As part of the 50-year celebration of Monster Energy Supercross, we invited legendary ’70s and ’80s moto journalist Jim “Greek” Gianatsis to come back out to the races and see how much “stadium motocross” has changed over the years.

WORDS & PHOTOS:
JIM GIANATSIS

In moto journalism/photography, before there was a Fran Kuhn, or a Jody Weisel, or Kit Palmer, Paul Buckley, Eric Johnson, Donn Maeda, Chris Jonnum, Weege, Matthes, Antonovich… Before any of them, came Jim “Greek” Gianatsis. Beginning in the nascent days of the sport in the late 1960s, and through the early ’80s, Gianatsis was a one-man production studio at the stadiums and tracks, working for multiple magazine and newspapers, writing different stories from the same race for numerous outlets, spreading his epic photos—some of the most iconic in moto history—across several publications. He also used his creativity and sharp sense of marketing to coin nicknames for riders that have lasted for decades now: Bob “Hurricane” Hannah, “Jammin’” Jimmy Weinert, Marty “Typhoon” Tripes, Mark “Bomber” Barnett… Having not covered a supercross since the early 1990s, Racer X invited Jim Gianatsis back to the races as part of the 50-year celebration of Monster Energy Supercross, asking him to tell us and show us just how much this little “stadium motocross” series has changed in half a century.