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Axell Hodges grew up watching and wanting to be like Jeremy McGrath. McGrath, the King of Supercross, inspired many individuals around the world, including one Axell Hodges who grew up merely houses down from MC. The California native started racing motocross himself, but eventually got more into of the freestyle side of the sport. Now, “Slay,” as they call him, is pushing the boundaries of freestyle motocross, just as his idol McGrath pushed the boundaries in AMA Supercross. I rang up the man Slay himself to chat about all things Axell Hodges, including his days as an amateur motocross racer, Slayground, his gnarly skills, and more.
Racer X: Okay Axell, did you initially start your career as a racer, or has it always been your goal to become a freestyler?
Axell Hodges: I mean when I was younger, Jeremy McGrath was everything. Jeremy McGrath: Seven-time supercross champion and he lived right down from the street from me, so I wanted to be a racer and I wanted to be like Jeremy McGrath. I wanted to get eight supercross titles of my own and be the new King, that’s what I wanted to be when I was a little kid.
Was it ever an option for you to become a pro racer? You raced for a while and I wanted to ask you what you thought about that particular period of time in which you raced motocross.
Well, I started racing at a pretty late age. I got hurt when I was younger. A lot of people know about that from past interviews that I’ve done. I started when I was 14 and I was doing really good at the beginning and then, I don’t know... I just kind of got burned-out on it and started not doing as good at it. The racing was kind of sucking all the fun out of riding dirt bikes for me. I ride dirt bikes because it is my favorite thing in the world. From the racing, I was starting to be overriding my dirt bike. I was feeling like I was being forced to go out on a rough track and to get roosted. It was like going out there and getting scared on a daily basis when all I wanted to do was ride and have fun on my dirt bike and enjoy it. The racing is all fun and games when you’re doing good in the novice class and winning, but as soon as shit started getting serious and I started to kind of figure out what it was really about, and I was pretty over it. I got lucky and started doing the whip contests and that’s kind of my history.
You have fun with all the freestyle motocross stuff, don’t you? Fans notice that and pick up on that. You love doing all of this, don’t you? Between your talent and your motorcycle, you’re almost creating a sort of art. Awesome stuff, huh? What you do also reminds me of McGrath. We both know he was a natural born showman.
Yeah, for sure. I mean I looked up to Jeremy my whole life. I wanted to be like him. I definitely pushed to be like him, but I just stayed in a different forum. He was having fun winning supercross races and having the parties and the chicks and that’s how it was in the 1990s.That isn’t how motocross racing is these days. Like you said, I kind of like to have fun and go out and be on my own time and do what I want to do and ride what I want to ride and create what I want to create. Sometimes that takes more time than racing. You’ve got to be out there thinking about it and playing around and testing and trial and error. I don’t know. It’s a lot more fun for me to just be able to go out and learn a new thing on a regular basis instead of trying to go out and race and be the fastest guy on a dirt bike every day.
You probably do the biggest jumps and sickest whips in the entire freestyle motocross game. Having said that, at times, are you ever afraid of hitting a jump for the first time? I mean, some of the colossal jumps you do are extremely challenging and extremely dangerous. Daunting stuff!
Oh yeah, that’s how it always is. That’s kind of the fun of what us free riders do with big jumps. We like to scare ourselves. That’s what’s fun. It’s fun building big jumps and inventing my friends out like Tyler Bereman. He’s another gnarly rider and we’ll feed off each other and that’s how we have the most fun. We just scare the shit out of ourselves and cheat off each other and kind of just keep elevating it all from there.
I’m glad you brought up fellow Californian Tyler Bereman. You two guys have created your own sort of freestyle motocross art form!
Yeah, ever since I was little, Tyler was racing when I was racing. He’s four or five years older, so he’s always kind of been a bigger brother and role model figure for me. I always looked up to him and just wanted to be like him. He was racing and I was racing, and I saw him throwing big old whips and doing all the big jumps and I just kind of followed those footsteps and just wanted to be gnarly like him. Tyler, yeah, I would say he plays a big role in my dirt bike riding and just having fun on the dirt bike.
You once tried to break the world record for the longest jump but ended up getting injured. Tell us about that.
I mean the world record jump… That wasn’t my decision to go do that. It was kind of presented to me and I agreed to it thinking it would be kind of mellow, but as soon as a I got into that, we started hitting the 350-foot mark and that’s when shit got really serious and scary. We were going there every day and we were barely even able to eat breakfast. I like to hit the jump a lot, so I was getting 350-feet over and over again. I’d hit it 20 times a day just getting it down. It started getting fun but then I started getting into the 400-foot mark and I had that one bad pull, and it was kind of history from there. I ended up breaking my ankle and I sprained the other one. I don’t know… It was something that was presented to me, and it wasn’t something that I really had a desire to go and do. I was asked to do it, so I did it and now that I’ve had the experience, I’ve jumped the record. I know it’s not official, but I’m content with myself and I know what I’ve done. I’m content with that. I don’t think I’ll be revisiting that one unless it is worth the pay or worth risking my life every time I go out. It wasn’t really worth it.
What’s different on your bike compared to a bone stock Kawasaki KX450? Oh, and there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that you’ve sold Kawasaki a few motorcycles along the way.
I’ve got A Kit Pro Circuit suspension on it. I’ve also got a Pro Circuit pipe. That’s about it. The motor, for the most part, is pretty stock. Actually, the motor is completely stock. I just put a pipe on it. Recently, I just built a motor. I’d like to get more power for the Quarter pipe stuff. I got second in MTX Quarter pipe High Air this year and that was just on a stock motor, so I think that with a little more in 2022, it’ll do me justice.
How was the Slayground originated? Has it been your family’s property before you turned it into a huge freestyle-playground?
Yeah, they owned the property. They still live there. Slayground, that’s where I lived for 21 years of my life. I grew up in that house. That was my backyard and that’s where I grew-up and learned how to ride over the years. That first video we did out there, that’s how I got invited to X Games. My dad was like, “Screw it! We’re putting a ramp down here and a step-up jump.” From there we just started running it. I just rode there for a couple years. It paid-off a lot in just hitting ramps and getting my whips down and just practicing all of the techniques down. That’s where I learned all of this stuff. I had a driveway with a speed bump on it and we had a bunch of contraptions we made out of pallets and trailers and stuff. That’s where I learned all of my technical wheelie riding and stuff like that. Yeah, that’s in Encinitas, California, and that’s my parents’ house and it was a playground type area, so we just called it the Slayground.
Talking about Slayground: Where does your nickname “Slay” come from?
Well my nickname when I was racing used to be A-Hodge and then it turned to Slay Hodge and then it turned to Slay. It just evolved over the years from riding dirt bikes and being out with my buddies.
Your brother Ash is your primary filmer, right? How is your relationship and does it bother him to be the less famous brother?
No! It’s never like that with Ash. With me and Ash, we’re just brothers and we’re not in it to be cool on the internet. We don’t do it for the fame and all that shit. We like to ride dirt bikes and we want to keep dirt biking a cool thing. We just like to ride dirt bikes and we have fun doing it.
Your father Phil Hodges, a.k.a. PH, often has cameos in your videos and has become pretty well-known. Is he cooler and more fun to hang around with than the average dad?
Oh yeah, my dad is awesome. He’s been my supporter my whole life. He helps me with everything. He helps me with deals, taking me to the track and buying me dirt bikes. My dad has been there from day one. He’s pretty squirrely on a dirt bike and likes to throw down once in a while, but my dad is the coolest dad in the world.
Yep, PH is a good dude. Okay, you have more than one million followers on Instagram. How do you handle all that fame? You’re a media sensation. Is it always nice to have so many fans or can it sometimes be annoying?
When I was younger, I was more about getting all the followers and all of that, but as I’m getting older you kind of realize that none of it really matters. I mean to a certain extent it matters in having a job and paying the bills, but at times I see people just wanting attention so bad that it kills it for me, so it’s a hate and love relationship in wanting to keep the video stuff going on a daily basis. It’s cool and not cool at the same time. Sometimes you just want to be a regular dude. I wish I could go to supercross, and nobody would say my name.
It’s not only you who is a famous social-media-star, but also your girlfriend Gabriella Abutbol. Do you two benefit from each other’s prominence?
Oh yeah, for sure. She’s got her whole workout line going where she’s selling her stuff and kind of turning her social stuff into a business. That’s what I’ve kind of done with Slayco. It’s good. She has her own deal going and I’ve got my own deal going. We’ll help each other. It’s kind of nice to have our separate deals going to where not getting into stuff like work and money and all the shit like that. We’re helping each other and it’s a lot of fun. She’s really cool. She’s awesome.
What’s the nicest and the most annoying part of your job?
The best thing about my job is that I get to go do what I love most every day and have fun. Probably the worst thing about my job is dealing with injuries because with riding a dirt bike, you’re going to get hurt and there is no way around that. You just have to kind of cope with that. I also just get a lot of heat on social media. I get a lot more smack talk than the average racer.
You recently visited MotoGP-star Valentino Rossi over in Italy. What kind of dude is he? What did you think of riding and hanging out with him?
Rossi is the man! That was SO fun! He’s the nicest dude ever. Sometimes you meet somebody that famous and they’re just kind of a clown. Valentino showed up and the first thing he did was pull up in his car going about 100 hundred miles per hour. He just jumped out and gave me the biggest hug. Yeah, we just rode all the way to sundown and ate dinner. He shared all of his stuff with us. He’s the man. He’s definitely someone I want to be like when I’m Valentino Rossi’s age.
I think freestyling on a motocross bike and hitting huge jumps is no thing you do until you’re 60 years old. Do you already have a plan what to do after your active career?
Uhm…. I’m going to ride my dirt bike as long as I can. It just depends on how my career goes and how I deal with injuries and stuff like that. Afterwards? I don’t know. I just bought a bulldozer and I just really like building jumps and creating tracks. It could be something like that. I like filming and making videos. Whatever it is, I’m sure I’ll be in the industry in some capacity. I don’t know. Hopefully, I can be like Valentino Rossi where I’ll have a crib in Italy and be chilling.
Do you have any advice for riders learning to whip their bike?
I’d say take your time. A lot of people go out to throw whips and they sling their bike sideways, and they’ll get lucky with one and think that they did a whip. Then the next time they go to do one, they get completely knocked out. I’d say take your time and watch my YouTube channel. I’m going to come out with a How-To Whip video in the next couple of weeks.
Okay Axell, last question: What do you like to do in your free time?
AI like to snowboard, ride BMX, hang out with Pat Casey a lot. He’s my really good buddy. I don’t know… I like to do all the Southern California extreme sports. That’s what I grew up on. I just love extreme sports.
