#2: Ricky Carmichael

Look, there are different reasons for someone to be ranked high on this list besides winning. Like, how long did you ride for Honda while collecting wins? RC's reign at Honda was short—just three years—but my man did some serious winning throughout. Between 2002 and ’04, Carmichael won every title he competed for: all three motocross titles and two supercross crowns (Ricky missed the ’04 SX with a torn ACL). His time in red (during which he mostly wore orange Fox gear) saw him win an astonishing 33 outdoor nationals out of the 35 he entered, which included two perfect 12-for-12 seasons. All told, he won five championships, 51 total SX/MX races, and had a 76% overall win percentage on his Hondas, starting with the CR250R and then seamlessly transitioning to the CRF450R in ’04.

BOTTOM LINE: Winning every single championship you contest would get you #1 on most lists, but then again, it's the King of Supercross that he's up against here. Jeremy and Ricky are tied with five titles, but MC gets the edge. We don't believe in ties, so the Greatest of All Time is second best here. If it were outdoors only, there's no tie and no question—Ricky all the way.

#3: Jett Lawrence

With 59 wins, Jett has the most wins of any Honda rider, although he gets the benefit of some of his 250 career being under the factory awning as well. Sorry, Jeremy! If you want to be a stickler and just include his premier class wins, the younger Lawrence is at 33 (with an 89% win percentage in 450 MX), and it doesn't appear that anything outside of injury can stop this Aussie. He's already got seven titles—and that's not counting his three straight SMX World Championships—for Honda, with many more to go.

BOTTOM LINE: Despite still being just 22 years old, Jett jumps to third-best Honda rider ever on this list because you can't ignore all those wins, even though a lot were in 250s. He passes the eyeball test too—he looks just so damn good on a motorcycle. If he can get and stay healthy, Jettson has a very real chance to be #1 on this list before his career is over.

#4: Rick Johnson

RJ was a great rider on factory Yamaha, but he went to the next level when he joined Team Honda and got on the production-based 1986 Honda bikes. Back then, there were two outdoor series the guys could run in the same year: 250 and 500, as well as SX. Between ’86 and the spring of ’89, Johnson won six titles and bagged 49 wins for Honda. He was a water-pipe DNF and some broken fingers away from two more titles, not to mention his wrist injury after he won five of the first six SX races in ’89. Then he broke his wrist. Rick was never the same rider after that. Johnson was the first real "showman" in the sport and, like McGrath (who idolized RJ), Ricky is most associated with Honda in the eyes of many.

BOTTOM LINE: Rick Johnson was as cool as any rider has ever been. He had at least another two years of being the top guy had he not gotten hurt. He may have won his first title on another brand, but Honda and RJ go together like peanut butter and jelly.

#5: Jeff Stanton

Team Honda managers Dave Arnold and Roger De Coster saw something in the kid from Michigan—who had yet to win a professional race—when they signed him before the ’89 season. And when Rick Johnson went down early that season, Stanton rose to the occasion. Over the next four years, he won three SX championships and three Pro Motocross titles. Throw in four 250 U.S. Grand Prix wins and saving Team USA at the Motocross of Nations three straight years (’89 to ’91), and you have quite the career. The only real downside is that he only bagged 37 wins in his six years with Honda, giving him a 22% win average. But we don't call Jeff Stanton "22 Percent," we call him "6-Time."

BOTTOM LINE: The fact that a six-time champion barely makes it into the top five on this depth chart shows you how deep Honda's star power runs. And as a longtime advisor to the team after hanging up his boots, Stanton had a hand in getting the top two to where they are on this list.

#6: Marty Smith

The first American superstar in the sport, Marty Smith helped sell a lot of Honda Elsinores after he burst onto the scene in 1974 as a teenager and won the first 125 National Championship ever held. With his long hair and surfer look, he was the epitome of California cool, as well as the early face of Team Honda. He added a third outdoor title in the 500 Class in ’77, but a broken hip the following year ended his best days. During his six years with the team, he won nationals in all three classes that existed at the time, as well as SX main events, Trans-AMA races, and three 125 Grand Prix races. Smitty did all this while competing against everyone from Roger De Coster to Bob "Hurricane" Hannah.

BOTTOM LINE: Although he doesn't have that many wins and titles compared to some others on the list, he's Marty Smith, he's Honda through and through, and he was just so damn cool. RIP Marty.

#7: David Bailey

It was a bit of a gamble for Honda to pick David Bailey up for the ’82 season, but they were rewarded with four titles in four years. The "Little Professor" won both premier SX and MX titles in a 1983 dream season. DB also went 5-for-5 with Team USA at the MXoN, plus he won the ’82 U.S. 250cc Grand Prix at Unadilla. Oh, what could have been for David had a crash not ended his career before the start of the ’87 season.

BOTTOM LINE: We docked Bailey a bit for having such light 500 competition, with just one other legend—Broc Glover—to beat, and he was riding an air-cooled YZ490. But we'll give David some credit for titles he probably would have won. Bailey's style and speed together put him at #7.

#8: Jean-Michel Bayle

The enigmatic Frenchman won two FIM World Championships for Honda before jumping to the U.S. full-time for 1990. He was a broken arm away from winning the 125 Pro Motocross title that first year and a DNF away from winning the SX title that same year. Then came his 1991 season, when JMB swept all three titles (SX, 250 MX, and 500 MX) to become the only rider ever to do so. And then, just like that, he turned his attention to road racing, which he took up full-time after sleepwalking through the ’92 SMX season. All told, he had 23 wins and three titles here—and that's not counting his GP days.

BOTTOM LINE: We're sure that JMB won't mind being one below his idol Bailey on this list. He's the greatest "what if" the sport has ever known; had he not lost interest in SMX, what would the mid-nineties have looked like?

#9: Johnny O'Mara

The O'Show has a few things that the two men behind him on this list don't have. First, there's an AMA Supercross title, which he earned in 1984. He also played a significant role with two others above him, as he coached and trained Ricky Carmichael throughout his career, and more recently Jett Lawrence (and his brother Hunter). All told, Johnny achieved 16 wins for Honda and a 125 Pro Motocross title (’83). And his rides for Team USA from 1981 through ’86 are the stuff of legend.

BOTTOM LINE: When you win indoors and out, on all sizes of machines, and all over the world, you earn a spot on this list.

#10: Doug Henry

The working man's hero from Connecticut earns a spot here because of his three 125 titles (two MX, one SX) for Honda between ’93 and ’94. He moved up to the premier class full-time in ’95, secured a supercross win over Jeremy McGrath, but then had that all-time spectacular crash at Budds Creek. When he finally returned more than a year later, he was on another brand.

BOTTOM LINE: Doug's two premier class wins and one more title push him above Steve Lamson on this list, as well as other 125 legends like Ron Lechien, Micky Dymond, and George Holland. His very best days came on a blue bike (and sometimes white), or Henry might be even higher here.

#11: Steve Lamson

Lammy rode for Big Red for six years and captured two 125 MX titles (’95, ’96). Lammy was on a bit of a different career path, as he was placed in the 250 class for two years before dropping down for outdoors. Steve never won a premier-class race, but 13 podiums indicate he was more than good enough if things had fallen right. Still, Lamson's 21 wins in 125 Pro Motocross leave him just outside our top 10 here.

BOTTOM LINE: We were going to flip a coin between Steve and his teammate Doug for the 10th spot, but then decided to just add #11 instead. 

The "We Got a National Title or Two" Guys!

#12: Donnie Hansen

Tragically, Hansen never got to defend his two titles in 1982 because of a crash while getting ready for the MXoN. He was really coming into his own in his third year on the team and the first with the ultra-trick lowboy HRC works bikes. He's above some others with better stats because of the "What if?" factor and two titles in classes that were stacked (250SX and MX).

Total Races for Honda: 53
Wins/Podiums: 7/21

#13: Hunter Lawrence

Close call between Lechien and Lawrence for this spot. It won't be long before Hunter climbs higher, but for now, he's got two 250 titles for Honda. Unlike some other guys on this list, he's benefited from Honda getting back into the 250 class. Amazing he's only won one 450 MX race but has 17 podiums in 22 races!

Total Races for Honda: 122
Wins/Podiums: 72/26

#14: Ron Lechien

The Dogger moved from production Yamahas to factory Honda for only two years, but he almost won the '84 250 MX title and dominated the '85 125 MX season for his only national title. All in all, Lechien won an MXoN, 250SX, 125 MX, and 250 MX, as well as the '84 USGP race—all for Honda. Ronnie was arrested for bringing weed into Japan and fired from Honda at the end of the '85 season, but it's not a "What if?" story for Honda because he was already on his way to Kawasaki.

Total Races for Honda: 47
Wins/Podiums: 15/27

#15: Mike Kiedrowski

One of the more unlikely 125 MX titles was won by #762, an ex-Kawasaki Pro-Am kid, who took it all the way for Honda in 1989. The Kied only rode two years for Honda. He was a bit miffed at the way he thought they favored Jean-Michel Bayle, so he split for Kawasaki at the end of '90. However, he almost won a 125SX title, won a 125 MX title, won the '89 MXoN, and collected an impressive 5 250SX podiums in his first year in the big class. I've always thought Mike was one of the most underrated riders ever.

Total Races for Honda: 54
Wins/Podiums: 9/30

#16: Micky Dymond

Micky was so cool! He won two national titles in 125 MX, but we'll dock him a bit because A: Honda 125s were so good that maybe Weege could've won races on them back then. And B: only one podium in 250SX in two years as The Mick was learning the ropes coming off Huskys. But Dymond was cool, man.

Total Races for Honda: 35
Wins/Podiums: 8/16

#17: George Holland

The longtime Suzuki rider got a factory Honda in the 125 MX class and did what Dymond did before him and Kiedrowski did after him—and that's win a national title! Holland was leading the points in '89, running the #1 plate, also before exiting with injury, which people don't realize. He's got a title for Honda but, like Dymond, only got one podium in his two years in SX on the big bike.

Total Races for Honda: 41
Wins/Podiums: 7/16

#18: Gary Jones

Gary was a member of Honda's first factory team alongside his brother DeWayne, but, I guess, his dad was a handful, so he was one and done with Big Red. But what a year it was, earning a 250 MX title!

Total Races for Honda: 14
Wins/Podiums: 5/8

#19: Chuck Sun

Chuck won the 1980 500 MX national title for Honda and the next year, the MXoN. He raced for Honda for two years and, besides that, had one of the cooler nicknames with "Rising Sun" as well as a tabletop named after him when his throttle stuck going up it. Pretty cool, right?

Total Races for Honda: 39
Wins/Podiums: 8/17

#20: Davi Millsaps

You can debate a 250SX regional title versus a 500 MX title, which Sun won, but either way, a title is a title, and Millsaps earned that along with three 450SX wins. The potential to win even more was there for Davi as well, but injuries hurt him.

Total Races for Honda: 107
Wins/Podiums: 7/36

The "Probably Should've Won a Title" Guys

#21: Ken Roczen

The German star got his 450SX title, as we all know, but most sane people think it would've come way sooner had he not crashed badly in his first year with Honda in 2017 and ruined his arm. Then there was his other arm injury as well. But man, Roczen looked great on red at times! Roczen, a two-time 450 MX champ and a GP champ, has more wins indoors than out on Honda. Things that make you think...

Total Races for Honda: 117
Wins/Podiums: 17/53

#22: Bob Hannah

Oh, what could have been! Guys like David Bailey and Johnny O' will tell you that if Bob had been able to stay healthy in '83 and '84, he would have won titles for Honda after leaving Yamaha. He was hella fast but couldn't stay on the bike long enough to get championships. Still, the Hurricane got podiums in over half the races he was on red and won 15 races indoors and out.

Total Races for Honda: 58
Wins/Podiums: 15/24

#23: Chase Sexton

What an idiot I was for saying I didn't think Chase was ready for the 450 when Honda moved him up for the nationals in 2020! Although he's on his third OEM now, many of us think he's never had more raw speed than those years he rode for Honda, and that 2023 450 MX season-long battle with Eli Tomac was something special for sure.

Total Races for Honda: 83
Wins/Podiums: 13/45

#24: Ezra Lusk

Yogi was sort of a "What if" guy because he did get hurt at his peak for Honda, and he also had to race Jeremy McGrath. But he absolutely, on his day, beat MC in SX, and not many can say that. He also looked cool in Fox and on Honda.

Total Races for Honda: 85
Wins/Podiums: 11/33

The "We were REALLY fast at times" guys.

#25: Kevin Windham

KW probably should've stayed at Honda, but he had to leave after 7 wins in the premier classes and almost a 50% podium rate (50 career races, 24 podiums) in the two years he rode Hondas. He won a USGP also. Also, did anyone look better in No Fear gear than Kevin?

Total Races for Honda: 50
Wins/Podiums: 7/24

#26: Andrew Short

The second-most starts for Factory Honda (143) behind Jeff Stanton (163), Shorty never won a title for Honda, but he won in three different classes and was a consistent podium threat. He was also a smiley-faced assassin, according to James Stewart, so there is that.

Total Races for Honda: 143
Wins/Podiums: 7/48

#27: Trey Canard

He's lumped in with Shorty because he was also there for a long time; he overlapped with Andrew for a bit as well, but where Trey differs is that he wasn't as healthy as Short, but his top-end speed was greater. Canard never raced the 250 for Honda like Shorty, but he did win 450 MX and SX races, something Short never did. So, IDK man, flip a coin.

Total Races for Honda: 103
Wins/Podiums: 6/31

#28: Sebastien Tortelli

The two-time GP champ came to the USA and, IMO, would've won the 1999 450 MX title if he didn't break his wrist late in the season. The year after, some guy named Carmichael came into the class, and it was impressive that Seb could run with him (and beat him) sometimes. 450SX was not his thing, with just two podiums there.

Total Races for Honda: 93
Wins/Podiums: 3/20

#29: Jo Shimoda

Jo's on the rise here, and interestingly, he's got the same amount of total races as Hymas but way more podiums, with Jo being better in SX than Chance.

Total Races for Honda: 45
Wins/Podiums: 5/20

#30: Chance Hymas

We'll put the two current 250 guys for Honda at the bottom here because we've yet to see how they could do in premier class racing. Hymas can win a title for sure; he just has to stay healthy.

Total Races for Honda: 45
Wins/Podiums: 7/3

The "1982 MXoN Domination" Category

#31: Danny Chandler

"Magoo" (also a great nickname; the initials-and-number thing we get today is so lame, by the way) podiumed in half his 500 MX races, won four races, went 1-1-1-1 at the '82 MXDN, and also crashed. A lot. He did win a 500USGP as well in his three years on the team.

Total Races for Honda: 29
Wins/Podiums: 4/11

The "Wins" guys

#32: Guy Cooper

"Airtime" got a bunch of wins in 125 MX and even some podiums in 250SX in his one-and-done year at Honda, and also amassed about 79 amazing highlights of crashes and/or jumps no one else did. Feels like he should have his own category.

#33: Pierre Karsmakers

The Dutchman won three times and made the podium in almost half the races for Honda near the end of his career. The Euro trailblazer moved to the USA after racing GPs in Europe.

#34: Marty Tripes

Marty had two different stints at Honda totaling three years, two SX wins, four 250 MX wins, and probably a ton more diets and people saying he needed to get into better shape.

#35: Steve Wise

We're not counting the Superbikers wins, but maybe we should, because those races were awesome. The Texan rode for Honda for three years, got two wins and a bunch of podiums.

#36: Jimmy Ellis

This was surprising to me. Jimmy raced 22 total races for Honda over two years and made the podium over half the time! Like, why did they let him go? Just two wins, but still...

#37: Nathan Ramsey

"Nate Dog" got that 450SX win in Pontiac, and what a night it was with carnage everywhere. Ramsey was the four-stroke development king, as three OEMs used him to help get the thumpers better. As we said, one 450SX win and one 250SX win in his 56 races with Honda.

#38: Tommy Croft

I don't know much about Croft other than "Tommy Croft" is a cool-ass name. He did race 61 races for Honda and collected 10 podiums, including two wins in 500 MX.

#39: Ivan Tedesco

He'll always have the amazing 1-1 day in 450 MX on red at the Thunder Valley National, his only win for Honda. Eight total podiums (all in MX) for "Hot Sauce."

#40: Cole Seely

Seely was such a solid "second" guy for Honda on numerous occasions, and he got a 450SX win along with 14 podiums in over 100 races for Honda. You didn't think he rode for Honda that long, did you?

#41: Billy Grossi

Great nickname of "The Sugar Bear"! Grossi got a win and three podiums in his four career starts for Honda. Weird, right?

#42: Scott Sheak

Sheak was signed to a factory ride in '97, won a mudder, and then was dropped to FMF Honda in '98 where he was teammates with...me. That's probably why he was mad a lot that year.

#43: Warren Reid

Warren won something called the Pine Top 125 MX National for Honda in his two years there before moving to factory Kawasaki.

The "Just Podium" guys- (hey man, we were still good!)

#44: Jim Gibson

"Jumping" Jim left Honda after his '82 MXoN win to go race 125 GPs, and that's pretty cool of him. Before that, he collected 18 podiums in 63 races across 500 MX, 125 MX, and 250SX. He was better than you remember.

#45: Ernesto Fonseca

Ernie was a great guy whose career came to an end early at Honda from a practice crash. Great style, though, and it's crazy he never got a win, right? Blame Carmichael and Chad Reed, I guess. 18 podiums across three classes for Honda, though!

#46: Jim Pomeroy

Two years at Honda and a bunch of podiums in 250SX and MX at the end of his career after racing GPs. He also won a USGP moto, which was big time back then.

#47: Justin Brayton

Brayton's factory Honda rides were eight years apart! Six total podiums (5 in 450SX) for JB, and I gave him the nod over Pichon because I still see him all the time.

#48: Mickael Pichon

Pichon got fired early in the nationals because his dad punched an official. But, there were those 6 podiums in 250 MX and SX in his one season!

#49: Danny Laporte

Maybe I should move "the Door" up higher 'cause he did win the MXoN in '81 on the OG Team USA? I'll let DC decide.

#50: DeWayne Jones

Member of the inaugural factory team in 1973, DeWayne scored a podium in 250 MX, one of just twelve races (no SX series back then) he did for Honda.

#51: Rich Eierstedt

Four podiums across three classes for Rich in his two years on Honda.

#52: Travis Preston

TP got a 450 MX podium in the final race of 2006 at Glen Helen, and two 4ths in 450SX, but that's it for his two years on the factory bike.

#53: Chuck Bower

I got absolutely nothing, but good job, Chuck, on your two podiums in 125 MX in three career starts! These late-'70s guys had some moments for sure.

#54: Tommy Hahn

Two 250SX podiums for Tommy in his one-and-done 2007 season.

#55: Bruce McDougal

Bruce got a podium in '74 in 125 MX. The more you know...

The "Ben Townley" category

#56: Ben Townley

Two seasons with Honda coming off a great run at PC Kawasaki in the 250SX/MX classes. BT was certainly a bust over at Honda with injury after injury. Two years, 58 possible races, and he made it to just two.

The "Thanks for coming out" guys- (one-year-and-done!) NOT RANKED

Gary Chaplin - Fun fact: I stayed at Gary's house in 1990 in Canyon Lake for a bit. Nice guy.

Colt Nichols - His best race for Honda was his first one. Weird.

Gaylon Mosier - Just five races started for Gaylon in the '74 season.

Gary Semics - Shoutout to Gary, I took some of his schools—great guy!

Josh Grant - Just four races in his injury-filled one season with HRC.

Ron Sun - Brother Chuck had the national title AND the cool nickname.

Richard Coon - 5th overall in his one season for Honda in 125 MX.