Bench Racing Ammo: Ode to RCA

The Hoosier Dome had opened in 1983, and in 1984 the NFL’s Baltimore Colts snuck out of Maryland in the middle of the night and arrived in Indianapolis, to become the Indianapolis Colts, who would play in the dome. Ten years later, the Hoosier Dome was renamed the RCA Dome. The building is similar in design and appearance to two other stadiums that have hosted Supercross races, the Metrodome in Minneapolis Minnesota, and the BC Place in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

The RCA Dome roof was deflated on September 24, and the dome was demolished altogether on December 30.

Into that pile of rubble stood a bunch of memories from the Dome’s 17 appearances on the AMA Supercross Schedule. Before they get carted away altogether, let’s run through some of those, here.

In the 1992 Indy debut race, Honda’s Jeff Stanton and Yamaha’s Damon Bradshaw put on one of their classic battles, going back and forth in a tussle for the lead. But then Bradshaw cross-rutted over a triple jump and had to bail off, knocking him out of the race, allowing Stanton to take the win.

The Jeremy McGrath era of supercross came next, and MC dominated in the dome, winning the next four races. As much as Indy was known for rutted, soft terrain, the California-raised McGrath dominated on the East Coast track as if it was built with Anaheim clay.

MC’s streak came to an end at the hands of Jeff Emig in 1997. Ezra Lusk won the 1999 race, which was also broadcast on the ABC Network. MC won again in 1998 and 2000. That 2000 race was a memorable one, too, as it marked the supercross debut of Travis Pastrana in the 125 class. Travis crashed on the parade lap trying to pull off a freestyle trick (a sign of things to come in his supercross career), and he eventually finished fourth. FMF/Honda’s Michael Brandes took the win that night in an upset.

Pastrana did come back to win the 2001 125 race, and he ushered in a new style of riding by jumping into the whoop section. Ricky Carmichael used that same technique to win the 250 race that night, and the Indy fans wondered what would happen if Carmichael and Pastrana came together in the same class in the same race.

They got their wish in 2002, when the duo battled all night long before Pastrana got sideways in a rhythm section. Carmichael moved to the inside to make a pass in a corner, but Pastrana dove down to try to block the move. They collided and Pastrana went down. The Pastrana fans erupted on RC, who held the lead all the way until the last lap when David Vuillemin snuck past him to steal the win. With Carmichael hearing the boos, Vuillemin was never a more popular winner than he was that night in Indy.