One Race, One Page

With the 50-year anniversary celebration of Monster Energy AMA Supercross happening here in 2024, we’ve been combing the archives for various historic photos for our friends at Feld and NBC/Peacock to help illustrate the series’ history. One ask from TV producer Chris Bond seemed simple enough: Could we find photos of all of the past SX champions wearing their #1 plates? Racer X managing editor Andrew Fredrickson, who helps manage our photo archive, quickly pointed out that no photos exist of five-time series champion Ricky Carmichael wearing #1 because he stuck with his trademark #4 for almost his entire big-bike career. Also, Chad Reed stuck with #22 after he won his first premier SX title in 2004, and James Stewart hung on to #7 after he won the ’07 title. After that the AMA changed the rule and mandated that defending champions had to wear #1 the following year, and it’s been that way ever since.