Great news for bench racers, fans and the sport in general: Eli Tomac is not done! He and Yamaha announced this week that he will return from an Achilles injury suffered this year and race again in 2024. We expect his new Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing deal to look much like his 2023 contract: Eli will definitely race Monster Energy Supercross, and if he feels good and wants to keep going through Pro Motocross and the SuperMotocross World Championship playoffs, Yamaha will accommodate.
But how will he do? We threw some questions at staffers Kris Keefer, Jason Weigandt and Steve Matthes.
Q: When Tomac’s injury initially happened, did you personally think that might be the end of Eli Tomac’s professional racing career? And now that he has announced a return to racing in 2024, yes, it’s still super early but where do you peg him entering the 2024 supercross season?
Kris Keefer: At first when they said "Achilles" I thought that was a wrap, but after speaking to a few close people within Tomac's camp, they weren't completely sure he was done. Once I got a hint of that, I knew it was on! Going into the 2024 season how can you NOT pick Eli Tomac as the favorite? I mean sure, Jett is UNREAL, but until he beats Tomac’s consistency in SX then I am still aboard the #3 train. Sorry, not sorry.
Jason Weigandt: You’re kidding yourself if you didn’t think, in that moment, that it could be the end. I’ll never forget sitting in the press box with all my buddies/co-workers (and oddly enough my wife and kid, who were attending the race) and everyone screaming that something was wrong, and then realizing Chase Sexton was going to take the points lead and possibly the title. We spent the remaining 15 minutes of the main event shaking our heads and trying to sort out what we saw, and finally someone, I think it was Aaron Hansel, said this could be the last time we see Tomac race. No one disagreed! Eli was already on a series-to-series-year-to-year deal, he was stretching past how long we thought he would race in the first place. Coming back from this when he didn’t have anything to prove and had plenty of money in the bank? Ouch.
The only reason Eli would come back is if he just decided he didn’t want to go out that way. That’s it. This was a decision based on his heart and his competitive spirit. Luckily for everyone watching the races, this is the decision he made.
How will he do? You have to have huge respect for the program John and Eli Tomac have put together. I think he’ll be right back where he was. I won’t guarantee he’s the points leader again with two races to go, but that’s only out of respect for competitors like Sexton, Jett Lawrence, Cooper Webb and more. Eli’s gonna be Eli.
Steve Matthes: Any reasonable person would see his injury, know his situation with his age and taking his career one year at a time and come to a conclusion that might've been it. I think I was 50/50 on whether we would see him back on the track. Awesome deal to see ET3 back. He was at the A Stars intro and in a good mood, he mentioned that he had heard the worst about his injury but for him, the recovery wasn't that bad. Then again, it's possible he's a Terminator. I don't know if he's going to win the title or whatever. I don't think the injury will hold him back, but it'll be good to see him back no matter what. He'll win races and we'll see from there.
We are seeing a shift with riders near and past age 30 winning races. We’re talking about Jason Anderson, Justin Barcia, Malcolm Stewart, Dean Wilson, Justin Brayton, and Tomac, to name a few still racing. Is this a trend we might see continue with the future generations or is this current older class of the sport an outlier?
Keefer: I think being older isn't such a big deal in our sport now. I think having that gnarly generation of RC being the pioneer of monk training might have cut that generation out early, but this generation it seems guys are sticking to it longer. I think we can just chalk it up to guys not getting as injured as previous generations. If you're always getting injured then you might have tendency to wrap it up early. Early 30s is a peak age for athletic performance in a male. Also knowing your body and how the schedule works allows these older guys to burn at a slower rate.
Weigandt: Yes. The suspension and frames of the 1980s mixed with supercross tracks just trashed rider’s bodies. Yes, today they still get hurt, but they don’t smash ankles just from landing a poorly-built triple in boots that seem like slippers compared to what we see today. Later we saw Aldon Baker’s program burn guys out…actually I don’t 100 percent agree with that. We saw guys who had massive title streaks retire young. The pressure to win killed them. They couldn’t just lose a title, so they quit. Unless someone else goes on a three-or-four year streak like RV, RC or Dungey, I don’t think we lose guys like we did then.
One other factor: I think today’s riders do a better job separating life from racing. They clock in at the track (that someone else owns and operates) and go home. They basically commute to an office during the week and on weekends and then just do regular person stuff, like husband and dad stuff, at home. Way less burnout that way. Long careers are here to stay.
Matthes: We've gone through some phases in our sport where the "norm" was guys like Barnett, Stanton pulling the plug in their late 20's, then we started seeing racers hang on late in their careers (Dowd, Larry Ward, Mike LaRocco, Tim Ferry) because they were still good and the money was great back then so why not stay around? Really, only Dungey and Villopoto hung it up early and were the outliers, it wasn't a new "trend" IMO, it was just those two because they A-had so much money they and their kids were set for life and B-they worked damm hard under Aldon Baker and didn't want to do THAT anymore. So yeah, now ET, Roczen, Wilson etc are still racing but to me, that's the "norm" of the Larocco, Ward, Ferry days and not the two Ryan's.
How much has Tomac’s stock as an all-time great changed over the last few years? Say he hangs it up after winning the 2020 450SX title and completely walks away. How different would his all-time great status be then compared to what he achieved through 2023, and possibly beyond?
Keefer: I might be different, but I feel like it wouldn't have changed that much. Sure the SX wins might not have been there but to me he would still be on the Mt. Rushmore of top Motocross/Supercross riders. The raw speed and the amount of wins he accumulated (even without the 21-22 season) would still push me over the top to put him as one of the all-time best! If you have watched Eli Tomac racing up close and personal (not on TV), there would be no doubt.
Weigandt: I think it changed massively with this last push on Yamaha, and last year’s titles. I saw it around Daytona time last year. Eli always got cheers and respect, but the crowd was next level there, and it kept growing and growing. Not only do I remember him riding off the track injured that night in Denver, I remember the crowd losing their minds when he rolled out that night for opening ceremonies. He was no longer “Eli Tomac: Really, really good” or “Eli Tomac: Probably the best guy right now.” He was “Eli Tomac: Living Freaking Legend!” It has gone to a new level. Glad it’s not over!
Matthes: I think he's loosened up a little bit the last couple of years, finally getting that 450SX title really allowed him to not be so wound up I think. That title eluding him when he was clearly the best guy in the class caused him, I think, to be pretty guarded and sort of pissed off around the end of the Kawasaki days. But now, he's shown some more personality and he's entered that phase where he's the older guy and people want him to whip the kids’ asses. He's now going to be everyone's favorite "old guy/underdog" next year in SX. Try to wrap your head around that, people! He's already an all-timer in my mind, no matter what he does in 2024.
We're set up for a great Tomac/Sexton/Jett Lawrence/Cooper Webb/Ken Roczen etc 450SX season which should be epic right? We're expecting Cooper Webb to be Star Yamaha next year as well (or this September at the SMX opener) and isn't that a spicy meatball to see the #2 and the #3 BLU CRU next to each other?
