MX Mount Rushmore?
Tuesday, September 8, 2020 at 7:34AM Our Mount Rushmore - Opinion
Posted on September 08, 2020
An interesting topic over at vitalmx, on their all so famous forum. Somebody asked who would be on the Mount Rushmore of motocross/supercross. It is a great question, because there are so many variables to why somebody should end up on Mount Rushmore. I mean the original Mount Rushmore
Mount Rushmore National Memorial is a massive sculpture carved into Mount Rushmore in the Black Hills region of South Dakota. The huge granite faces depict U.S. presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln. No doubt, back when the sculpture was built, these four stood pretty high in the list of all-time best Presidents. Apart from maybe John F. Kennedy nobody really seems worthy to replace the current faces on the side of that rock-face.
But Mount Rushmore for motocross/supercross. I think if you go America it has to be the winningest riders, which are Ricky Carmichael, Ryan Villopoto, Jeremy McGrath and Ryan Dungey. You see, RC has 15 major AMA titles, Villopoto 9, McGrath 8 and Dungey 8, but do you really leave out Ricky Johnson, Jeff Ward or Bob Hannah from the list, who have 7, 7, and 6 championships?
It is a tough one, because as a kid, well, Bob Hannah was the King of US motocross, and as I started working in the sport it was Ricky Johnson who dominated Worldwide, including the MXdN. Was the competition in the 1980s for Johnson and Ward tougher than the competition that the RC, McGrath, Villopoto and Dungey era? That is a hard one, because you got the more recent era guys with more championships, but without question less depth than in the 1980s.
Moving to a Worldwide standpoint, and again, as a kid “The Man” was Roger Decoster, and while he captured five 500cc World championships, he also won a bunch of MXoN events, both for Team Belgium and individually, and Trans-AMA titles in US. Obviously for the GP riders it is hard to not put Stefan Everts and Antonio Cairoli one and two, 10 and 9 World titles, 101 and 90 GP wins, nobody comes close to these two for now.
Does Jeffrey Herlings with his four titles (maybe five this year) and 90 GP wins belong third in the GP all-time list? I would put him there, despite having to put one of my childhood heroes (DeCoster) behind him. Herlings is winning at a time when the Grand Prix riders are better than ever, faster, stronger and with names like Cairoli, Gajser and Prado in the MXGP class, “The Bullet” is still way stronger than anyone else at the moment, and the points race tells us that.
Back in the day they raced a lot less rounds, so for Everts, Cairoli, Herlings, Prado and Gajser, it is easier getting the numbers up, but still, you have to win a GP and that is a mammoth task in any era. For somebody like Robert, who might have raced at times 8 to 12 GPs, getting to 50 GP wins was very impressive.
Robert never raced the premier class but does have six 250cc World titles and 50 GP wins and for decades was the record holder for Grand Prix racers. Damn, the guy never even broke a bone in his career, and like DeCoster ruled America for many years. Still, Robert and the stories about the man, will belong in motocross folk-law forever, thankfully.
If I had to pick, just from my own feeling, my American Mount Rushmore would be RC, McGrath, Hannah and Villopoto, with Ricky Johnson just missing out. In Europe, without question Everts, Cairoli, DeCoster and Herlings, with Robert or Eric Geboers just missing out.
Either way, we have dozens and dozens or legendary riders, former World champions, GP winners, MXdN winners, so many belong in the motocross hall of fame, and maybe one day, somewhere in the World we will actually have a Hall of Fame that does them proud. All of them.
Reader Comments (1)
RC, McGrath, Hannah and Ryan Dungey Dungey was just about perfect in his entire career, from public relations and All American image to capturing multiple titles on two different brands while always presenting the All American boy image. Even so far as to be featured on a WHEATIES cereal box. Almost Perfect!
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