Billy Laninovich qualified out of the LCQ last week in Glendale, and in the process he broke his own record (which he set last year in Glendale) of being the oldest rider to put it in the 250SX main event in AMA Supercross history. Our man Aaron Hansel called the SLR Honda rider to talk about it, and the two talked the record, modern recovery methods, injuries, and more.
Racer X: Billy, what’s up?
Billy Laninovich: Just sitting in my PEMF blanket.
I don’t even know what that is.
It’s a Pusle Electromagnetic Field blanket. It helps with inflammation and helps get your cells energized for healing.
I always thought electromagnetism stuff was for circulation.
It is, it helps with circulation too. It helps your cells with the healing process.
Guys of our vintage, we need that stuff.
I wouldn’t be able to race otherwise. The technology is crazy. I haven’t been able to ride during the week. It’s kind of like a repeat of last year. I crashed in San Diego, couldn’t ride all week, showed up to A2 and still couldn’t ride all last week. Hopefully I’ll be able to ride next week.
Well, you made the show in Glendale this year and last.
Yeah, I know! I had it at A2 also but blew it in both races! In the heat race I crashed in the sand and then I crashed in the whoops in the LCQ.
On the broadcast it looked like you were hurt, but then it looked like you were just bummed.
No, when I stretched my arm out it stretched my ribs out. But really, it was more my pride, man.
Well, you didn’t wear your mismatched gloves last week.
Nope. Glendale was the first time I’ve pulled them out since I’ve been back.
Right, you can’t pull that out lightly.
No! It’s what I needed.
Was everyone slapping your back on the way back to the pits after the LCQ?
Oh dude, everyone was so stoked. They were giving me hugs and congratulating me, it was so awesome. Unreal. Thankfully I got the holeshot in that LCQ. If I didn’t, there was no way I was coming through the pack. My starts have sucked this year. I don’t know what I’m doing on the start. But I ripped a holeshot and made my life a lot easier.
That LCQ was tense. Fourth and fifth were right behind you, if you made a mistake at all you were done.
Those guys were right there. I got the holeshot and that kid on the Yamaha [Editor’s note: Every racer is a kid compared to Billy], what’s his name, he got me in the second turn, I think. It took me a few laps to get going, I was a little tight, and those guys were all over me. I’d gap them and they’d catch me, repeat. It was unreal. I almost landed on the bales in a rhythm section. It was so close. I hit the jump, and it just threw me to the right—it was a close call. It was like, “No, not again!”
Your ribs, from that qualifying crash in San Diego, are they bruised or broken?
I tore the facia, the tissue that holds the ribs together. There could be hairline fractures, the back part of my ribs is killing me when I sleep and stuff.
How many text messages were on your phone when you got back to your pits? Oh my gosh I had 150. And that doesn’t include all of Instagram and all of social. I probably had another few hundred. I’m still going through them, it’s hours and hours. I want to reply to everybody. I try to comment back to everybody but at some point, I won’t be able to.
Man, it has to feel good to get that kind of reception after being gone from the sport for so long.
Dude, I think my fanbase now is bigger than it was back in the day. There are so many fans out there and the crowd went crazy after I made it. It was insane. It was so cool.
You keep extending your record. I don’t think anyone can break it, ever.
I don’t know, Kyle Chisholm, he’s 37? Thirty-eight maybe?
You know what, he could. But he’s retiring this year. But you’re right, he could come back and do more races. I mean, he’s Chizz, right?
It’s very hard to retire. When you’re done, man, it’s tough. A lot of guys come back, so you never know. And it’d be cooler for him because he rides the 450 Class. That’s a whole other level, right? He’d have to come back at almost 42. I’ll be 42 on February 26, so he’d have another four or five years or so.
Well hopefully he breaks his legs between now and then.
No!
I’m just kidding, everyone loves Chizz.
Nobody will be able to break the time-off record I took. I took 12 years off racing, they all continued to race. I don’t think that’ll ever be broken, taking 12 years off and riding maybe 20 times in eight years. Not riding much, not doing any racing, or anything like that, is the difference.
Let’s go back 20 years, back when you were in your prime. What if a 41-year-old racer tried to line up against you? What you think?
He did, Bader Manneh. I think he came out when he was 40.
That’s different. I think he only did one race, and he didn’t make it, right?
No.
But all the same, what’d you think of him doing that? That he was out of his mind?
Yeah, kind of. If I wasn’t racing right now, and a 40-year-old wanted to come in and do it I’d be like, "Dude, there’s no way. There’s absolutely no way." I still feel young mentally. My grandpa, he’s 80 years old, and he’s always said, "I feel like I’m 18, but my body doesn’t allow it." It would be really hard to continue racing, had I kept racing. Taking that time off to let my body heal was key. There are so many injuries. Even if they’re not bad, they can just be nagging and painful.
That wear and tear is no joke.
Yep.
You’re on SLR Honda now. How’d you end up there?
I got asking if I would be interested in helping train some of the riders and develop the race bike. I said, “Absolutely,” and started working with the riders and maybe a month into it or so, he asked if I would be interested in racing again. I said, “Ehh, probably not, but let’s just get a bike and start riding.” So, I got a bike in August, but I had some health issues and ended up being sick for like two months. But I started riding supercross around the end of August, maybe one or two days a week, just cruising around. I just continued doing that, and right around November is when I decided I was going to race again. I hadn’t been training, I wasn’t riding to put in laps, I was just working with the riders.
Well, thanks for your time man. Glad to see you putting it back in the show in Glendale.
Dude, I think this is just the beginning. I feel like my career is starting again. As long as I can stay healthy, I hope I can stick this out for many more years.
Many more years!
Yup, I’m having fun. I just have to stay healthy, and that’s hard.
