Hard to believe it’s been 40 years since the epic 1986 Anaheim Supercross, the best supercross race of all time

WORDS: DAVEY COOMBS
ILLUSTRATION: TIM GLASSPOOL
PHOTOS:
ALIGN MEDIA & DAVID Dewhurst

Whenever the question of the “best supercross race ever” arises, most will answer “Anaheim 1986.” That was the race where Honda teammates David Bailey and Rick Johnson battled for supercross supremacy in front of around 70,000 fans. It was also the night we witnessed the true potential of supercross as a distinct form of motorsport and entertainment, rather than just motocross in a stadium. The race, which did not air live or on network television, is undoubtedly the most-watched and rewatched race in supercross history, having enjoyed a long afterlife on VHS, DVD, and more recently, YouTube. Looking back, it’s hard to believe that Anaheim ’86 was four decades ago. Yet it still resonates, marking the night when SX finally hit critical mass, just as we saw during the 2026 Anaheim for Monster Energy Supercross. The Big A in the parking lot loomed large then and now, but what existed beneath it were vastly different worlds, not to mention races.

Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, 35 miles up the road, was the cradle of supercross in 1972. However, that distance is much greater than it seems, and as the years passed, that part of LA became less angelic. Anaheim Stadium, as it was called when it hosted its first race in 1975, served as the de facto capital of the sport when the Coliseum was unavailable for a couple of years for retrofitting for the 1984 Summer Olympics. During that absence from the race schedule, Anaheim rose above it on the totem pole and has remained there ever since—except for the two years (1997-’98) when the stadium was renovated.