Winning a Monster Energy AMA Supercross race isn’t easy.
Even for the most capable, concentrated riders, the path to the podium involves a sizable measure of mental fortitude, undying determination and its fair share of loss — factors that make a triumph even sweeter.
In the 51-year history of the sport, there are only seven riders who have won 30 or more 450 class features.
Jeremy McGrath leads the list of all-time winners with 72 victories. Eli Tomac is second with 51 wins, while James Stewart has 50 victories. Ricky Carmichael (48), Chad Reed (44), Ryan Villopoto (41) and Ryan Dungey (34) are the others. Tomac is the only active rider among the top seven.
What it means to earn a spot on this impressive list has been a topic of conversation in the Supercross industry this season, as Tomac has continued to make headlines with record-breaking rides.
Tomac entered the year with 44 victories and he tied Carmichael for 48 wins at RingCentral Coliseum in Oakland, Calif., on Feb. 18. Two weeks later, the Star Racing Yamaha rider secured sole possession of third on the list at Daytona Int’l Speedway with career victory No. 49.
Ricky Carmichael (Suzuki photo)
When asked about his accomplishments, Tomac takes the low road.
“It’s a cool spot to be in. I don’t have much to say,” Tomac said after his historic triumph at Daytona on March 4. “It’s pretty crazy to be at 49.”
Tomac tied Stewart with his 50th victory on March 25 at Seattle’s Lumen Field and went on to earn his 51st win on April 8 in Glendale, Ariz., at State Farm Stadium. His response shouldn’t come as a surprise though.
After all, he’s still in the hunt for his third Supercross championship and has yet to hang up his boots.
The truth is, for a majority of the riders who occupy the list of all-time winners, most never considered the big-picture of their careers or the meaning of the records they’d set until after retirement.
“The goal was to win a race, so once I was able to win a race, I was like, ‘I want to win a championship,’” Dungey said. “When it came to all the record books stuff, I really didn’t know where we stood at all. For me, it was just always about the championship.”
In his seven-year Supercross career, “Mr. Consistency” acquired four 450SX titles before retiring in 2017. Notably, he was the second rider to win a 450SX Supercross championship in his rookie year — 2010. Despite his vast success, Dungey says he rarely took a win for granted.
“The 34th win felt like the first win. It’s so special because it’s so hard,” Dungey said. “You never knew when your last win was going to be.”
Aside from avoiding injury and working hard to stay physically fit, the Minnesota native notes how mentally draining it was to fight for podium finishes during the 17-round series.
“When I look back at it and how mentally deep you have to really dig, there’s some nights you’re sitting on the line and you’re so tired and you’re just like, ‘Man, I’m exhausted.’ But you’ve got to go out there and pull it out of yourself,” Dungey said.
Dungey’s final Supercross victory came in East Rutherford, N.J., on April 29, 2017.
A second rider who has had a unique opportunity to reflect on his stadium racing career is the “GOAT” — Carmichael — who is now fourth on the list. While Tomac chased Carmichael’s records this season, the five-time Supercross champion watched from his position in the broadcast booth.
Ryan Dungey (left) chats with James Stewart during the 2015 Monster Energy AMA Supercross season. (Red Bull photo)
As an analyst on the NBC/Peacock broadcast team, Carmichael was in attendance when Tomac passed him on the list of all-time winners.
“From a broadcast standpoint, it’s been a great topic to talk about,” Carmichael said. As for Tomac, Carmichael added, “I’m happy for him.”
Though Carmichael is best-known for his legendary career in AMA Pro Motocross — he earned seven championships and was the first rider to have a perfect season, winning all 12 rounds of the outdoor racing series — he also enjoyed a successful livelihood in Supercross.
As the 43-year-old evaluates the eight years he spent racing the premier class, he easily pinpoints his five Supercross titles as one of the highlights.
“The race wins are important, but I’m more happy and proud of my championships than I am my race wins,” Carmichael said. “If you would’ve told me, ‘Hey, all you’ve got to do is get second every race and you’re going to win the championship,’ I would’ve been like, ‘OK, no problem.’ I would’ve taken that any day of the week and twice on Sunday.”
To illustrate his point, Carmichael references the career trajectories of Stewart and Tomac, as Tomac approaches Stewart for second on the list of all-time winners.
Both have built reputations around their raw speed, distinctive riding styles and irrefutable ability to conquer a Supercross field. However, in the grand scheme of things, the two industry icons have only secured two titles a piece — a figure that could be considered low for riders who approach 50 victories.
As Tomac is actively contending for a third title, Stewart, who has been retired from the sport since 2019, will forever remain a two-time champion. Arguably, the data comes down to the flat-out risk involved with winning races. It requires riding a fine line between laying it all out on the track and maintaining enough control not to crash, which has often bitten both Stewart and Tomac.
The age-old argument of “consistency vs. wins” always surfaces when one weighs Dungey’s 34 wins and four championships against Stewart’s 50 victories and two titles.
Nonetheless, in the modern age of Supercross competition, wins appear to be more important than ever.
“This season and where we’re at right now, it’s just as much about the mental side of things than it is the physical side,” Carmichael said. “There’s not a lot of separation. What means everything is performing when it’s go-time.”
His last time putting together a perfect night and standing atop the box was in St. Louis, Mo., on March 3, 2007.
Rewind approximately 15 years and you’ll enter the era of McGrath — who is considered “The King” of Supercross with 72 triumphs.
Jeremy McGrath (Kawasaki photo)
The 51-year-old admits there was a point where he stopped counting his victories as they were so frequent, but he also believes he was a victim of his own success at times.
“When you keep winning, you don’t accept anything less than wins,” McGrath said. “And when you finally can’t win, you really start to recognize the actual achievement itself.”
One of his career-best seasons was in 1996, when he won 14 of the 15 races.
Though some triumphs immediately come to mind when the long-retired rider visits memory lane, he jokes it would be easier to recall the races where he came up short.
“The ones that I didn’t get, those are the ones that stand out, because it was so few and far between,” McGrath said. “The winning was awesome, but the ones that you lost were always so hurtful.”
The seven-time Supercross champion recognizes that the sport has undergone significant changes since he raced in the ’90s. There are less “good guy vs. bad guy” rivalries, the dirt bikes are faster and the athletes are elite.
With the exception of Tomac, today’s Supercross riders appear to be winning fewer races than their predecessors.
“It just shows you the level of competition. These wins are hard to come by,” McGrath said. “The great Ricky Carmichael who’s won everything for a lot of years, he only has 48 Supercross victories. To me, when I look at that, I’m like, ‘How do I have 72 wins?’”
It’s doubtful any rider will surpass “The King’s” staggering record.
Despite the evolution Supercross has experienced since McGrath’s final victory in Anaheim, Calif., on Jan. 20, 2001, his overall sentiment toward the sport hasn’t changed.
“Supercross has provided a life that I never, ever imagined,” McGrath said. “To be able to race Supercross was fulfilling a dream, and then to be able to win a race and a championship was crazy. At first you think it’s impossible, and then you think, ‘Wow, we’re here.’”
Put simply, to be considered an all-time great is something all three riders — Dungey, Carmichael and McGrath — will never take for granted.
As Tomac says, it’s a pretty cool spot to be in.
This story appeared in the April 12, 2023, edition of the SPEED SPORT Insider.
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