Indy! Yeah, this is such an Indycar town that, well, uh, they literally named them Indy Cars. What would have happened if they did the same with dirt bikes? Britbikes? Belgiumbikes? Frenchbikes? Carlsbadbikes? Unadillabikes?
Okay, none of that is catching on. Let’s just review the enjoyable history of AMA Supercross in downtown Indy, which started with the old Hoosier Dome/RCA Dome and later moved to current Lucas Oil Stadium.
10. The First One: Supercross entered the old Hoosier/RCA Dome in 1992, and the race immediately had an impact when Damon Bradshaw crashed out on a rutted triple. The Yamaha man thus handed over a points lead he had built from winning five in a row early in the series. Jeff Stanton took the victory.
By the way, Indy has become synonymous with deep ruts which would seem to favor eastern-based riders. But Jeremy McGrath is so good at supercross that it didn't matter, the Californian crushed it at Indy from 1993-1996. McGrath could ride anything.
9. Going Big Time: Supercross was exploding in popularity during the 1990s, riding the Jeremy McGrath/Action Sports/X Games wave mixed with a little NASCAR hype on motorsports in general. For 1999, AMA Supercross got a big network TV spot on ABC. McGrath was the showcase, but Ezra Lusk delivered a win to keep it interesting. Also, our man Steve Matthes would like to add “Who can forget 1999, live on ABC, when Tim Ferry gets third on a privateer bike!”
Ugh. Okay, good job with the wrenches, Matthes.
8. Pastrana’s Debut: Pro racing debuts probably can’t get more hyped than Travis Pastrana’s, who was already a mainstream X Games star before he turned 16 and could race supercross. We’ll let our Davey Coombs, who was the ESPN pit reporter at this race, explain Indianapolis 2000:
Jeremy McGrath wins the 250 class, to no one's surprise. The bigger deal is the long-awaited supercross debut of 16-year-old Travis Pastrana, who manages to crash on the sighting lap of the main event by trying an Indian Air freestyle trick over the finish line double. Lee McCollum unbends the bike on the starting gate as Suzuki boss Roger DeCoster fumes, and the kid goes out and crashes two or three more times, finishing fourth in his SX debut. Who beat #199? FMF Honda teammates Michael Brandes and Brock Sellards, as well as the late Tyler Evans, who was riding for DeMarini Suzuki.
7. Stew’s Big Comeback: There were some races where it didn’t matter what happened, James Stewart was going to win. Indy 2007 was one of those, as Stew started near last and still took the win.
6. Marvin’s Run: Soon we’ll realize how underrated Marvin Musquin’s career really was. He was really good in Indy, using his technical precision to handle the ruts. Marvin won in 2018 and 2019. The 2019 is notable for an Eli Tomac and Cooper Webb battle. Webb tries to jump inside of Tomac, lands on a tough block and uses it to bounce his way into a block pass on Eli!
5. Kenny Versus Dungey: A very rutted, very trick track in 2016 didn’t stop Ken Roczen and Ryan Dungey from pushing hard the whole way, with Dungey narrowly snagging the victory.
4. Stewart Versus Reed: How many stadiums have not hosted some James Stewart and Chad Reed drama? Indy had its own episode in ’09. Stewart was on the comeback trail in the series and the race, overcoming crashes and mistakes to take the lead from Reed. Looked like Stewart had cooked up a heck of a come-from-behind victory, similar to his 2007 win in the building. But he fell again, and Reed took the win. This one snapped a seven-race win streak for the number seven.
3. Ricky Versus Travis: Much of the early Indy 2002 race seemed to preview the future, as defending champion Ricky Carmichael battled rookie Travis Pastrana for the lead. Eventually Pastrana bobbled and tried to get back to the inside to block Carmichael, the bumped and Travis crashed. The crowd loved Pastrana and had already been booing Carmichael after he dethroned Jeremy McGrath and switched to Honda. So they started really booing RC, even though it wasn’t really his fault! Then, enter David Vuillemin, who had been stalking the whole time, and then set up a perfectly-executed last-lap pass on Carmichael. It was a rare straight up win over RC in those days, and Vuillemin probably got the loudest ovation a Frenchman has ever gotten at a race in the U.S.
As for previewing the future, this race did not. The Carmichael/Pastrana duels didn’t materialize. Combine DV’s clutch victory with this rare clash, and this becomes a very memorable event.
2. Kickstart Kenny: The feel-good-win of 2023, Ken Roczen transformed from a lifetime high-profile favorite to supercross’ favorite underdog. Riding for Suzuki, a brand that had not won a race since, well Kenny himself won races in 2016, Roczen held tough on a very rutted track to score an incredibly popular win. Then he carried that kickstarter to the podium. The Indy crowd ate it up!
1. LaRocco’s Win for the Hoosiers: As good as a hometown win gets in this sport. Indiana’s favorite son, Mike LaRocco, notoriously a horrible starter, grabbed a shocking holeshot at his home race. The crowd cheered Iron Mike around the track, a giant wave of sound following him the whole way. In his 15th season in the premier class, the blue-collar man reared back, leaned on his experience, and hung on for the final supercross win of his career.
Bonus! This wasn't in Indianapolis but it was in Indiana, and it was certainly memorable.
