’ve stayed at the Anaheim DoubleTree for 15 years, but I had never even glanced inside Trofi. Hotel restaurants, for some reason, have a sort of automatic positioning as second-rate organizations.

This year, I finally visited Trofi, and I found it was actually quite good. Certainly underrated based on previous misconceptions. That was fitting, because I was eating dinner there with the Smartop/Bullfrog Spas/MotoConcepts Honda squad. This team is scratching and clawing its way to respectability, but it’s under the same cloak as the restaurant: those only familiar with the usual Anaheim order might not even realize the good work being done.

The MotoConcepts team has not always had a great reputation. For a while, I thought that was how team owner Mike Genova wanted it. Genova always went his own way, and it was usually against the grain. He asked us to call his bikes MCR (MotoConcepts Racing) 450s, to avoid giving credit to the manufacturers that didn’t support him. He kept Vince Friese on the roster at a time when Friese was known more for on-track incidents than results. Then he made the Alessi family—magnets for drama—the lead members of his team: Mike and (at times) Jeff as riders, and their controversial dad, Tony, as team manager. Drama, of course, followed (remember Washougal #lasergate?), but Genova would double down on his people, struggling more as the ropes got tighter.

It never made sense. All Genova got for his investment was frustration. It was always Genova against convention, against the unwritten industry rules, and against any sort of sane financial planning. (Genova, the owner of Leisure Concepts, a maker of hot-tub accessories, says he sank more than seven figures into running the team.)

Then Justin Brayton came along for 2017, and Honda offered some backing. MCR 450s became CRF450Rs, but the world braced for more drama and the inevitable blowout. But Brayton kept saying Tony Alessi the team manager was awesome. There was zero drama with Honda. A second respected veteran, Jake Weimer, came aboard, and as Mike Alessi transitioned out of supercross, Tony explained that he’d become significantly less crazy once he was no longer the father of the riders on his team.

In a short span, Tony Alessi has undone over a decade of crazy racer-dad shenanigans to be known first as a good team manager, and second as Mike’s dad. MCR’s recent surge in results, roster, respect, and reputation will completely change the way the industry looks at this team. The only disrupting this team does now is battling established factory teams. Brayton won the Daytona Supercross last year, Friese is going faster than ever, and Malcolm Stewart was flirting with greatness until he broke his femur in Glendale.

It’s taking a little extra time for MCR’s rep to catch up to its new reality. So they invited me, a journalist, to dinner so I could better understand the operation. Everyone at the dinner—Genova, Alessi, the mechanics, riders, and “Cooler” the Alessis’ bodyguard-turned truck driver—had to give a speech. They were sad for Malcolm but pumped on the team spirit.

Inspired, I even made a speech, explaining with brutal honesty that we used to make fun of this team but now respect it. This team does what everyone wants: it gives good jobs to good people. I asked Genova why, and all he could say is that he wants to make the sport better.

To continue as iconoclasts, Genova and Alessi could bag on their past detractors. There’s no need. Genova says he’s not looking for high-fives and handshakes from peers and doesn’t even need his guys to win races to prove themselves. In his mind, he knows he has a group of winners. And as always, Genova goes with what he knows.

During the dinner, Genova spent some time with the head chef at Trofi, the very underrated hotel restaurant. They’re on a first-name basis, even though supercross only comes to town twice a year. Mike Genova is fiercely loyal to his people, regardless of where he finds them.