Three riders showed up to race at the ’24 AMA Amateur National Motocross Championship at Loretta Lynn’s on motorcycles almost as old as they were, and they loved every minute.

WORDS: DAVEY COOMBS
PHOTOS: ALIGN MEDIA

In the massive motorhome parking lot at Loretta Lynn’s Ranch this summer, it wasn’t hard to find Rodney “Aircraft” Carrier’s small camping spot. He was set up right at the bottom of Stage Coach Hill, not far from the main entrance. His setup was quite small, but very unique: A pop-up tent, a 500-watt Kawasaki generator, and a split-rail trailer pulled by a ’65 black Volkswagen Beetle. If all that wasn’t different enough, the motorcycle he was racing in the 2024 Monster Energy AMA Amateur National Motocross Championship certainly was. Carrier was riding a German-made 1981 Maico 490 Mega 2, the rarest bird of all in a race made up almost entirely of brand-new offerings from Japan and Austria. As a matter of fact, his Maico was a year older than the race itself!