We’re all still reeling from the drama of this year’s Motocross of Nations, which Team USA lost after a dramatic day that included Jason Anderson winning a moto, but then getting landed on while rolling the finish line jump and knocked out of moto three.
Anderson showed he was a worthy Team USA member by winning a moto, despite missing most of this year’s Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship. Selecting riders for this team is always a tough process, and so while riders like Anderson sometimes get pressed into duty by surprise, other times deserving riders don’t end up on the team. For this week’s The List, we run through some of the riders who never got the chance to race the ‘Nations.
Mike Brown
Incredibly, Brown was actually named to Team USA three times but never competed in the event. First he was on the 2001 team that decided not to go after the September 11 tragedy. He was named to the team again in 2002, but the race at Competition Park in California was canceled and Team USA didn’t go to the hastily-rebuilt ‘Nations run in Europe later in the off-season. Three years later, Brown, now a privateer rider on a Honda CRF250R, was leading the 125 National standings and was named to Team USA for the third time. But then his results started to wane, and he was quietly moved off of the squad. Ivan Tedesco took over the points lead and eventually won the 125 National Championship, and also took Brown’s ‘Nations slot.
Mickey Dymond
The two-time AMA 125 National Champion was passed over twice by his own boss at Team Honda, Roger DeCoster. After Dymond's first title in 1986, the team went with Johnny O'Mara for the 125 Class; the next year they picked sentimental favorite Bob "Hurricane" Hannah for the ‘Nations at Unadilla. In both cases, the guys picked over Dymond held up their end of the bargain and Team USA won.
Guy Cooper
Cooper was a 125 National front runner for ages. When he won the AMA 125 National Championship in 1990, Team USA decided to put Damon Bradshaw, a 250 rider by then, on the 125 for the ‘Nations. Bradshaw struggled but the team managed to win behind Jeff Stanton’s heroic efforts.
Donny Schmit
The two-time FIM World Champion might have had the opportunity to be a part of Team USA’s 13-year winning streak in 1992, even though he was racing full-time in Europe. In ’92, we had to send a "B-team" to Australia, but like several U.S.-based stars of the time, Schmit passed on the chance—he was angry that he had not been invited the previous two years as Team USA's 125cc rider, despite being the 125cc World Champion.
Trampas Parker
Unlike Schmit, a two-time FIM World Champion, Parker never got invited to race for Team USA, but he did find himself riding for Team Italy in 1989, when he was 125cc World Champion, and he won the 500cc Class outright over reigning 500cc World Champion, David Thorpe. In those days, there were some strange rules that allowed riders to race for different nations depending on where they held a racing license.
Ezra Lusk
“Yogi” was fast for a decade but never found his way on to Team USA.
George Holland
Continuing in the tradition of over-looking 125cc National Champions in favor of having big-bike guys drop down, Holland won the 1988 125 National Championship and would have been the perfect candidate in ‘88 for the race in France. But they wanted to use the top-three U.S. big bike riders—Rick Johnson, Jeff Ward, and Ron Lechien—and put Ward on the 125. The winning streak continued. One year later, Holland effectively retired from professional racing and went to work in his family's almond business.
Marty Smith
America's first superstar, he was incredibly versatile and might have been a great addition on the teams from 1975 through '77, but the stars never quite lined up for Smith to go, especially in 1976 when he was just plain wore out from trying to race in both the U.S. and the 125cc World Championship.
Gary Jones
The winner of the first three AMA 250cc National Championships (1972-'74), as well as a non-official one (top American in the '71 Inter-Am Series), Jones always seemed to be in the process of switching teams when Team USA was set to go to Europe. He went from Yamaha to Honda to Can-Am over the course of his championship years, and never lined up for Team USA at the Motocross or Trophee des Nations.
Bob Moore
Like Schmit and Parker, Bobby Moore spent most of his career in Europe, so he was always sort of left out of the conversation as to who should be on Team USA. He would have been great to have in 1994, when he was the 125cc World Champion, and Great Britain ended Team USA’s win streak behind a ridiculous day for Paul Malin, who dominated the 125 class.
Mike Bell
The 1980 AMA 250cc Supercross Champion had a solid outdoor game on both 250s and 500s, and was actually selected to go in 1980, along with Bob Hannah, Kent Howerton, and Mark Barnett. But then for various reasons the team started to disintegrate, and it was soon decided that Team USA would skip the 1980 Motocross and Trophee des Nations. It was Bell's last shot, as the next two years it would be all Team Honda riders, and by '83 his knees were shot.
Darrell Schultz
In 1982, when team captain, Donnie Hansen, crashed heavily while preparing for the ‘Nations in Germany, Shultz, the recently-crowned 500cc National Champion, was unavailable due to the injuries he suffered on the way to the title, so Roger DeCoster called on David Bailey instead. It was the one true opportunity Schultz had to race for Team USA, because he would never start another professional race after the last national of '82.
Davi Millsaps
Davi was one of the "can't miss" kids of the 2000s and is still in contention for wins today. He was never able to piece together full seasons in the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship but did win the 2016 Canadian National Championship. Roger DeCoster actually considered picking Millsaps for this year’s team when Eli Tomac decided to pass on the event, but decided to go with Anderson instead.
And finally, an honorable mention should go out to the fastest men in American motocross who had their primes before Team USA began participating in the ‘Nations in the 1970s. Guys like Dave and Bud Ekins, Joe Bolger, Gary Bailey, Bill Silverthorne, Wyman Priddy, Dick Mann, and more. They were ahead of their time in more ways than one!
Any others you can think of? Add your idea to the comments below.
