Filthy Phil Nicoletti is suiting up and getting back to racing this weekend for the Ironman GNCC, but before he does, he's answering your questions. This week he’s wading into topics like getting passed while “hustling balls,” the balance between talent and drive, and nearly murdering Marshal Weltin.
As always, if you have any questions or thoughts to share with Phil, send them on over to Phil@RacerXOnline.com. Don't hesitate to get his thoughts on the weekend's GNCC!
Phil,
Now that you’ve retired from racing , congrats. What was the most impressive thing you saw someone else do during a race? Does any single moment stand out to you? Obviously, you saw some rad stuff while racing.
Thanks,
-Andrew
Andrew,
That’s a tough one. It’s really hard to pin point a specific moment. I guess for this question I’ll just generalize it. Anytime any of the top guys have passed me. I’ve had a lot of results between 5-10. But when you have a RV, RD, JS7, ET3, KR, Jett, and Chase blow your doors off on the way to the front while you’re battling for seventh, it’s something else. When they come by running two-three seconds a lap faster while I’m hustling balls myself, it’s unreal. Sometimes, for shits and giggles, I wish they would pick a few Joe Blows from the internet and stick them out there on a national or a supercross day. That way they can realize what it’s like before they talk shit on someone. It’s just wild to feel the pace of those guys.
-Phil
Phil,
I once asked Steve on the Pulp Show to tell me what percentage of Jason Thomas' motocross success came from drive versus talent. His answer was 95 percent drive and 5 percent talent. Jason was on the show and he didn’t disagree. What percentage of your success came from drive versus talent?
-Jimmy G
Jimmy,
Well, I don’t believe that to be true. JT had a little more talent than just 5 percent to make it as long as he did. At the pro level, everyone has talent. Obviously some more than others. But the level of talent between most of us is a couple percent here and there. But in our sport the talent outshines drive at first. But sooner or later the drive outweighs the talent. Don’t get me wrong, I have talent. I have to have some sort of talent to do this skill. But there are kids who I ride with at ClubMX, or I see at local track that have more, pure talent than I do. Sure they might not be going as fast, but as far as talent and flow they sure do. Some might have more talent and speed on a Tuesday, but on Saturday I would never see them. But if you want a percentage, let’s say I’m 65 percent drive, 35 percent talent.
-Phil
Angry Phil,
I was on Instagram this morning and I came across a video on your IG posted by Marshal Weltin from a few years ago. It’s helmet cam footage and in the frame are you and some guy on a Kawasaki. He cross jumps and gets into you and you both nearly crashed. That’s one of the sketchiest footage I’ve seen in a long time! Who was the guy on the Kawasaki in that video? It looks like he knows he’s about to meet god, courtesy of you, because he doesn’t even look over and pins it to get away. What did you say to him when you undoubtedly ran him down?
-Pro Joe
Joe,
That was with my good buddy/little bro Marshal Weltin. I was going through the archives and I found that video. It’s from 2021 in the spring. Freddie Noren got that on his helmet cam. Marshal was on the Kawi crossing over on me in a practice moto at ClubMX. Marsh tried to blame me for it, but you can clearly see where he took off on the face of the jump, and where he landed. I’ve ripped Marsh’s head off many times throughout the past 12 years of being buddies, but that day might top them all. I came unglued on him. Somehow to this day, I still don’t know how I didn’t make him swallow his teeth. I lost my voice for a few days because I yelled at him so much. It wasn’t our finest hour. [Laughs] But thank God no one got jacked up. The helmet cam doesn’t do justice for how gnarly that section was, or how squirrelly that moment was.
-Phil
Bonus: Check out this Nicoletti/Weltin Vlog from five years ago
