'm surprised if it doesn't go perfect. So it's just that shift where, yeah. Yeah, I guess something that living with this, you know, I guess I've always kind of viewed my life. Just, you know, I kind of came up in my sport at the time. Social media was kind of coming to the forefront. And for whatever reason, you know, I was doing well, but people labeled me this next big thing.

And you're dealing with all this outside pressure. And I almost felt like I was living in a fishbow. Of course, it's a people can maybe even laugh when you hear something like that because it's dirt bike racing, right? But, you know, it's my world, right? And it felt like everybody was just looking at me, waiting for me to screw up. And I think that after living with that

and carrying that for so long, I think it's almost taught me to let go of expectations. Right? Like, now I think that's been the biggest thing that's been an improvement to my quality of life. It's just, I mean, even sitting down and doing this podcast. Right. Like five years ago, I would have been like, man, I need to make sure that I, you know, that I do this and say this or do it. And it's just like just more of an acceptance of just doing your best and accepting whatever that is. And it's just that has been such an incredibly, and it's such a stark contrast from from like what's been inside my mind for my whole life. Right. And this is just a change that's happened in the last couple of years for me. But it's just added so much.

allowed me to be so much more present, compare myself less. I always used to compare myself so much to, you know, you shoot a buck and you go on Instagram and somebody's going to be shooting a bigger buck. Yeah. Right? It's just things like that where it's kind of got away from the expectations a little bit. How did that happen? I mean, what changed?

Think we're just hitting rock bottom. You know, you get to a point where you're like, this can't get any worse. It couldn't be further off course than you are right now. And it's like, whoa, I'm still alive. Like, the sun's still going to rise the next morning, right? Like, my mom's still going to call me, tell me she loves me. I still got my friends. You know, it's just, I think that it's like, yeah, I mean, I think for one, like, it's

great to have things that you care about a lot, right? It's not this mindset of like nothing matters, like this nihilistic thing. But it's just a way I guess I've found to get the most out of myself and just get the most enjoyment out of it. It's just, yeah, it's just allowed me to stay more, more present. It's just less, less stressful, less stressful feeling like you have to do this, right? It's just less stressful. For approval type.

Yeah. Yeah, I mean, well, do you feel, do you feel pressure calling the races? Like, I would say that I get nervous, like, I get nervous before we go live on the show. Once we get into it a little bit, I'm like, I'm kind of good. you go, whatever, but no, I mean, I don't get super, I'm not like, you know, back in the day maybe, I used to think like, oh, man, well, what if this happens? What if this happens? Every once in a while, stuff like that would come into my mind. I never think about that now. I'm never like, what if I say this on air? What if I say the wrong thing, right? I just, I guess I kind of have like

a childish confidence that it's going to, like I'm just confident in the things that, you know, that I can say and I'm confident with the fact that my best is enough for me. You know, if I, if I do my best, there's nothing more I can do. And I think that perspective is only possible through life experience teaching you that, right? And I think that's it. It's just ups and downs of life. Everybody has them. I've always just tried to do my best to learn from what life has given me. You know, I love the term, listen to your life. Like what is trying to teach you. Yeah. And I think I'm a real, I'm stubborn. I'm stubborn. You know, you've seen that saying, where it's like you will keep getting that same,

life will keep telling you that same thing until you finally learn and finally apply it, right? And I've seen my fair share of ups and downs and I think, yeah, it just has allowed me to arrive in a place now where it's just, yeah, I just get the most out of things. I just enjoy my experience a lot more. Not that it's perfect, not that I'm like some monk or anything,

but I just, yeah, I have a lot of fun. Yeah, it seems like it seems like you're like right where you need to be. and right where you want to be. Which is crazy. It really is crazy because, to be honest with you, if you were to show me my career on paper, like when I was 15,

like what I did in the sport now, and I can objectively say that now I can look at what I did and be like really proud, like genuinely proud of the things that I did. And I know I gave my best. But if I saw that paper when I was like 15 or 16, I would be like, no. Like just put a bullet in my head.

Right, basically. Because you thought. I just thought that it was going to be the greatest ever, ever. I won a championship. I wanted to win 16, you know. But like I told you, growing up under those kind of extreme circumstances, I told you at lunch, if I would have kept one in my rookie year, and all these behavioral patterns would have kept reaffirming themselves,

this is the way, this is the way, this is the way. I can tell you, that is not leading to anyone. we're good. And I promise, I see that so clearly, like I see, I see this buck on this wall right here. I mean, it's that clear to me. And it makes it, it's just like, there's just so much like magic. And it makes you feel like there's just so much magic in life, right? And I just have, I got trust in this guy. Yeah. It's got me, got me taken care of. No. And that's, that's so powerful because, yeah, that's just a healthy perspective. on looking at it because of course it's easy to say,

I wanted to win the most ever and be the goat. Super easy. Who wouldn't want that goal? Everybody has that goal. But it's not realistic. Yeah. And it's not healthy sometimes. Definitely wasn't healthy.

Definitely wasn't healthy for me. And I think who's to say, like who am I to say that my life should go this way. Like who am I? Right. I'm this. I'm like this, you know, it doesn't, I'm not in control. I'm not in control of this. And so I think sometimes as a society in general, we want things to go a certain way. And when they don't, we dwell, we dwell on, oh, crap, you know, this happens, bad break or this or that. Instead of focusing on like what I'm talking about now, like this perspective that it gave me and just these like I told you these behavioral patterns that I was able to get out of I was able to grow into a place where I enjoy my life now I think we spend

a lot of time to well and on it not you know not going the way that we wanted it to and I'm not going to lie there was definitely times I was in that place but it's the only way I would have learned to get here if I was there yeah I was there long enough to where I was like I'm not staying here I'm not going to stay in this place you know I'm going to figure it out yeah and I think people hearing that from you is powerful, is the ultimate winner to be okay and say maybe winning wasn't the best for me. Yeah. I mean, but hearing it from you who everybody, I see the comments, I see the response, everybody looks up to, everybody respects. So for you to say that, it's, I think that's going to have a big impact on many.

Thank you. Thanks for giving me this platform too, man. This is great. I've been so stoked. This whole day has been amazing. I feel really lucky. I mean, I can't wait to watch your work up there. Oh, you're going to have a blast, man. Yeah. So speaking to that, you talked about some of the greatest writers of all time,

you know, Ricky, Eli, you mentioned a few other guys. Who's the next generation, the next superstars coming up that you see? The next superstars coming up, pretty clear as day right now. So Jet Lawrence, he's from Australia. I believe he's only 21 years old and I think he has seven or eight championships already. Wow. Came over to here, went pro at 16, which happens not often. Doesn't, yeah.

Especially nowadays, it's a lot harder to go, you know, maybe back in the early 2000s that was more normal. But the level is already so high now. So Jet Lorse has come over here and basically, yeah, he's done things on a motorcycle that we've never seen. before. I mean, he dominated the 250-CC class. He won Supercross championships. Everything there is to win. Every championship there is to win. He won it. He got in the 450 class. His first, he went, he moved from a 250 to a 450 kind of mid-season after Supercross in 2023. So, 2023 Pro Motor Cross's first moves to Premier Class won every single race. Perfect season, which has only happened, which has only happened twice, before. Ricky Carmichael did it twice, 02 and 04, and James Stewart did in 2008. But a 19-year-old kid

went 23 and 0. His first season on a 450, which is like just monumental. It's insane. I don't think we, like Jet is, you know what? He's very popular in the sport right now. I don't think we talk about it enough. I mean, an unbelievable talent. Really, it's incredible. The way, I mean, it looks easy. When you watch him ride, it's like anybody can do that. But he just, it's insane. It's insane. And then, yeah, so he's actually, he went down early, the Supercross season, four or five rounds in with a torn ACL.

So he's sidelined right now. Another guy that has, is a superstar already, but talk about superstar potential, like just in terms of like reaching a new audience, Hayden Deegan. is maybe the best chance the sport has ever seen at going having some mainstream play right i mean this guy is made for tv i mean he's authentically himself he for one he's pretty he's dominating the supercross 250 supercross west championship right now um and that's kind of the one thing we were waiting around to see he he had one he'd won an outdoor championship he won the smx world championship you know, in the playoffs, those three races there, you know, the one that season long kind of race, but he has yet to win a Supercross championship.

Came close last year. But right now he's dominating this series and it looks like he's going to win. And he's just talk about, Guy, I'll get on the pole, kind of like UFC. Like he'll call people out. Like he'll be talking, I mean, he's talking. Oh, yeah. Talking, you know, talking crap on social media. What, like, he's just not scared at all.

He's had a camera in his face. He's got millions of YouTube subscribers. For his whole life probably. Yeah, 2 million followers on Instagram. You go by, you'll see this weekend in the pits at Seattle. You go by his rig, and there's 15 people lined up just to get a chance to look at him for a second. Right. So he's bringing this whole other, he could be an eighth place.

And you follow, like the cheers will follow him around the track. I mean, so just. Superstar. Brian Deegan. Brian Deegan is his dad. You know, he's done great. things on a dirt bike in his own right freestyle guy won a supercross race but he's just played in terms of like marketing and I think he's just done such a great job in doing that and Hayden's

really embraced it and I always say it takes two two things to go to go mainstream to go superstar so you got to win you got to win a lot but you have to embrace the other stuff like you have to embrace the fans you have to embrace the media and all that and Hayden does that more than more than anybody else I would say so those between Hayden Deegan and Jet Lawrence and Hayden Deegan is still in the 250 class they don't race each other yet but once once Hayden moves up to the to the 450 class to the premier class it's going to be it's going to be crazy then you have Chase Sexton who's could win the Supercrows championship this year he's he's a good friend of mine he's yeah he's really he's really good maybe the

physically the strongest guy you'd ever see it looks like a looks like a semi truck out there the guys built like a tank yeah um can Roxon's been around forever. Eli Tomac, that's like he's kind of, we never know when he's going to retire. This could be his last year. Next year could be his last year. But everybody's a huge Eli Tomac fan. It's like, it's kind of what I was telling you earlier, that thing about greatness. Like, you be great long enough and everybody's just going to appreciate you. Yeah. And Eli's been great so long. He had his time, you know, back in. There'll be haters for a while. Back in 2018, 2019, he had won a lot of outdoor championships,

a lot of outdoor championships, but never got the job done in Supercross. And he won the Supercross Championship in 2020. And since then it's just been like he's become a fan favorite. Everybody appreciates him. And so we're kind of saying our farewells to him at some point over the next couple of years. But he's still competitive. Like he got hurt this year.

He broke his leg in Supercross. He'll be back. But he was good enough to win the championship this year. So it's kind of a cool moment for the sport. Because you have these older guys, you know, in their early 30s, which hasn't been that common in the past, racing, you know, these guys in the early 20s, these jet Lawrence types, right?

You're seeing this clash of two generations. It's like two different ways of riding the bike. You know, it's like, yeah, it's a clash of generation. So it's a cool time to be a fan right now. What ages people out? Because you're on a machine, but is it injuries? It's injuries, but it's also the, I think it's just more than anything.

it's the amount of work. I mean, the amount of work that you have to, I mean, the schedule. You only take it for so long or what? Yeah, 31 races a year. It's a lot, you know, it's a lot of time spent on a plane. It's just a lot of wear and tear on the body, but more so the mind, I think, especially it's a different story if you're a fifth to 10th place guy. You don't have the pressure of, oh, I got to win, I got a podium, I got to win these championships.

I mean, when you're in the championship hunt, that's a different level of pressure, right? and that can wear on you. Right. That makes sense. Yeah. Like we had two of the, two of some of the greatest to ever do it, Ryan Villipoto and Ryan Dungey. Both of those guys won four Supercross championships in a row.

Ryan Villopoto, 2011 to 2014. And then Ryan Dungey, 2015 to 2017, something like that, right? But they were tired at 27. And they basically said, I can't deal with this anymore. like this is all too much right yeah um so it's been cool that eli's been able to kind of stick around longer but more than anything yes it's injuries but it's just the mental grind like it is it is a lot like what these guys what these guys do physically mentally everything and i can say it as objectively as i possibly can you know of course i grew up in and i did it but i mean these are really some of the

best athletes in the world i mean it's it's really incredible what guys like jet eli chase these guys Hayden. I mean, what they're doing right now is pretty special. Yeah, when you, it's super interesting, but when you were saying that, it takes both, it takes the winning and the personality. It made me think of Kwai Leonard, who has been an amazing basketball player, but just does not, can't get the fan, you know, doesn't talk, doesn't, so could never really ascend to that mainstream. Some people want no part of it. Yeah, and he's probably, he's probably fine with it. And you know what's funny? You know what's funny about this actually is that's Eli Tomac. Oh really? I mean that guy is all business

He's been you see him smile a lot more now you can tell he's a dad. He's got a family He's accomplished everything there is to accomplish in the sport Like I told you the fan base loves him so there's an element that his legacy is already secured But just the last couple years in general He's become more personable and you know is much more to hop on a paladcast or do this or do that. But that and that's one of the reasons why people love them so much. I mean, I think regardless of whether you're playing in the media or not or whatever,

people just appreciate people that are authentically themselves. And if they're great. Yeah, of course. And they're great. And Eli, Eli's been both. And he's always, he's the only guy that trains in Colorado, like he's got his own, you know, in Durango, Colorado, I believe, just kind of out in the middle of nowhere, trains at altitude. and kind of does his own thing, doesn't really have a bunch of bow hunts.

Bowhunts, that's true. Yeah, I saw some comments on our post today. Got to get Eli on. But yeah, he's kind of, he's an anomaly because people love him, but he's always kind of just done his own thing. That's cool, though. Yeah, it's super cool. I like it too.

I like the idea of just showing up and doing your work. Yeah, he's done it his way. Yeah, that's pretty cool. Man, what are such an amazing discussion. I've loved every minute of it. I do want to, we've got the f*** shits over here, like have questions for you.

Oh, yeah? This is the Muppet. Do you ever watch the Muppets? No, I can't say I have. Those are just like, these guys are like Muppets, little puppets. The Muppets. So what do you guys got for our guest? Okay, well, first, I think with all the editing Macy does,

I would feel bad for, Not saying she's a huge fan. We've got to get a shout out. You got to get a shout out to Macy. Shout out Macy. You sound awesome. Right here. Macy.

Camera 17. You're it. I love it. I love it. Thank you. She's a big fan. Is she coming this weekend? I don't know if she is or not, but.

We'll send her a jersey or something. I want her to, I want this podcast up tomorrow. So. Let's go. I don't know. Did you guys, you guys have it uploaded yet?

Yeah, it's done. Okay. Is it posted? Yeah. that people are loving it we're actually live amazing this is fantastic news my social media is going to be popping off okay so what you guys got so i don't know if you've watched any other ones but we kind of have a running bit here and it's f***er mary kill so oh wow okay okay you're your Your Fri-Merry Kill is Supercross, broadcasting, and golf.

Supercross, bod-k, oh, God. And Supercross. All day long. Okay. Good. Well, you got to marry somebody. Yeah. I mean, I hate to do this, guys, but I guess I'm marrying, broadcasting.

I'm killing golf. It breaks my heart. Yeah. It breaks my heart, but I guess I'll find a new hobby. Maybe I'll be shooting these bows. often. There you go. Yeah, it's a tough decision there. Okay, next question. What have you learned about the sport looking at it from a different lens of broadcasting that maybe you didn't notice or didn't realize while you were in it as an athlete? That's a fantastic question. I think in a way,

I'm not even through my first season on this side of things, right? So even to start the year, it was different. It was, I felt so at peace with redoubt. retiring when I did and I've never one time have thought to myself, oh man, I shouldn't have done that or I should go back. I'm very happy with it. But it was weird to start the year in this role and a different role. And in a way, your emotions, it's the first time I'm around the races ever. And there's not as much emotion involved in it for me. Right? Like less pressure, right? Yeah, it's less pressure and you just view things. You just grow and you view things from a different lens. When you're in the moment, it just feels like the biggest thing in the world, right? And then kind of viewing it from this lens now and just,

yeah, just seeing it a different way. I don't know exactly what, what I've learned yet that I didn't already know. I guess I've just learned that I still am in love with the sport because I think I think there was times where, you know, we haven't talked about it much on here. And honestly, I don't even really want to because that's all I seem to have talked about on every podcast, the last few years about this damn, you know, every Moto podcast, this damn arm, this nerve injury that I had. But it kept me from doing my best the last couple years, right? And so it's, you go to the track every day and you're not sure what you're going to get. You're not sure if my work was compromised. I was able to work as hard as I wanted to. And so it was really

frustrating. And so there was times where I'm like, do I hate this? Yeah. Or do I just hate this? Do I just hate this situation? the situation, right? And I can look now and I can definitely say that I, that I just hated that situation. Like I love, I love dirt bikes. You wanted to perform and you couldn't. Exactly.

I just wanted to do my best. Yeah. And I didn't have the opportunity to do that, which stung. But I still love it. So that's what I've learned. So you've kind of talked about the legacies of guys like Ricky Carmichael or James Stewart. What do you want your legacy to be on the track?

It's my legacy to be. I think I've always, I've always tried to carry myself in a way that has kept, like I've kept the gratitude involved. It's so easy when you're in it to kind of lose sight of how lucky you are to even have the opportunity to do it. So many things had to go right for me to end up on Kawasaki for 20 years, right? To have that opportunity to do, just to do something like that and to live my dream. Sometimes I would get lost in the fact that, oh, man, you know, it's not, gosh, I wish I would win more.

Gosh, I wish this, like, I didn't get hurt here or whatever. But at the end of the day, how often do people get to live their absolute dream? You know, from the time they're four or five years old. You know, I got to do, I got to do all of that. I've completely blanked out and lot. What was the question again? Your legacy. Oh, legacy, yeah.

I think my legacy, like I said, I always tried to just carry myself. with a sense of gratitude. And my legacy is, I just want to be known for contributing to the sport. Like that guy just loved dirt bikes and brought a lot to our community. Really, I think really just contributing is such a big thing. I've tried to focus on the last few years, kind of as I've grown. It's just contributing to the community. And, you know, I just want to be known as a net positive for dirt bike racing.

Well, it seems like you've accomplished that. TBD. You guys kind of talked about briefly the importance of announcers that have been in the sport, how some of them can actually carry over if they're well-spoken and can be great announcers. How important on the flip side of that is to also have the perspective of announcers that were never in the sport. That's a great question. I'm not sure I have the right answer for that one. I don't know.

I think having a fresh perspective is great. I'll give you an example. Sometimes I can be too in depth, like I can get a little bit too kind of speak into that hardcore, hardcore fan a little bit because it's so black and white for me. It's so obvious for me that I lose track that it's not so obvious for other people. And our producer to start the year didn't know a whole lot about dirt bikes, right? And so she was very helpful in being like, hey, you need to explain this a little bit more. So just having it, I just love different perspectives.

There's no like right or to a degree there is objective right and wrong, right? But it's just, it's good to have a different perspective. And I think you can learn a lot from people and people that are outside of the sport. The way that they would like to receive information, it teaches you how to explain things better to them. So I think everybody has a place as long as they study up and they know what's going on. out there, right? I think that's important as well, yeah. Okay, last question. I asked you earlier about the tattoo. You had the astronaut and you said it was for, I forgot the band name. What were they? Brand new. Brand new. So I want to know,

maybe it's one of their songs, maybe it's not, but if you had one song to play during your entire career, what would it be? The quiet things, the quiet things that no one ever knows, I think, is the song. It's called. Do you know who it's by? Brand new. Oh, brand new. Come on, bro. Yeah. Oh, wait. Were you talking about just brand new or just a song in general? Any song.

The middle, Jimmy Eat World. Hey, don't write yourself off yet. It's only in your head you feel left down and look down on. Just try your best. Do everything you can. Something like that. It's a good guitar riff in there. Yeah, yeah.

I like it. Sorry, man, I just probably hurt the listeners ears there. No, no, no. Good shit. We're live. They got to deal with it. Oh, man. Are we live?

Are we actually? Is that just a joke? Yeah. But we don't have any edits, I don't think. No. So far, I mean, somehow. So Macy should be able to get this up. I want to have this up before the weekend.

Well, should we start talking politics yet? I know. We can get some edits in there real quick. God, I know. Well, here's how I always end the show. With this, I hand off. Oh, yes. You're brand new.

Keep hammering. Let's go. What do you think of that? I cannot. When I was shooting this thing earlier, I had no idea it was going to be mine. That's cool. I know. This is incredible.

You're like, I'm going to buy one of these when I get home or whatever. Where can I go buy one? I'm like, bro, this is yours. I've told you my uncle is a huge fan, a bunch of property up in Georgia. He's always trying to get me to go up there. He's big. Love shooting his bow. So now I got my own, man.

I know. I know. You want me to pick it up? No, no. You're good. But this isn't, yeah, this whole thing is honestly, man, this whole day has been so much fun. I can't, I really can't thank you enough for, for the hospitality. It's been incredible.

You know what else? I wanted to give a shout out, Kawasaki. You said you've been with them, was it 20 years? 20 years, 2004 to present. I'm an ambassador still with them. Yeah. It's like, you know, staying Kobe, staying with the Lakers. I mean, that is rare in today's day and age.

It's like, because I talked about sponsors and I've had longtime sponsors, but there's sometimes where you're like, man, do these guys appreciate me? And it seems like Kowasaki has always, you had a couple of years where you had rough years and they still stuck by you. That is incredible. I just wanted to say it's so rare in business for a company like or a sponsor like Kowasaki to just stick with athletes like that have you. No, it doesn't. I mean, at the end of the day, it's a business. Yeah. Right. And the loyalty that they, they've showed me, like I said, like I'll be Kawasaki until the day I die. I love it.

They're my guys over there. I love it. I'm glad we got that in. Yeah, they've, you know. They're good people over there. I've worked, I haven't worked with a bunch of people over there, but Neil Storz, I have, and he's set me up with the side by side, like help navigate this thing,

getting me up to Supercross on Saturday. So Neil, thank you. But yeah, definitely shout out to Kawasaki. Can't wait to have you on race day live, man. It's going to be fun. I'm pumped. So this is also yours, which I don't think we talked about. But you got like the whole goody bag from the bow rack.

Remember that? Man, this day, I thought, man, I thought this day about a week ago was just a podcast. And I get this whole itinerary. We're hiking. We're shooting bows. Goody bags. You got a brand new. So this is called.

No way. Yeah. That's the keep hammering. I don't know what that is. Cameron Hames pack out Skinner. So I want to do that. Can I do that? You can do that?

Oh, apparently I'm soft. I don't want to hurt your table, man. I can't do it. Let's go. You think I can get this through? Yeah. I think I can get this through TSA? Put it.

It shouldn't be a problem. James has put it in his prison pocket, which is his ass. Wow. Wow. On that note, let's wrap it up. No, I'm kidding. That's incredible. So, yeah, there's different ways people get it on the plane.

But, yeah, it's, yeah, I just wanted to share. So what I like about the lift run shoot and about having people down here, sharing my life with people outside of my life. And so this means so much to me that you came down, did the mountain with me, went to the bow rack, did the podcast. We've had such a great day. Yeah, it's been amazing. Dude, I'm so thankful. I'm honored you're here. I know people are going to love this because everyone loves you.

And this just means a lot to me. So thank you very much. Oh, thank you very much. This is probably the biggest, biggest podcast I've ever done. and it's been so, yeah, it's been great to spend the day with you guys. You're the real deal, man. So thank you very much. Appreciate it.

Well, hope you guys like this. We'll see you in Seattle. Keep hammering.