The crowd at the Daytona Supercross on Saturday was crazy, nuts, massive, passionate, and rabid. A lot of this excitement simply came from pent-up demand, because Daytona had to operate under limited spectator capacity last year, with the trademark standing section on the NASCAR high banks axed due to social distancing restrictions. The fun is back in Monster Energy AMA Supercross this year, though, and while we might not be partying quite like it’s 2019, it’s not far removed from it. Pits are packed, seats are filled, excitement hangs in the air.
Daytona had something extra, though. No other supercross, maybe no other dirt bike race, allows the fans to get close to the action like this. Maybe the fence line at a Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross Championship round sits at similar distance to the track, but Daytona is supercross, which means the riders are leaping above head height attacking rhythms, triples and the finish line jump. It’s a surreal experience only found there, plus, it occasionally soaks in that you’re watching a supercross race while standing on the actual finish line of the Daytona 500. Not bad. It’s also the only supercross that allows fans to enter the race track after the race is complete. Glance down at your phone for a moment and suddenly the podium area is completely mobbed, and the experience of a sea of fans surrounding the scene is held in the highest possible regard. “This is like RedBud!” said Eli Tomac on the podium. Is there a higher compliment?
This, alone, makes the experience special. Not having this experience in ’21 and getting it back in ’22 is key. There’s more to it, though. This season has turned into the perfect mashup for fans, because the primary title contenders are familiar. While the promise of the unexpected is always a draw, there’s also a draw to things we know and accept. We have known for many years that Eli Tomac and Jason Anderson are bad dudes on dirt bikes. We don’t question their talent, ability or resume. No one needs to get up to speed on these guys, to learn more about them, to take time to accept that they belong in the elite crowd. We’ve known it for a long time.
There is always a lag when a new rider goes to the top of the game. Fans were excited for Ricky Carmichael to challenge Jeremy McGrath for supercross supremacy until he did, and then it became hard to accept, at first, that everything we thought we knew had changed. Carmichael had a few rough years with the people, which was a nice boon for a rival like Chad Reed. You didn’t need to know much about Chad. You just needed to know he was capable of beating Carmichael.
Then RC missed the 2004 season, and his image changed. Getting him back in the mix would make supercross feel right again. Plus, there was a new star in town, James Stewart, who the fans loved universally right up until the point he actually started challenging Carmichael…and then the same conflict erupted when it was Carmichael versus McGrath. We like seeing the new guy beat the old guy right up until the point where the threat becomes real. Then we remember the cozy feeling of the old guy.
That’s why you get that lag time. The eyes deceive. Carmichael might be beating McGrath but…wait someone is actually beating McGrath? Ryan Villopoto and Ryan Dungey might be winning the titles but…wait are they really beating Reed and Stewart? One could argue that the respect for Reed and Stewart as racers has never been higher than it is now, when they’re no longer racers. We long for the familiar. For what we know is true. We know those guys are champions and legends. There is no debate.
This adds extra sauce to this year’s championship. The rejuvenation of Eli Tomac and Jason Anderson is the definition of familiar. We know these guys, we respect these guys. They’re just as good (better?) as ever. Each year at Daytona, I get the privilege of handling the live announcing for the fans. To warm up the crowd, we head to the NASCAR high banks at 5 p.m. and ask the masses who they’re rooting for. This year Anderson and Tomac got the most votes by far, with Tomac especially favored with the history of six Daytona wins on the line. They’re names of this moment. Ken Roczen’s star in 2022 has faded with his results, Adam Cianciarulo is hurt, Chase Sexton is too new. Malcolm Stewart is loved by all and a real local product, but he is not yet a race-and-title-winning titan like Anderson and Tomac. Cooper Webb should be in the stratosphere, but he has not caught on with the fans. He’s in that transition point, still, and I could and should write a whole column on how or why Webb hasn’t become a fan favorite.
I also can’t wait to read fan comments in 2029 when a rider rolls over late in the race, and the chorus of, “Why can’t these guys be more like Cooper Webb!?” begins. Too often, the respect comes too late. I’d say Ryan Villopoto was a badder dude in the moment than we probably gave him credit for at the time. I mean, hey, Reed and Stew were still around.
With Anderson and Tomac, they’ve gotten to do both. We saw them at their peak, and now we’re seeing them peak again. They’re both the past stars and the current stars. This time we are catching the wave before it passes us by.
