n the far side of the massive parking lot of Angel Stadium of Anaheim is a tiny seafood restaurant called The Catch. Its walls are filled with memorabilia from sporting events held in the big ballfield next door, and if you go into the banquet room and look on the back wall in a corner, you’ll find a photo from the very first Anaheim “stadium motocross,” which took place on December 13, 1975. The photo is of Gary Jones jumping in front of the old Big A, which used to be beyond the stadium’s outfield wall. He’s riding a Jones-Islo 250cc prototype—a bike he built with his father in a motorcycle factory in Mexico—on press day for the race. It’s the earliest Anaheim SX photo I have ever come across.

The ’75 race was originally called the World Motocross Final, as promoter Mike Goodwin of Media AX Enterprises was hoping some of the top Europeans from the just-finished Trans-AMA Series would stick around and participate, but Roger DeCoster and friends all headed home instead. No problem. Goodwin, who basically invented supercross (though the term was not being used yet) simply changed it to the American Motocross Finals, and 23,000 fans showed up to see the race. Goodwin also opened the starting gate to motorcycles of any size. Team Honda’s Marty Smith, the most popular American rider at the time, elected to ride a CR125 against a field of bigger bikes. He actually set the fastest lap time in practice, but then his engine seized in the second of three main events. (At the other end of the spectrum was desert racer Al Baker, who showed up on a Long Beach Honda XL400 thumper.)

Just watched my first 2018 Loretta Lynn’s Remastered moto on RacerTV.com, and it was great coverage. Still get excited to hear my all-time favorite District 11 and Ohio State Fair series announcer Rodney Tomblin calling the race, which made me wonder: Why, after all these years, has he never had a shot with them doing supercross? Give Rodney a chance!
Jacob Mohney // Racer X Online
Jacob: Good question. Rodney does great at Loretta Lynn’s as well as several outdoor nationals and all of the GNCCs—his “TEN seconds!” countdowns have become iconic. Maybe someone involved with SX will read this and give Tomblin a shot the next time a spot opens up on the announcing team. DC

Hoping you can help me with a quick question. What happened to Jeff Emig? Am I so out of it that I just missed it? I had no idea he wasn’t going to be providing the color commentary alongside Ralph, and I was very bummed. We need Jeff in the booth providing the color and Ricky down on the field/track.
Ray Jandra // Racer X Online
Ray, check out Ping’s Whiskey Throttle Show podcast with Emig on Racer X Online, where he addresses the turnover at the top of the show. I have a feeling we’ll be hearing Jeff on the air again in the future, though I do think RC is doing a pretty good job this year. DC

This business of Broc Tickle’s suspension and the way it has been handled by WADA is outright incompetent, if not borderline criminal. I can understand why WADA was brought into the fold, and since nobody is a psychic, perhaps it was assumed that cases like this would be handled diligently, in a professional manner. Now, with these cases on record, it is apparent that the manner in which WADA is run as an organization is not something that our sport should ever be aligned with. What are we going to do about this, if anything? Do you agree with how WADA is handling Tickle’s suspension?

hen it comes to the Daytona Supercross, Ricky Carmichael is pretty much everywhere. He designs the track, he’s the NBC Sports TV commentator, he’s the namesake host of the Ricky Carmichael Daytona Amateur Supercross, and one of his motorcycles sits in the speedway’s Motorsports Hall of Fame. All of that comes with being the all-time King of the Daytona Supercross, which he won five times in the premier class and once on a 125. While he may live on the other side of the Sunshine State, Daytona has always been Carmichael’s home race.

But Ricky’s first race as a professional at Daytona International Speedway, on March 8, 1997, was not exactly all warm and fuzzy. In fact, the 15-lap race was pretty much a crash-filled disaster that the wild-child rookie would later call “pretty stupid.” How stupid? Even our own David Pingree, then his Splitfire/Pro Circuit Kawasaki teammate, beat him!

First, some background. Carmichael, then 17, was already building an unwanted win-or-crash reputation in the early races of his career. His first SX was a cameo appearance on the #70 Kawasaki KX125 in the Los Angeles Coliseum, where he won his debut heat race in the 125 West Region (this was back when the AMA let East Region riders also ride in the West until they scored a certain amount of points). When the main event started, Carmichael decided to let everyone go off the start and just get his feet wet, ending the night 11th.

RC’s first “real” round came when the series headed east to Indianapolis. A crash landing on a hay bale left him with snapped handlebars and a disastrous 19th place for two championship points. Not exactly a great start for the Greatest of All Time, but better nights—and days—were coming.