- Straight up late 90s, early 2000s motocross might be
the coolest thing to ever happen in motor sports
and might be the only thing keeping me together right now.
I'm gonna tell you why, that's the intro.
Let's just get into it.
(upbeat music)
At the tail end of the 90s,
Freestyle Motocross burst
onto the extreme sports world stage
when the X Games included the new discipline
at their fourth, running in San Francisco.
I don't think anyone in attendance knew it at the time,
but dudes doing insane tricks on motorcycles was about
to eclipse NASCAR and Indy car and popularity
and influence pop culture for nearly a decade.
But why?
Why made this niche sports so appealing to the mainstream?
And why has it sort of fallen off?
To answer that,
let's start at the beginning.
Compared to the double backflip,
no handed front flip state of Freestyle Motocross today,
motocross had a pretty tame beginning here in the US.
Motocross was born in Europe
with cross-country races called Scrambles
and American Husqvarna dealer by the name of Edison Dye,
introduced the sport to Americans in the 60s,
by bringing over some of the top European riders
and having them compete to promote the sport
and thus sell some bikes.
Because of the low cost of entry,
high amount of adrenaline ratio the sport exploded
in popularity through the 70s.
I mean on any Sunday was a motocross doc
that got nominated for an Oscar in 1971.
Then the American Motorcyclist Association
created their Motocross Championship in 1972.
One of the races was held at the Los Angeles Coliseum.
It was coined the Superbowl of Motocross.
(bright music)
Through the 70s there were more
of these indoor stadium Supercrosses
and where the Europeans typically dominated
the Traditional Cross Country Motorcross events.
American riders were really good on the tight
and technical Supercross courses.
Another shift was the kinds of bikes these guys were riding.
Motocross started on the back of European bikes,
like the Huskies Eddie Dye was selling,
but as the 80s rolled around,
more Japanese Manufacturers were getting into the game
and winning Suzuki, Yamaha, and Kawasaki, we're cleaning up
with their powerful water-cooled 2 stroke engines
and their simple single shock rear suspension was lighter
and more capable than what the Europeans were
putting out at that time.
The 90s were a time of flux in the world of motocross.
The AMA wanted to help 4 stroke engines be competitive
in the sport and allowed 4 stroke engines
with displacements as high as 550cc
to compete in the same class as 250cc 2 strokes.
Along with the splitting of the stroke preference,
which I probably could have phrased better,
a new discipline of motocross was beginning to take shape.
(upbeat music)
Mike Metzger was a kid from Huntington Beach, California
who learned to ride a bike at three years old
and started racing motocross when he was six.
In Junior High, he got on his first mountain bike
and could have competed in the Pro Downhill Circus
when he graduated high school.
But what Mike would go on to do would be much greater.
Combining tricks from BMX and the speed of motocross,
Mike was one of the first originators
of a new kind of motor. Mike Metzger is known as
the Godfather of Freestyle Motocross.
You watch early freestyle videos like Fox Terraform,
Throttle Junkies and Crusty Dirt Demons.
And the scene back then seems like it was more
about hacking huge jumps in the wild
than it was about pulling complicated Woo.
(bright music)
But that was assumed to change
because the X Games took notice.
Like I said, at the top of this episode,
the X Games added Freestyle Motocross
to their lineup in 1999.
And to borrow an analogy from my buddy, Jeremiah,
X Game was the best because they basically gave
the audience 10 Evil Knievels and then pit them
against each other for bragging rights.
And from the Junk, there was a built in rivalry,
Pastrana versus Deegan.
These two competitors could not have seemed more different.
On one hand you had, Travis Pastrana,
the wholesome 15 year old from Maryland.
The kid was a Motorcross prodigy poised for a spot
on the Suzuki Supercross factory team,
but he wasn't old enough to race in Supercross yet.
And he's out here fighting against some of the pioneers
of Freestyle Motocross.
And on the other hand, you had Brian Deegan,
the bad boy of the sport.
Deegan was from Bellevue, Nebraska.
But he had moved to Soquel to chase
the Supercross dreams when he was 18.
Deegan had won Supercross events as a privateer,
but he didn't have the cash
to continue racing at that level.
So he shifted his focus to Freestyle.
His image stood in stark contrast to the young Pastrana.
He had tattoos,
his shoulder parts had spikes and he rode with a crew
that called themselves the Metal Mulisha.
Just listen to how the commentators introduced Brian.
- [Commentator] Brian Deegan, thank God
he's not dating your daughter.
- I certainly think the X Games management helped
Deegan and Pastrana play up their images for the show,
but I can't blame them because I think this was a key
to the sports success.
The tricks were impressive on their own, even in 99,
but giving the audience personalities to latch onto
made it so much easier to root for someone.
The contrasting personas also appealed
to a wide audience all over the country.
Do you root for the squeaky clean boy,
wonder Travis Pastrana? Or are you pulling
for the Nebraska Supercross underdog
who loved to party?
It's called giving the audience choice.
And it was brilliant.
(bright music)
Speaking of choice, maybe the high flying antics
of Freestyle were a little too much for you.
Maybe you wanted something a little more traditional,
like good old fashioned Supercross racing.
Well, lucky for you the mid to late 90s happened
to be the golden age of the sport.
While Freestyle was picking up steam Supercross
is being dominated by California native Jeremy McGrath.
Between 1993 and 2000,
McGrath picked up seven AMA championships.
He simply could not be beaten.
Jeremy's style was extremely smooth,
which satisfied fans with an eye for the technical,
but McGrath's flare also imbued him again
with a lot of personality for fans to latch onto.
He loved putting it on for the fans,
which earned McGrath the nickname, "Showtime".
He also left the party.
So that was pretty cool too.
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Now let's make like Jeremy McGrath
and jump back into this episode.
(motorcycle engine roaring)
(bomb blasts)
As the calendar hit the year 2000,
both Freestyle motor and Supercross,
heck extreme sports in general,
we're about to enter their most high profile decade yet.
I don't wanna sound out of touch.
Extreme sports are still progressing to insane levels today
with YouTube and social media.
I mean, my IG Explorer Page is basically filled
with car stuff and BMX riders like Derek Reynolds.
But 15 years ago it was different.
And I think that's because of the lack
of YouTube and social media.
The only place you could watch extreme sports was on TV.
Both the X Games and Supercross were broadcasted on ESPN,
giving dirt bikes as much legitimacy
as other sports that have been around for decades.
It was a really exciting time for seven year old Nolan.
Through the early two thousands,
the Freestyle Motor tricks only got more impressive
with every year.
At the 2002 Philly X Games, Carrie Hart pulled
the first ever backflip in competition
after two failed attempts in 2000 and 2001.
Even crazier heart one, silver.
What could be crazier than a backflip?
How about a no footed backflip by Mike Metzger?
The tricks kept getting even more impressive
with the deceptively difficult 360
and one of my personal favorite moves
Chuck Carruthers, body vurial in 2004.
The tricks for taking less inspiration from BMX
and becoming an art style all their own.
Less motor sport and more Cirque du Soleil.
Things were heating up even more over in Supercross.
Jeremy McGrath was in the twilight of his career
before finally being dethrone
by Ricky Carmichael, aka "the goat".
Ricky's arrival to Supercross ushered in a new era.
At first Carmichael didn't do so hot.
He knew he had the skills to beat McGrath,
but he lacked the stamina
for the demanding Supercross arenas.
So he took a new approach,
similar to formula one drivers.
He focused on fitness and health,
and that's what really allowed him
to win the Supercross Championship in 2001
and hold onto it until 2006 with the exception of 2004,
which was snapped up by Chad Reed, the Australian guy.
(bright music)
While cross might not have had
the bombastic theatrical freestyle,
what it did have was rivalries in space,
McGraft versus Carmichael,
Carmichael versus Reed, Reed versus Stewart,
Pastrana versus everyone.
Just like any other motor sports,
all of these storylines meant that you weren't just
watching for the OnTrack action,
but you wanted to see your favorite character come
out on top at the end of the story,
it's a tried and true formula you can find
in wrestling, tennis and Formula 1.
I mean, that's like 80% the reason I watch Formula 1.
So what kind of impact did these sports have on Pop culture?
Well, I would say a lot,
today I'm not very cool.
I don't dress cool my main game is pretty weak
and I definitely don't know what the kids are listening to.
But back in the early 2000s,
that might have been the only time in my life,
when what I thought was cool was also
what everyone else thought was cool.
Let's start with fashion.
Dude, if you live in a rural town
and you didn't own at least one Fox,
No Fear or Metal Mulisha shirt for every day of the week,
you are not cool.
If you wanted people to know you were down back then.
If you wanted the Flex on your sixth grade class,
you threw on that Fox Jersey with pride
because you knew you were the coolest kid asking
if he could go to the bathroom that day.
The styles popularity through the mid 2000s, shows just
how universally the American public love motocross,
which was pretty amazing.
Imagine NASCAR driver gear became trendy
in an honest and an ironic way.
What if people started wearing F1 team Pollos like Philippe
because of the undeniable swagger of drivers like
Lewis Hamilton or Lance Stroll, I would love that.
It wasn't just clothing either motocross found
its way into all facets of entertainment.
There were video games like MX vs ATV unleashed
and EA is Freekstyle,
which featured real riders like Brian Deegan.
Speaking of Brian Deegan, he had a cameo
in that Vin diesel Triple X movie.
Carrie Hart had a cameo in Charlie's Angels
and who could forget the Disney Original Movie Motocross.
I love Motocross.
If you wanted your movie to be extreme to the max,
you had to get a Freestyle Motor guy in there.
Motocross's popularity also coincided
with the Commercialization of Musical New Metal,
which also featured Dirt Bikes
and other extreme sports in their music videos.
(bright music)
The riders, I may have been from all over the country,
but because many of them had moved to Southern California,
the trends of the region, intertwined
with the sport as a result,
they were broadcasted out to the rest of the country.
I think because of the internet and social media
tastes are a little more global today,
but man, back then
it was all about Soquel doodle.
(laughing)
So what happened?
Why did the scene kind of fall off?
Now to understand we have to go back to 2006.
It's X Games 12 in 2006 at the staple center in Los Angeles,
Travis Pastrana is at the top of the ramp
preparing for the biggest trick of his life.
He puts his goggles on and
what happens next seems impossible.
On his first try, Travis Pastrana lands a double backflip.
I watched this live on TV and I'll never forget it.
It was easily the craziest thing anyone had ever seen.
If he messed up, he could have easily died.
He promised to never attempt the trick again.
It was a big deal.
Travis would compete in X Games for five more years
before breaking his foot in competition,
attempting a rodeo 720 at X Game 17 in 2011.
For me, the double backflip was the height of the X Games.
It was an unbelievable feat that played
out on live TV and recap by millions of kids,
when they got back to school later that summer.
It was a cultural moment.
Between 1999 and his last appearance in 2012,
Pastrana had become an American icon
and unrivaled talent with no equal.
And that was kind of the problem.
When he left, there was no one to really take his place
because he was just that good.
Travis had so much star power that his absence
might've taken away from the popularity.
(bright music)
Another blow to the scene was a symptom
of suffering from success.
Outside of X Games and Supercross,
lots of regular people were buying Dirt Bikes,
too many people, some might say.
And as a result, a lot of previously,
no problem riding spots
became overrun with people and shut down.
And that sucks.
But when you have a bunch of wannabe Mike Metzger's
who don't know what they're doing,
destroying trails and being a general nuisance,
you can't be surprised
when the neighbors complain and shut it down.
(upbeat music)
Researching this episode filled me
with a level of nostalgia I hadn't felt
in a long, long time.
I wasn't expecting to have feelings for footage
of someone doing a Superman seat grab
or seeing James Stewart do us a bubble scrub.
The world isn't getting more complicated.
We had just as many problems back then as we do now,
but something that does seem simpler
is an agreement that a motorcycle flying
through the air is really cool.
Whether it be off a Freestyle ramp around a racetrack.
(bright music)
(motorcycle engine roaring)
That's the episode.
We put out a video pretty much every day.
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