The Conversation: Cameron McAdoo

Going back to the opening outdoor race of the season at Fox Raceway in Southern California last May where you were injured in the second moto, you just straight-up haven’t raced in quite a while now, huh?
Yeah, yeah, at the first round of outdoors I did my ACL and some other stuff in my knee, so that was pretty unfortunate. But like you said, it’s been a long time since I’ve had a gate drop.

Hey, I was not aware of this, but you’re engaged, aren’t you? I did some research before I got a hold of you and a link from People.com appeared and proclaimed, Temecula Road’s Maddie Salute is Engaged to Pro Motocross racer Cameron McAdoo: “When You Know, You Know.” That’s really cool!
Yeah, we got engaged the week before the last national this year. So yeah, we are super-excited about it and we’re going to get married the September of 2022, so exciting times for both of us, for sure.

How did you guys meet one another?
Yeah, Maddie is actually really close friends with Paige Craig, Christian Craig’s wife, and we met through them. I was pretty close with them when I rode for Honda and I’ve stayed friends with those guys, so we met through mutual friends and she’s a country music singer, so she’s pretty busy as well. Yeah, so that’s kind of where it all started off.

A country recording artist and a professional supercross racer. A 2022 power couple for certain, eh?
Yeah, we both have our own gigs and we’re both pretty passionate about what we do, so it’s exciting to kind of push each other and have something to be proud of each other for.

So, I’m going to go ahead and assume that Maddie is a supercross fan.
Yeah, yeah, she does like it. She enjoys it. She’s a pretty calming spirit, so it is good for me to have that around. There’s not a lot of nonsense, so that’s nice. We’re stoked on it.

Okay, when you take a look back on the 2021 season, what do you think? A bit of the best of times and the worst of times?
Yes, I mean 2021 was a huge year for me and for my career. Through the year I was able to kind of put on a stamp that I can be one of those top guys. I always thought I knew that I was one of those guys, but until you start winning races and winning heat races and ending up on the podium consistently and fighting for titles, you’re really not. It was a lot at once. Before the 2021 season, I only had two podium finishes throughout my whole career. In 2021, I was able to be on the podium almost every weekend and I was fighting for the red plate, and I actually won a race. It was a lot to bring in and I learned a lot. I had a couple of bad races that kind of kept me from the main goal. That stuff was what I learned the most from. All of that taught me the most and what it taught me was that you really do win or lose championships on your bad nights. It was all a big confidence booster. Obviously, what happened to me in the outdoors was super-unfortunate because it is pretty important, especially as a Lites rider, to back up what you can do in supercross on outdoors, you know? You need to show what your potential is in both forms of racing. Luckily, I’ve got another year, or another year or two of the Lites class to show what I can do.

And the wicked crash you experienced at the Atlanta 2 Supercross certainly put your name in all sorts of light, didn’t it?
Yep. Totally. Especially with social media these days and the way everything is, the fans have so much access to us. It’s cool in a lot of ways, they get a lot of close insight on what us athletes are going through. Sometimes I think the fans struggle to understand what we do and deal with, but it’s all part of it. That’s part of being on a platform and being one of the best supercross racers in the world. For sure there is a lot nowadays with media and all the other communication things, but I think it is all good.

Very good point. Being a professional supercross racer is not the easiest way in the world to make a living. Whether we all admit it to one another or not, as far as being a rider and a racer, often times you’re only as good as the last thing you do.
Yeah, it is. Especially as a young racer, I was always struggled to understand that. It truly is correct. You’re only as good as the last thing you did in your last race. However, if you don’t live through it, you won’t make it. That was another thing I started to learn while growing up. My racing isn’t who I am. It’s what I do. I’m very passionate about what I do, and it means the absolute world to me, but I’ve lived the highs and the lows and if you get a fifth or a sixth on a Saturday night, that’s a tough way to live. I’ve learned a lot and I still have a lot to learn, for sure.

The Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki team has been very good for both you and your racing. How has it been being a member of the team?
I mean I love the team. I love where I’m at. Mitch [Payton] and I get along extremely well. He has a lot of knowledge and has a lot of experience with winning races and helping guys reach their potential and be their best and it’s obviously an honor to work with him and the rest of the team. My mechanic Kyle Defoe is awesome, and the list goes on with all of the people that make it all work. I really do enjoy working with those guys and we all have the same common goal and that’s to be the very best we can be when it comes to race time. We all love to win.