Good news everyone, Phil Nicoletti is alive and well! After he retired from the pro racing circuit and joined the party circuit we hadn’t heard a word from racing's filthiest retiree in weeks. Thankfully the deafening silence was pierced by an email from Nicoletti this week containing answers to your burning questions. Enjoy!
Remember, Nicoletti might be retired from professional racing, but he’s got a long way to go before he’s out of bench racing. To get your questions answered by the grump himself, send them to Phil@racerxonline.com.
Hey Phil,
Well you made it man and good on you for it. It's kind of bittersweet for all of us former racers and now race fans to see you go, but we all realize it is what it is and one's body and mind can only take so much punishment. I put in 13 years at the local tracks in district seven. Budds was the track we had most of our pts. races at. I never really had the chance to try nationals but always wanted to, and now looking back I wish I had tried. I remember getting passed by Damon Bradshaw at Lake Sugartree and only saw him for a moment, and wow, the pace you guys run is pretty damn impressive. Feeling close to that pace is a lot of fun, unless you take soil samples of course. Anyway, it might be cool if we could see you at the tracks in a different role, but I realize the announcing side of things is getting a bit full with some good folks right now. So, do you have anything in mind or offers to get off the couch coming up? Thanks again for all your contributions to MX/SX, the gnarliest sport in the world!
-Pete the Pirate
Pete,
I appreciate it very much. At the moment I’m just taking some time away. I have some cool things I get to do here in the next few weeks which I’m excited about. Things I’ve never get to do, really. I haven’t ridden a motorcycle since Las Vegas, and I’m totally content with that right now. I have personal goals I want to do in the gym and on the cycle that I haven’t been able to do because of racing and riding. The ambition to ride right now is low. Really low. But that’s everyone that went through the meat grinder since basically November 1 of last year. But like anything, over time that feeling will come back. Coors Lights and Dirt bikes soon enough. Until then, it’s just Coors.
-Phil
Washed up Phil,
Now that you’re retired and you can hear the giant, financial sucking sound of never-ending bills, but no longer have that sweet cash influx from racing, you’re going to need to find a new way of staying afloat. I know you’ve thought of this, but I’m sure you haven’t thought of the idea I’m about to lay out. For a while man-friends were big in this sport. I’m not suggesting you need to start power washing boots and polishing helmets between motos (nothing wrong with that!), but what if you were the, tell-it-to-them-straight guy for a few riders in the pits? I’m sure these guys are constantly surrounded by gold diggers and ass kissers, so where are they getting their reality from? That’s where you come in! I can just see you walking into the Red Bull KTM pits and telling Chase Sexton how bad he sucks at starts, then meandering over to Husky and telling Malcolm Stewart he’ll never scrub as good as his brother. Phil Nicoletti, the honest sports psychologist. What do you think?
-Slow Ride Chris K
Slow Ride,
Unfortunately there are only a few guys anymore that can get ripped apart and take it on the chin. To be honest, some of the top 450 guys are a bunch of savages. They are killers. Like, you can actually rip into them, and they take it like men. When you start dealing with the younger ones it gets a bit different. Especially if they haven’t had much adversity in riding/life. Some people respond well to being yelled at and harsh criticism. Some people need a softer touch. I get that, everyone is different. But when that gate drops, I don’t care how tough or soft you are. You better hammer down and perform. No matter how hard or soft you are in this sport, you have to do the work. At the end of day the cream always rises to the top.
-Phil
Phil,
Over the weekend, our buddy Dave Ginolfi made the point that, if a guy who had one AMA podium in his career and a bunch of top tens got multiple parties, press conferences and tons of media attention when he retired, you’d probably blast the dude. So, do you hate yourself?
-Weege
P.S. Cool parties.
Well Weege,
I can’t disagree. Like, at all. I do hate myself. But that’s nothing new. Butttttttt, the parties and all the badass people who came out were unreal. Even the people I didn’t expect to be there. It was cool to have so many people just going from party to party to keep shit going. My liver died four times over that weekend, but it was well worth it. It almost makes me feel like I should come back! Just to retire again so we can all relive another banger weekend?! Why notttttttt!?
-Phil
