Well it’s here everyone, March 18^th. Yeah it’s Saturday, but it’s also the day that Timmy Ferry was born. Maybe the first, second, or third (perhaps the fourth, maybe the fifth) greatest rider to ever come from Florida, Ferry was a 125SX champ, he was a winner indoors and out, and had as big of a fan base as this sport has ever seen. Well, to me anyway. The #15 touched hearts and affected lives like maybe no other motocrosser we’ve ever seen before OR since. Again, in MY opinion.

So, in honor of his birthday I felt like it was only right that I, a man who was his mechanic for five years, to give you fifteen reasons why Timmy Ferry should be celebrated on this day.

1- All-time Leader in MX Motos Started

Motocross has been around a long time and guess who’s the rider who has raced the most motos in the 125/250MX, 250/450MX and 500MX class? Yeah, that’s right! Tim Ferry has started 389 motos (thanks Clinton!), which is more motos than any other rider in motocross history. Amazing!

2-Beating RC

Yeah, that’s right. RC is the GOAT, sure. We get it. He won a lot but in 1997, Tim Ferry took Carmichael down in the 125SX eastern series. Look it up. Ferry, along with some guy named Jeremy McGrath were the only two riders in history to beat RC in a title chase. Did Ferry win a race? No, he didn’t, but none of that matters. He beat the GOAT bro.

3- Defending Summercross Champion

There was a supercross race at the L.A. Coliseum in 1999 in the middle of the AMA nationals called Summercross. It featured a rider named Jeremy McGrath who had won six of the last seven SX championships. He was pretty good at the jumping stuff. But that night, Tim Ferry-who was a privateer rider before getting picked up by McGrath’s team for the nationals, brought the house down by pressuring McGrath in the main before he made a mistake. Ferry won the race and the L.A. Coliseum never hosted another SX after that. This race was that hard to top. Rumor is when the SMX series goes back to the Coliseum this fall, they’ll honor Ferry before the opener but that can’t be confirmed.

4- The Second Streak Breaker

Ricky Carmichael went 24-0 in 2002 250MX in an amazing display of speed and skill. His undefeated streak stretched into the next year when he went 1-1 at the 2003 opener at Glen Helen. Kevin Windham got the first moto win at Hangtown the next week to break that streak. RC then won the next five motos in a row before, guess who, Ferry beat him in the first moto at Budds Creek! Was he the guy to break the streak, no, but he was the guy after the guy who broke the streak.

5-Basically Won a 250MX title

Now Ferry himself never won an outdoor national title (he should’ve won the 2007 450MX title but we’re NOT going to talk about that here) but in 2010, the year after Ferry retired, he was back at the races mentoring Honda’s Trey Canard. What happened? Trey went on a second-half surge to win the championship with Ferry by his side telling him basically everything he needed to do. A champion OFF the track as well!

6-Factory Rider X3

Once a factory rider loses his factory ride, well that’s basically it for them in terms of getting back on a factory team. Ronnie Tichenor is somewhere reading this and just smashed a glass or something. But normal rules don’t apply to Tim Ferry. Ferry lost his factory Suzuki ride for 1998 (he pointed out of the 125 class, something history has told is really hard to do, so that’s another exceptional thing he’s done), rode a privateer Yamaha before getting hired by factory Yamaha for five years, got injured and lost that ride. He joined the Moto XXX team for 2006 on a Honda and rode well enough to get another factory ride with Kawasaki. Rarely does a rider get two shots at a factory ride after losing one (Larry Ward did, Marty Tripes did) but Ferry, nah he went for the three-peat. Amazing!

7-Racing Across Generations

When Ferry won Loretta Lynn’s in 1991 he used a tire called Yokohama and the prize from those guys was a trip to Japan to race the supercross there. So, a 16-year-old Tim Ferry showed up in Japan, made the main event and raced against Rick Johnson there. That means Ferry has raced Johnson, Jeff Ward (also there), McGrath, Carmichael, Chad Reed, James Stewart, and Ryan Villopoto. He’s literally a living link to MX history!

8-Fathered Maybe the Next One?

Ferry’s son Evan has had a rough go lately due to some injuries, but he’s put in some great rides over the years as an amateur and looks to be able to jump into the pro class and make a mark. TWO generations of Ferrys on the podium!

9-Pioneered the 450cc Four-Stroke

Ok sure, Yamaha’s Doug Henry gets a lot of credit for pioneering the modern four-stroke, but that bike he rode was a YZ400 in 1997. Yeah, okay, he won the 250MX title in ’98, but that was a YZ426. I get it. And Jimmy Button rode the 426cc thumper for a couple of years as well. But that wasn’t the modern 450cc limits we see now. The rider who really refined the modern four-stroke, when the bike went to 450cc was, yup, Tim Ferry. Harder to pioneer with all that horsepower but Ferry did it.

10-Two-Time MXDN Champion

Tim Ferry has represented Team USA at the Olympics of motocross three times in his career and stood on top of the podium twice. We won’t talk about his 2003 visit to Belgium, but in ’07 at Budds Creek and ’08 in England, it was basically Ferry who carried the red, white, and blue to the win. When Stewart fell in the third moto in England and couldn’t start his bike, it was Ferry who rode forward to secure the win for USA. The year before in Budds Creek, his 2-4 scores were all anyone could talk about afterward.

11-Pressuring Perfect Seasons

In 2008 Ferry, along with his teammate Stewart, went 1-2 in the 450MX nationals for Kawasaki with Stewart going 24-0. What a time it was for Kawasaki and Ferry—finishing a scant 186 points back of his teammate was a big part of that. Six years earlier, in 2002, Ferry again was close (160 points) and finished second in the points to Carmichael who also had a perfect season. Ferry was a part of two historic seasons folks!

12-Reed Mentor

Chad Reed’s one of the all-time greats, we all know that. With two 450SX titles and top five in all-time 450SX wins, Reed’s time in the USA will forever be remembered. Well, guess what? When Reed came to the USA in 2002, he lived with… Tim Ferry! Guess who he got as an agent? Tim Ferry’s agent! Guess who he hired for a trainer? Tim Ferry’s trainer! Where did he ride? At Tim Ferry’s house! So, yeah, pretty much at least half of Reed’s wins should be credited to Ferry, his mentor.

Ferry in 1992.
Tim Ferry in 1993.
Tim Ferry in 1997. Joe Bonnello
Ferry in 2003 at RedBud. Simon Cudby
Ferry at the 2007 MXoN event.
Tim Ferry and and his father.

13-Fly Racing Kickstarter

The guys up at Western Power Sports, AKA Fly Racing, are a powerhouse distributor in the industry nowadays and with Fly Racing, things are humming along there. Well, who got WPS/Fly into the top level of the sport? Tim Ferry, that’s who! Red Dog was the first paid athlete for WPS when he signed up to wear the helmet in 2001. He knew then what we all know now, that this company was onto something.

14-Two-Two Equals One

Tim Ferry won a lot of outdoor motos in his career but in his three career overall national wins, Red Dog won each of those via 2-2 scores. So yeah, not winning was equal to winning for Ferry. Smart!

15-Teaching Teammates

Ferry was teammates with McGrath in 1999 and 2001, he was with Reed in 2003 through 2005 and then Stewart in 2007 and 2008. Well, MC’s on the top of the SX win list, Stew’s number two and when Reed retired, he was number three. Basically, soaking in the info that Ferry gave them and watching him ride allowed these riders to become some of the greatest to ever throw a leg over a bike.