We’ve got some weeks off here in the Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross Championships so all of us have some time to relax and enjoy the finer things in life…like podcasts!
I know there are a lot of choices out there in the podcast world and that’s awesome, variety is never a bad thing. I started doing one-on-one podcasts in 2008 and then the PulpMX Show in 2010 so that’s quite a bit of talking. By our calculations, PulpMX has churned out around 1,500 podcasts and shows! However, podcasts weren’t as popular in 2008 as they are now, so there’s lots of people that are new to listening that don’t really go back to the archives to check things out. If that’s you, shame on ya!
There’s some real gold in the archives with different people telling stories that remain timeless. A real curated bit of moto history, if I do say so myself.
So let’s dive deep into the archives to pick some of the ones I enjoyed doing and were a lot of fun, yeah?
These are all available on the direct link in the stories or on the Steve Matthes Show Archives Volume 1, 2 & 3—search for those shows and start scrolling people!
For a complete list of all the one on one podcasts I’ve done over the years, go check this out.
Vanilla Ice
I mean, c’mon. It’s VANILLA ICE or as DC knows him, Robbie Van Winkle. It was hard to get a hold of Vanilla for sure and I had to work through a friend of his as I just could not, absolutely not, actually get a contact number for him. Anyways, he was awesome and told some funny stories although he didn’t want anything to do with me joking about Madonna. What surprised me about him was how much he was into the racing now and back then as well. Listen here.
Cliff White
Some of the best podcasts I’ve done have been with the old-school team guys like Dave Arnold, Roy Turner, or Cliff. White was a factory mechanic at Honda for a long time, wrenching for many of the greats. He’s a super smart guy that did his own motors for many years, he’s really smart and analytical. Cliff talking about how injuries to David Bailey and Ernesto Fonseca affected him was heavy for sure. Great guy and storyteller. Listen here.
Rick Johnson, Johnny O’Mara, and David Bailey
After the 1986 USA MXDN team was honored at the latest MXDN in Maggoria in 2016, I thought getting them all on the phone to talk about going back to Italy to the track, their weekends, and memories of that iconic race would be cool. Listen here.
Rick Johnson and Jeff Stanton
Speaking of RJ, in 1989 he was on top of the world before breaking his wrist at Gainesville. His injury opened the door for Jeff Stanton, the training partner he had taken in, to jump in, grab his first win, and then six titles while, due to the injuries, RJ was never the same. I got both guys on the line to talk about that situation, RJ helping Jeff out early on, Rick’s battle back from injury, and of course, RJ delivers in this show. Listen here.
Trampas Parker
Parker, an unlikely two-time World Champion from the USA, was a great interview. In fact, he was amazing. What a story from heading to Europe to be a practice bike mechanic to world champion, and all that went with that, wow. Incredible stories in here from someone you may not know much about. Listen here.
Remembering Donny Schmit
I met Donny Schmit once way back when I was a kid but that was about it. Another two-time World Champion, Donnie passed away way too young and I wanted to know more about him. I called up people that were close to him throughout the years in Bob Moore, Mitch Payton, Jim "Bones” Bacon, DC, Pete Fox, and his old mechanic at Suzuki, Jeff Clark. After the show I corresponded with his widow Carrie a bit and that was cool. Really made me stoked to do the show. Listen here.
Jeff Ward and Ron Lechien
Their individual podcasts are great, of course, but to get the former Kawasaki teammates on the line to talk about their time together, which included a lot of Wardy trying to help “The Dogger” stay on the straight and narrow, was pretty funny. Listen here.
Dave Arnold Parts One and Two
Dave, like Cliff White, is literally a walking, talking part of motocross history. And his memory was amazing talking about those days at Honda, the initial MXDN win, benching JMB, the turmoil at Honda in the late 80’s and much more. Super smart guy, I had to do two parts with him! Listen to part one here and part two here.
Team PJ1 Yamaha
My first real job was on the PJ1 Yamaha team in 1996 and I called up Jimmy Button, Anthony Paggio, and Alex Mcelyea (who was part owner of the team but I never met) to talk about the team starting, the issues we had later on, and more. Listen here.
Chad Reed, Tim Ferry, and David Vuillemin
I actually had this Team Yamaha squad from my days there also on the Pulpmx Show #300 in-studio but before that I called them all up to go down memory lane of our time together including when Ferry and Reed hated each other. Good times! Listen here.
More of Steve Matthes' Podcasts
Rick Johnson and Jeff Ward
Again with the shows where I have two guys on talking about racing each other. And there was no better rivalry than Wardy and RJ for about three years. They took all the titles in 1987 and 1988 and most of 1986. There’s one awesome of them being out at the same practice track on the same day while riding 500s. Neither guy was going to pull into the pits first! Listen here.
Jim Hale
I called the late Jim Hale to talk about his start in the industry, getting AXO going in the USA, Mechanix Wear, and then getting out of the business. Like Pete Fox, John Gregory or Eddie Cole, the shows with this industry heavyweights are some of the best. What a nice guy Jim was and we were trying to make arrangements to do something else before he passed away. I treasure the fact we got this done and he said that he had heard from a lot of people he hadn’t talked to in years after it came out. Listen here.
