Throwback vibes: beginning of the MotoGP era

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
You're listening to the Be Forever Cool podcast.
My name is Rex 45 and this is season 5.
And I think episode 43 got two more episodes before the end of
season 5, which will start next year.
But we have a lot of cool thingsthat we're going to finish out
the year with. I'm excited to hear about some

(00:20):
of the talks that's happening inin and around the paddocks,
whether in the US world Super bike, Moto GP with with the
fellas. So with no further ado, let me
bring those guys in on a time, introduce them and and see
what's what. What's good TJ man, welcome to
the show. How's things?
Man, it's if everything is good,it's just cold up here, man.

(00:43):
I'm still throwing out from home, from work.
It's like. A good. 20 something feels like
11° up here but my patriots are still with them on a bi week.
I was up. We always bring it up, but we're
we're, we're doing good. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Now I was up there this weekend,man, and, and definitely chilly.

(01:05):
I got back down here last night.The, you know, it's the scene
from Snatch at the sort of ends when, you know, the guy got sick
of going to the UK and after theshootout, he just got on his
passport and came back to the US.
It's kind of how I felt when I landed in Florida.
It's nice to walk off and it's nice and warm.
Yeah, the Patriots had a bye week too, man.

(01:26):
And I, I saw that, so I didn't even text you nothing and to, to
complain. But, you know, we'll see what
happens in the next next week, man.
It's looking pretty good, but let's keep it moving.
What's going on? Louis, man, welcome to the show.
How you doing tonight? What's going on?
I've got something to declare. Don't ever go to the UK.
Too late, man. And great movie, by the way.

(01:52):
Nothing here, man, just grindingout.
You know, everybody thinks that because motorcycle racing isn't
happening, we're not busy, but we're as busy as can be, man.
This is this is a hectic part ofthe season where a lot of moves
are happening, a lot of things are changing, last minute
surprises. And so, yeah, man, we're, we

(02:13):
have to be on our toes this timeof year right up until the first
race of the year. Once the first race of the year
is done and dusted, then we can kind of calm down.
But between now and then, it's 100% gas and trying to get
everything in place to get readyfor the season.
Yeah, I mean, you know, I, I don't know why I like, you know,
not that I go to the theater shows and stuff like that.

(02:34):
I mean, I have gone to stuff, but not frequent enough.
But it kind of, it makes me think of like, you know, when
you're rehearsing all the time or when you're in a band or
whatever, you spend a lot of time just practicing just to,
you know, make everything get right.
So when the show comes on, you're tight.
So I got to assume it's kind of the same thing and you really
don't know until that first opening night.
Yeah, yeah, it's, it's what it is.

(02:55):
The duck on the pond, man. Up top it looks nice and calm,
but below the water it's just hectic.
No doubt, no doubt. You know, Speaking of hectic,
let me bring Reese in here and see what's happening with him
because I'm pretty sure he got something hectic to tell me and
I don't know why my these thingsare not working properly

(03:17):
tonight. This is unbelievable.
What's going on man? Welcome to the show man.
How you doing tonight? It seems like I might need some
rest. Yeah, man, you might need some
rest tonight. Boy, you seem like you are tired
today. You know what?
What's good, man? I see you got that.
Indiana. It was actually Indiana, not
Indiana. I'm thinking about that some

(03:37):
reason, but I I know it's the motorcycle T-shirt.
What's good, man? How are things with you?
Man can't complain, you know, just out here working and trying
to stay warm at the same time. Man literally up there in
Montana -7 so. Oh man, that's.
That's cold. That's real cold.
Is it is it pretty accurate whatwhat Lewis is saying about you

(03:59):
know duck in the water you guys are running around right now,
even though it looks like y'all are chilling I.
Mean pretty much. I mean, it's, it's this is the
hectic time, man. I mean, our test test dates just
came out. So we got a bunch of them for
the new season and we just finished winter testing and it's
time to take a little bit of a break for, you know, the

(04:20):
holidays. But right after that, it's it's
all gas and gold, man. Right, right, right.
That's it. Oh man.
All right, let's let's, let's jump into it.
You know, let's talk, you know you, we'll, let's talk about the
what testing looks like for Motor America.
Right, right. Is this year?
How many testing rounds do you guys get before the season
start? I mean, honestly, I think I saw

(04:44):
about 6-7, something like that. I mean, that's literally just
with the team. I mean, that's not with Moto
America. So we got a bunch of them, man.
That's not even extra ones he's going to include so.
Oh, got you. So does Moto America restrict
how much personal or private testing you guys can do when

(05:06):
they come out with testing? No, we, we get as much test as
we want because you know, we gettrack day.
We can go out there for track days and do testing.
We can rent the track out ourselves.
I mean, we have a, like I said, I think I saw, you know, 6 at
down in Arizona at the Podium Pub and I think we got one at
Coda. OK, OK.

(05:26):
That's what's up, man. Well, we're going to hear all
about it as as those things. Come on, let's start with Lewis,
man, because I, I, I know this guy.
He, he got his ear to the groundwith the with the rumors and
stuff like that. So get us up to date on what's
going on. I guess let's start in the Motor
America before we move to Moto GP, but obviously disclose what

(05:47):
you can, you know? I won't give away any secrets.
I will say that most of the mostof the seats have asses in them,
so anybody that who's still looking for a ride better show
up with a big paycheck to buy a ride because at this point most
of the seats do have people in them.
From what I've heard, the YamahaAttack team, both rider spots

(06:10):
have been filled. Bobby's in one.
The other person has yet to be announced but should be getting
announced probably in the next couple of weeks or when the team
officially is out there. Anybody that's gone to some of
the testing might have seen someof the people that are testing
the bike. So that'll narrow down what they
have. Obviously the War Horse team is

(06:32):
all set for super bike V2 from what I understand is still going
to be Cam P Orange Cat. There's two super bike riders
are set in stone. They're going to have a big
announcement actually in Europe.They're actually going to fly
the two riders out to Europe anddo a big BMW presentation.

(06:53):
So they'll have the riders out there.
They are also going to be riding, have two riders in
another class and those two suits have also been occupied.
They're going to make an announcement of that, I'm
guessing also in about the same time frame within the next month
or so because these guys need toget out there and start testing
for that class. Obviously Strack super Bike, we

(07:15):
know that it's going to be Matthew Schultz on an R1 Strack
Super sport. As far as I know right now, it's
only going to be Blake Davis on the R9 for that team.
So it'll be a 2 rider team, one in super bike, one in super
sport M4. The only rider that I don't
think is going back to M4 is SDKI believe they're going to

(07:39):
retain Richie Escalante and Taylor Scott.
And then Honda, I think a coupleof the spots for Honda are
secure. So like Hayden Gillum and maybe
one other rider are secure, but there's a couple of open spots.
So there's a, there's still a lot of movement throughout the

(07:59):
paddock, but the good the the better rides, let's put it that
way, are pretty much all locked up.
And then on the baggers side right now, I haven't heard too
many changes in the baggers. I know that there's a couple of
guys scrambling for some bagger seats and we'll see what
happens. Obviously the there was a big
change. So let me not Vanson Hines is

(08:24):
moving to Indian from Harley andnow the Vanson Hines team is
going to consist of the Han, theIndian riders plus the one
previous factory Indian rider, not both of them.
So only one of the factory Indian riders will move over
there. And I'm I'm I'm still waiting to

(08:48):
see the full line up for the Bagger racing series for Moto GP
that's still coming together. There's still a couple of
opportunities, still a couple ofopen seats.
I just don't know who's getting them.
It seems like a lot of Europeansare getting those seats, like
there's not too many US riders getting those seats for whatever
reason. That which is we could talk a

(09:09):
little bit more about that because that's I, I, I heard
some things about that as well. I wanted to talk about Reese
man, for, you know, you heard asmuch as you could decode from
from Lewis there about, you know, riders not having seats it
for a for a rider who doesn't have a seat at this time of the
year, the new year haven't started.

(09:31):
Is is it panic mode? I mean, are you, are you
starting to look at, you know, trying to, you know, see how
many cars you can sell in your driveway kind of thing to, to
to, you know, do not necessarilydo the worst, but make deals
that you prefer to not make. I mean, yes and no.
I mean, you could start panicking now.
I mean, a lot of the good seats are being taken.

(09:53):
I mean, there's still a couple of good seats.
You know, the M4 that's still out there.
I mean, there's I think there's another spot, but it's really
getting everybody started to getfilled up.
I mean, now, right now, you may even take something you might
not want to take, you know, justto have a ride and still be in
the paddock. So it's it's getting down to

(10:15):
that crunch mode because normally by the new year, by
January 1st, all teams are almost all wrapped up and it's
all the contracts already signed.
A lot of things are in play already because like Lewis said,
come after the new year, after the the first of the new year
coming a couple maybe like another week into it.
It's it's test time. It's just time to get out there
on the bikes. So, and is it, I mean, you know,

(10:39):
I guess what is it like for the team as well?
Because if you, if you're a teamand you don't have a rider right
now, are you in a better situation than a rider?
Or because if, if, as you say, the good seats are taken up and
the good riders are taken up. So is it the teams that may not
be, as you know, good, for lack of a better word.

(10:59):
And and and, you know, is it, isit, is it, I mean, is it just
the average we're getting together and kind of work it out
kind of thing. I mean, it is.
I mean as a team we always want to have all our riders in play.
Coming into the new year, you want to be able to go into the
holidays kind of kind of more onan easy mode and you know, kind
of like, all right, we know who our riders are.
We know what we're gearing up against, you know, where we're

(11:21):
going to be and not sit there and worry about, all right,
who's going to be in this seat or who, who do we who's still
left out there that is, you know, one of the top quality
riders? Like who can we go get?
So, you know, you don't want to be sitting there scrambling at
the last minute And just like, OK, we're just we'll, we'll
we'll put a butt in the seat. You know, we're not, you know,

(11:43):
we're we're out here to win and you want to be on a, you know,
especially when you're the top tier team, you want to be on
the, you know, on the top podium.
Right, right, right. And TJ, you know, as a fan, you
know, and you know, you see one of your favorite writers who who
is looking for a seat. I don't know if he has 1 yet or,

(12:03):
or close to it. You know, how do you feel about,
you know, from the fan perspective, where you see names
from last season, the season that just finished that next
year you may not be rooting for them?
I know we've seen it in the pastwith other riders that, you
know, for whatever reason couldn't get those deals.
And you know, and and a lot of them come back to do some club
racing and stuff like that. But you know what your thoughts

(12:24):
on on scene riders not not getting a ride and and from your
perspective still look like theydeserve a ride.
Yeah, man, I, I just always justtry to enjoy the moment when you
see a great rider because you never know, like, what can
happen. Like now being into the sport,
you know, realize how expensive it is and what you got to put
forward. And yeah, it's a lot of money

(12:46):
and you have to have a lot of talent.
So it is, it is kind of bittersweet to not see it, you
know, the same rider, repeat, moving on.
But as long as they're out there, you can still see them.
It's pretty cool, I think. My God, Josh Herron did pull it
out. So I think he's with Rahul
Ducati, but he's going to be in Super Sport now.

(13:07):
So I don't know if that's like adowngrade to him.
But you know, he's I guess he's just back out there on 2.
So it is good to still see him out there.
Well, good to still see him perform for 2026, you know, But
yeah, I would say is just to seeriders move on.
And I think it sucks because it's not how expensive it is.

(13:31):
You just don't know the the, thereal in, in details that go into
play. But as a fan, you just think
they should just be out there because they're they're around.
There's just so much going to it.
Yeah. There's a reason why Jennifer
Lopez been engaged 5 seven timesand got 5 rigs.
Just because you look good don'tmean nobody want to keep your

(13:55):
ass. You know it and quote to that as
Lewis as it what Lewis just say.You know behind every good
looking woman there's some dude tired of her shit.
And and when you've been I thinkon every bike in the paddock and
almost every team and you have to come with money to get a
ride, yet you're a champion, a multi time champion across

(14:19):
several different class, I thinkit tells more about you than it
does about the team. Gotcha.
And with that said, we heard TJ it said he didn't know if it was
a downgrade or not. We see Matthew Schultz do this
the last couple of years ago from super bike down to super
sport and back up to super bike.Is this kind of, you know, like

(14:41):
the G League in a, in a sense that, you know, for whatever
reason or it's just kind of where contracts are, where
opportunities are and they just kind of just doing what's best
for them? Is this a downgrade for for
Heron or is it just good business sense to, you know,
keep the cost low? Want me to take that one, Lou A.

(15:03):
Downgrade. A downgrade would be
unemployment. That's the other option.
You can either ride this bike oryou can stay home and watch.
You know, if nobody else in the Super bike paddock wanted to
pick him up and there were seatsavailable, Orange cat had a
seat, Honda had a seat. M4 has a seat, attack has a

(15:24):
seat, but attack doesn't want him and four doesn't want him.
Honda doesn't want him, BMW doesn't want him.
Like that's you're a multi time champion.
Nobody wants you. To me, again, that says
something about you and you haveto go out and find money to pay
for a ride to get into super sport because realistically

(15:46):
that's that's what I see happened.
He went and found a sponsor thatwas willing to buck up the money
that it would take for Ray Hall to put out another V2.
He was able to do that and that's good for him because he's
one of the few riders that takeshis collateral online and is
able to monetize it. Most of the riders are horrible
at that. You know, I have arguments with
riders almost weekly about how much they suck at selling

(16:09):
themselves. You got no other product man.
You have no your your talent andyour ability to rise your only
product. And if you can't market your
only product, you suck as a company.
Right. So, so I mean, you know, and,
and and so I mean for him to andyou know, we, we see this in
we've even heard this. I believe in Moto GP as well.

(16:31):
Some people have had to bring money.
I thought, I think it was Millerthat that that said Miller.
I. Mean a lot of guys that had to
bring money to keep a ride. Right.
So it it is kind of the way these days and we've seen we've
heard other riders in super sport and stuff like that.
But here's the thing, if you if you bring money right, at least

(16:52):
you have a ride and you're in the paddock.
If you win, you have the opportunity to win money through
sponsorships and through other deals.
If you win a championship, you set yourself up to possibly move
to another team that the following year will pay you to
ride the bike. At least you still stay in the
conversation. Right, right and and and Reese
is is a championship and super sport for Jack Karen enough to

(17:14):
make all be forgiven. Not that I know what all is.
Maybe not. I mean, I, they, people will
never forget what you done. I mean the, the paddock is real
small and sometimes people will never forget what you done.
Sometimes you can leave a sour taste in people's mouth.
That's anybody that's not just one person.

(17:37):
That goes for anybody, you know.But then again, sometimes just
being honest, sometimes going down, which like Matt did and
Josh is doing, it can actually humble you and actually
sometimes save your career. Right, Marquez going to Grazini.
Yeah. And then the other thing you

(17:59):
have to look at here is, you know, you know, he has an
opportunity. Obviously if he goes to Daytona,
he gets, you know, in the V2, hegets an opportunity to win
another Daytona if he could win in the Daytona.
So at this point, at least he's doing some stuff, one to stay
relevant, to stay in the conversation.
I will say this, PJ, if you see him showing up with a yellow

(18:19):
suit and keeping it in his bag, be careful man, because the
second you get hurt, trust me man, the first guy is going to
be in line for that seat is going to be him.
Go check, check the torque on your on your bolts and make sure
that you got a good chain because I'm not putting it past
somebody, but. Is isn't isn't PJ on AV4 this

(18:42):
year? Next year.
Not AV 4, but you know. If he's not as.
Heroin. And you know, they're both an
Alpine stars. I'm sure heroin's going to be
like, yo, get me an extra yellowsuit just in case God forbid
something happens to PJ, I can slide right in there.
Oh, I see what you're saying. Yes, he can.

(19:02):
He can race up. You never know.
And you know how you know? Oh, PJ got hurt?
What? His chain fell off.
Oh. Man, you know.
It's so magically how his chain fell off I don't know.
What? He just fell off the bike?
Dude, I could fill in. I could fill in for that.

(19:23):
He's. Still in he's going to, he's
going to market himself. He's she tells him.
He's he's available. I that's, that's I've always
said that man, as much as I might not like him as a person,
from the interactions that I've had with him, I still appreciate
his ability to sell himself and pitch himself and mold himself,

(19:44):
at least in the eyes of the people that follow him as like
the hard grinding American racerthat you know, I can, I can see
eye to eye with. I'll give him that.
Hey, man, that that's listen andand we see what Michael Jordan
and 2311 is doing with NASCAR and trying to, you know, fight,

(20:07):
fight and get and get there and get their piece of the pie.
You know something similar may trickle into motor America and
in the sense the get right is tohave don't have to do things
like this. To to to stay in a sport and and
make a living. I'm not just the writers, the
teams as well 'cause it costs money.

(20:29):
A whole lot. If you only knew what that bill
is a weekend. Yeah, I'm fine.
I I, I'm still surprised when fans don't understand the
economics of racing. I understand their fans, but the
economics of racing, you know, I've always said it, that that I
deserve this or this rider deserves that.

(20:50):
No rider deserves anything, man.Like you have to negotiate it.
You have to work for it. You have to put yourself in the
right position. You have to have a good amount
of luck as well as a good amountof skill.
And if you have some deep pockets, that helps.
Also, you know, there's guys racing today that the only
reason they're still racing is because they have deep pockets
or they know people that have deep pockets and able to keep
their eyes on them because everyyear they're able to come back.

(21:14):
I mean, you know, I'm not going to throw anybody out there, but
you know, there's this dude's buying super bike rides, this
dude's buying super sport rides just to stay in the game.
Right, Yeah, man, it's expensive, man.
It's an expensive game. And you think you think you guys
tire bills are expensive a year,but you when people pay a year,
we pay a weekend. Formula One pays 30,000 a race.

(21:41):
Exactly it's it's expensive man,like God damn.
It is expensive and, and that's the unfortunate side of it in
the sense that I think, you know, others, other areas like
the NBA, baseball, football, they've figured it out.

(22:03):
Even, you know, Formula One, obviously at the highest level
is figured it out to where theseriders can't, can make a good
chunk of money and stuff like that.
And I, I think, you know, Motor America will get there or as, as
the sport starts to get more rejuvenated with, with young
people and stuff like that. So let's talk about some other
offseason things that we could be doing.

(22:26):
Even though, but like, like Lewis mentioned early on, it may
seems like there's not a lot to do, but there is, you know, I,
I, I last year, earlier this year, I did the Saperano Endora
race and, and so I've, I'm doingit again next year.
And so training has started for me to too.

(22:48):
And we're not going to be a feeling rider like I was earlier
this year. I'm I'm on a team.
Yeah, let's go. So I'm going to be running the
lightweight class on Ducati Monster.
So I'm excited about that. 2-3 hour races and 1/5 hour races or
five hour race. So it's going to be interesting.
So when you guys going to sign up for a team for next year,

(23:12):
guys trying to get you out on a race track besides besides am I?
Am I being paid the race? Or I might be.
That's what I'm. Gonna say I'm gonna be paid.
You gonna put some money in my pocket and.
Lewis, this is where one of your, your, your phrases will
come, right? Perfect for these two guys

(23:33):
saying you might be paid before anything happened.
If you can't afford to to to fixit, you can't afford to buy it.
I can afford to fix it. Can you afford to fix me?
If. I, I think, I think everybody

(23:55):
should be looking forward to some track days next year.
You know, try to get out to sometracks.
There's a lot of rumors going around about Coda not being
available to riders in 2027. I've actually spoken with a
couple of the people that work at Coda.
They've said very vehemently that that's not true, that there
is going to be over 100 days available for people to rent in

(24:17):
2027. And this is for either car or
motorcycle days. There's going to be a big chunk
of days that are going to be leaning towards people that are
paying into memberships that areVI PS that are buying some of
the housing and the garages thatare around the track.
There's even rumors about building an additional track or

(24:38):
an offshoot of Coda to specifically cater to, you know,
high end personnel. But the main track itself is
going to have something like 100plus days in 2027 that'll be
available to rent. Now, I will say this having
spoken with them to try and understand what it costs to rent
a day at Coda. It is expensive and you're

(25:02):
taking a huge risk because if you don't sell a certain amount
of spots at a certain amount of dollars, you will take a
bloodbath. And This is why most of the
motorcycle track days that go there do 4 sessions each session
or each group gets maxed out of like 55 riders and then they can
sell that for 600 bucks a spot. But 600 bucks a spot for almost

(25:30):
200 riders is $132,000. So that not only covers your
cost of getting the track day ona peak time of the year, either
on a weekend or a weekday, but you still walk away with
probably like thirty, $40,000 inyour pocket every time you go.
So there's an incentive for the track day companies to go there.

(25:51):
But if they have to put more money up front or they have to
do all this other stuff, that's where these track day companies
are starting to like pull back alittle bit.
They want to take some risk, butthey don't want to take all the
risks. And I think it's disingenuous
for some of these companies now going out there and trying to
bash code and saying, oh, it's going to be for rich people only
and it's going to be not available to.

(26:11):
It's not it. They're asking you to take more
risk than you are taking now. And you maybe don't want to take
that risk, which is understandable.
But that doesn't mean turn around on the back end and make
it seem like the track is not trying to have any days for
motorcycles. That's not the case.

(26:32):
I think the solution for this isat some point I think Coda is
probably going to do well like New Jersey Motorsports and a
couple other tracks around a company country have done and
create their own in house motorcycle track day club that
they manage themselves. They rent themselves a day, they
maybe don't make a profit but they break even and that way

(26:52):
they can still keep motorcycles involved in their tracks outside
of NASCAR tracks. Only because NASCAR owns most of
the NASCAR tracks or has a big percentage ownership in NASCAR
tracks. That's why you don't see a lot
of motorcycle events at NASCAR specific tracks, but all these
other tracks are typically independently owned or owned by

(27:14):
a consortium of people and they want to make money.
They're there. You know, it's a business like
anything else. So I think enjoy whatever track
days you can find at whatever really good tracks you can find
because it's really getting hardto find track days at certain
tracks. Like VIR doesn't have a ton of
track days like they used two years ago.
Obviously pit race is going away.
They're going to build somethingelse on pit race.

(27:38):
So if you don't support the local track and you don't
support the local things, you'regoing to see prices go up,
availability go down, and that'snot really helpful for the
sport. Great.
No, I agree, spending money is always a good thing and getting
to the tracks and the tracks youlike is a great thing.

(27:59):
And I know you guys just gave mea little bit of a grief about
coming racing and and so forth. So, you know, for folks that are
not training for the race seasonnext year, that love to watch
motorcycle racing at any level, we thought it would be a good
idea to start talking about the races from yesteryear.

(28:22):
You know, we're going to go backto 2002, the first year for Moto
GP, coming from the 500CC era. Guys, you know, pretty crazy
time back then because they wereracing on 500CC and 1000.
A few reasons why they switched bikes one they wanted to keep up

(28:46):
with the modern bikes so a lot of street bikes were selling
thousands and stuff like that. So the 500CC wasn't a good
crossover. Also pollution who thought think
that bikes would be would would cause pollution?
I mean, we think of trucks and all these other.
Things you. Know these big tankers and and
all this stuff, but you know, 500CC bike, you know, I also

(29:10):
will you guys, you know, let's talk about when you started
watching the Moto GP racing and what are your thoughts on or
what your yeah, what are your thoughts on 500CC versus 1000
that transformation? What's that with TJ?
Then you said oh oh what? When did I first start watching

(29:31):
Moto GP or like? Just just to give, just to give
the audience a little bit of youknow, you know, and how long you
been watching versus you know, when the 500CC's came out and
the, the, the thousand CC's cameback.
So I started watching Moto GP probably 2018.
Yeah, I sound pretty young, but once I started watching it, I

(29:55):
fell in love with every second of it.
So I tried to watch every aspectof it, trying to learn
everything. And then I did watch back a few
years. So with that being said, I was
pretty much bred into 1000 CC. So going back watching the five
hundreds and and all that, it's cool.

(30:15):
And it's it's good to see like just the just the, you know, not
having technology on the bike and just the different riding
angles that these riders are doing.
And obviously the things were way different back then like the
track layouts and stuff like that and the safety.
But that was pretty cool going back to watch like Finches

(30:38):
racing. And this is just a lot of things
have unfolded and it's actually pretty good to see like how far
is expanded. It's definitely got a lot safer.
Even though they are all one thousands now, I still think
it's as safe as it's been. Just looking at just seeing one
of the riders crash and his suitwas pretty much done after one

(31:02):
crashing. No, it's just a lot of change.
Yeah, of course. I don't, I mean I, I mean I, I
don't think, I don't think I'd race.
I got a suit with I got suit with stuff without airbags in
them, but I don't think I'd race1 today.
So pretty sure there's a lot of people like no airbags, no, no
electronics I'm not getting. On that right, just like a

(31:25):
Ducati rider. Listen, listen here, Reese, I I
know you're giving me crap, but you know, you heard TJ call you
vintage man. How long you been?
Watching. I'm a little more vintage than
TJ, man. I think I've been watching this
about 2000 and seven 2006. So when I, I came in in the 800

(31:49):
era, so I didn't come in a 500, but I did, you know, take a look
when I first started watching and seen the 500 era, I mean,
back then that was a little sketchy, but I mean, even 800
was still sketchy then and then they went into the 1000 CCS.
I mean, I, I, once I started watching, man, I got hooked and

(32:11):
I, I never looked back, man. So I kind of like I said, I
started in the the O 7 era and that's I think when I started,
that's when I first started track days back then in O 7.
Wow, sketchy times. Sketchy times, man.
Lewis, man. How about yourself the the
original captain? You're going to age me again,

(32:32):
man, that's why that's. Why he's bald, man.
I want to say my first experience with the Grand Prix
championship was probably in thelate 70s, early 80s.

(32:54):
You know, I remember, I rememberwatching some races and knowing
that Kenny Roberts won a championship.
So I want to say that's like late 70s, early 80s, seventy,
980, something like that. I really didn't get into it on a
regular basis until about 83 or 84.
And that was had nothing to do with not being interested in the

(33:16):
sport. It had to do with cable.
My town didn't have cable TV like so we could only get normal
channels, which back then there were only like 3 channels.
There was, you know, Channel 2, Channel 4, Channel 7.
So it wasn't that I wasn't interested in.
It was just very hard to catch it.
And then as cable TV came to my town and more channels opened

(33:40):
up, I was able to follow it a little bit more.
And then in the late 80s into the early 90s, I was definitely
watching it constantly because Iloved it.
I, I, I love the thrill of it. So, yeah, a long time, man.
Like a long, long, long time. Can I, can I say something real
quick? You showed that quick, right?
Yeah. I I think I saw that live.

(34:05):
This is what I meant about safety.
Like they've been like, I don't know how many laps while he was
just still laying on the straightaway.
Like they didn't really, they didn't move him at all.
They didn't red flag it. They didn't do anything like
after that start and that accident happened like he was
laying on the straightaway sideline for a while.
That was what I mean, like things have changed.

(34:27):
So it's pretty pretty crazy. Oh, no, thanks.
How, how you know? I say more fear like, like we
had No Fear back then basically last year.
Yeah, what's sad is that he's been watching GP since I've been
born. I was born in 82.
He's been watching this city. God, yeah, I I wouldn't.

(34:50):
Say I'm a young pup. Making it through a season back
then just making it through a season and making every race was
in itself impressive. Because I mean, the the amount,
if you look back, if you were able to go through and see how
many like substitute riders and fill in riders they had back in
those years. I mean, there was guys that one

(35:10):
weekend would be on a Honda and the next weekend would be on a
Yamaha as a fill in rider. Because they would literally
jump from manufacturer to manufacture just because
manufacturers couldn't keep guyshealthy throughout the whole
season. So even though 500CC was
exciting racing, it was inherently very dangerous.
It it was and you know, and maybe I might catch a clip of

(35:32):
one of the guys that made it look beautiful was Gary McCoy.
Man, he was a rider that would slide that 500CC bike around the
track and back then, you know, seeing the rear spin up wasn't
something that was you normally did.
I mean like how we see it today,you know, You know, can you guys
list some of the, I guess I should outlist some of the

(35:54):
riders. Back then in 2002, we had Max
Biaggi. I think everybody knows Biaggi
for the most part. What was Caparossi?
Yeah, Caparossi. Who else we got, We got John
Hopkins. Hopkins was his first year as a
rookie in 2002, coming out one of one of one of the Americans,

(36:17):
and unfortunately through injuries and whatnot, didn't get
to have the kind of career I think he he would have liked to
have had in in Moto GP. He walks like a cowboy.
Lot of lot of Japanese American,lot of Japanese racing at that
time a. Lot of Japanese.
I'll let you run off the Japanese names.

(36:37):
I'll just do the I'll. Just do the last names.
I'll do the last names so I don't butcher their first name.
But you've got Abe, you've got Nakano, you've got Yoshikawa,
Ryu, Kagiyama, Ayoki, Yanagawa, Ito, Harada Kato.

(37:02):
I mean dude, it was just so manyJapanese riders were either a
full time wild card or feelings.You sound like you're speaking
gibberish man. Like I ain't know none of them
names for real. You know, you know Carlos
Checker, some of these guys you still here, they mentioned in
the paddock and stuff like that,which is British, which is

(37:23):
pretty crazy. And obviously Valentino Rossi,
who won the championship on the 500CC the year before and, and
also won this year, for those that don't know, was it was that
a good thing for Moto GP? And I mean, obviously in
hindsight, it's easy to sit hereand say what was good, what was
not. But just being able to see the

(37:43):
trajectory of of what was happening with within the street
culture of motorcycle racing andsaying, hey, we need to do this
thing. And I'm pretty sure like
anything else, the old heads were sitting here saying, what's
wrong with the 500 CCS? They're the best bikes in the
world. It was money. 500CC motors had
to be constantly rebuilt because2 stroke motors, that's just the

(38:06):
way they're built. Like you have to constantly
rebuild them. And so they were, you know, they
were trying to bring down the cost of the motors themselves
and you know, reduce pollution as well because obviously in a 2
stroke it's a different type of setup with oil and gas versus
conventional motor. So the switch to the four stroke
was money savings more than anything else, and it also

(38:29):
helped the manufacturers align more with what was being sold in
the street. Even though most of the motors
that were in the Moto GB class when it first opened, it never
made it to the street as a production motor like Honda's V5
never made it to the street as aproduction motor.
All these weird configurations, but the cool thing was that if

(38:53):
you look at the bikes that were being sold at that time and the
companies that are participatingat that time, Honda, Yamaha,
Suzuki, Kawasaki, those were theguys in in this sport
participating because those werethe four companies that were
selling a shit ton of bikes to the street.
Like, a massive amount. Nice.

(39:17):
But your thoughts, Troy and all you guys, because from watching
the races in, in in 2002, in thebeginning of the season, it
seems like, you know, some folksthought that the 500 CCS bikes
would have a chance. But like halfway through the
season that you you saw Rossi and his teammate.
I figured his teammate's name off the top of my head.

(39:39):
I think it's. Yukawa.
Yukawa Yeah, yeah, I mean, they were, they were, they were
ghosts on on on those bikes. I mean, it's similar to what
we're seeing with the Gen. 2IN Super Sport right now, you know?
What are your thoughts, TJ? Yeah, I mean, I mean like I've

(40:00):
only even seen those bikes a fewtimes.
So like the 500CC you see like people bringing them out, like,
you know, their vintage bikes, but.
Yeah, I mean, like the the switch up, I mean, yeah, it's
like what I was saying when I watched this season, it was just
like, you had to really lock in because there's no commentary.

(40:22):
And you know, he's just like, you know, just just got to lock
in and figure out what's going on and who's on what bike.
And, and and yeah, the competition was pretty cool.
Like obviously Rossi blew away with it.
But yeah, I think the switch up was definitely necessary just to
help grow to sport. You see that this this seemed

(40:46):
pretty new, like not nowhere thedirection to go Like like I
said, no commentary like outsideof the money to help grow to
sport, you know, like you want people to watch.
And like I say, the following year, I'll say it got a little
better because, you know, it wasa little commentary and and he
was able to follow more and pay pay attention and I should see
what's going on by people being there explaining what's going

(41:09):
on. So.
That looked like it hurt, I'm sure.
It's like there's like barely any elbow sliders.
I don't even think just knee sliders back then man.
What are your thoughts are Reeseon the 500 and and the GP?

(41:30):
Bikes, I mean, I agree with Lewis, like what he's saying,
man, it's like you got to realize it was a lot of money to
just maintain those bikes and you don't know, trying to sit,
you know, keep costs down or trying to help out the sport.
And it was just so much to maintain them and pollution the
way the combustion is with a 2 stroke motor, which is causing a

(41:51):
lot. It was hellified racing from you
know what I saw and everything else.
It was great racing, very close,very competitive, but just to
maintain them to where it where it was at, what it was needed.
It was just a lot, you know, andthen they actually started
trying to change up. They do different things to be
in the nature of the, you know, the help out in the street bike

(42:14):
world and like you know, and then say none of a lot of the
motors didn't even come to play,just like a lot of the motors
that we have now in GP probably won't even come to play, but
they'll take the concept of thatmotor and build you a street
bike. We, we, we, we like that.
And, and also I know you don't. I know only Ducati riders like

(42:35):
to hear about techs, but tech coming from the the GP bikes to
street bike has really made a lot of people safe right?
No, it has, absolutely. But there's also a lot of tech
that went to GP and never made it to your street bike.
You know, I've yet I've yet to see a a street bike with a

(42:56):
seamless transmission and never came to the street bike.
I've yet to see a bike a a street bike with AV5
configuration. You know, Honda, Honda had the
VFR 5 VFR, which was AV type motorcycle, but it wasn't built
for sport. You know, it's, it was more of a

(43:16):
touring bike that had very cleanpower delivery, but it wasn't
maxed out for torque and then horsepower and everything like
that. Well, I guess I wouldn't say
seamless, but it isn't the new V4 first gear is.
I mean neutral is beyond first gear now on the on the new V4 my
my did I mishear that? So instead of instead of 1

(43:39):
neutral, it's. Neutral one, yeah, but that's
just a change in the configuration of the gearbox.
It's not necessarily a seamless gearbox.
So like a seamless gearbox wouldbe as you change gears, you'd
lose no momentum from the motor to the transmission to the rear
wheel. You literally just go through
this. So it's almost like a double
clutch transmission on a high end sports car where as you go

(44:03):
through the gears, you're not losing any substantial torque to
the rear end. So you never seen that come to
street bikes because it turns out that it's very expensive to
make and it's it's not reliable long term.
So the maintenance cost for thatwould be very expensive.
So it's not worth it to bring itto the street bike for the guy
that's only racing from this redlight to the next red light and

(44:24):
back. Oh.
Man, I, I, I, I, I see what you're saying, but let's, let's
also talk about we mentioned theriders who were here and there
and, and, and there then, which were a lot of more non
Americans. There's some of the Americans.

(44:45):
We had Kenny Roberts junior, we had John Hopkins.
I don't remember if Carl Elrose is still there.
Colin Edwards was still there. Super bike.
Super bike and there's some to come, but let's talk about some
of the race tracks that we did no longer race at.
I mean, like, you know, they raced at Rio.
I don't know if that's a track on your list that you'd want to

(45:06):
go to today, Lewis and you. Know that track still exists.
A lot of tracks don't exist, they're just like sitting there
rotting away South. African Grand Prix.
I mean, Suzuka, obviously they don't go there because that's a
death trap. You know, the World Endurance

(45:26):
Championship goes there, but nobody else really, you know, GP
wouldn't go there. That track is an absolute death
trap. Yeah, South Africa.
Moto GP hasn't been to South Africa in a long time.
And it's sad because they shouldgo to South Africa, but I don't
think they have AFIM homologatedtrack there.

(45:47):
But I would love to see Moto GP go to South Africa.
Perez is still there, Lamont's is there, Majello's still there.
Catalunya's still there. Aston's still there.
Donetson's still there. Saxon Ring still there.
Bruno Esterol, Rio de Janeiro, So obviously this coming year
Moto GP is going back to Brazil to race, so that's going to be

(46:08):
good. Motegi's still there, Sepang
still there, Phillip Island still there, and Valencia's
still there. So really, it's only a couple of
tracks that have gone away, and the ones that have gone away are
either closed indefinitely or just not safe to race on dude.
Laguna, you forgot about your own home track.
Well, Laguna wasn't in the in the series at that time.
No, they didn't. Come to what, 8?

(46:29):
They didn't. Come to the US at that time.
Were you guys, I mean, again, I saw in hindsight how quickly
some of these guys got fast on the 500.
You look at Rossi and even his teammate from the previous year
to jump on on the 1000 and and you know, the seamless in a in a

(46:52):
sense. What are your thoughts on just
the adaptation of of of the bikeand just watching it over the
series? And even though there was no
sound and we could talk about the sound a little bit because
there's some races that do have audio is is that just licensing?
Is it me or when you do watch the race in your head the voice
is in English when it's saying the guy?

(47:18):
When I watch it I actually hear a commentator in my head with an
English accent. I can't help it dude.
I think it's pretty cool. Like, yeah, I think like I said,
the 500 CCS, I feel like going into the new 2027 that's going

(47:38):
down to like the 800CC AMCC is kind of like that same version
to me. But I think they definitely
improved and learned a lot on those bikes.
Yeah. They seem not explaining how
Lewis explained it. Yeah.
But definitely hard to maintain.So you don't want to crash and
mess them up or anything like that.
And yeah, the season wasn't as long.

(47:59):
But for Washington, just the conversation, See, it's kind of
still the same vibe where they have like a celebrity guy there,
like a boxer or a dancer or someone there.
And so like that tradition I still see carries on.
So that side of it is still pretty cool.
But yeah, that's, I don't reallyknow much about the 500 CCS and

(48:22):
how they maintain it. So I'm sure you can outgrow that
bike pretty fast. I want to say fast, but like,
you know, for the size of the track, you can definitely, you
know, Max out. And I'm sure that's why we got
up to 1000 CCS that we feel likeit's so dangerous or we need to
go down a step. A500CC two stroke is a very

(48:50):
powerful motorcycle. Even though it's only 500 CCS
it'll put down a lot of power. The problem with A500CC is just.
If you think about a 2 stroke dirt bike, it's power band is
very spontaneous, like it's very, you know, it's not linear.
It has this like ring like it just you know, it will go from
zero to 100 really fast. So you have to be super smooth.

(49:12):
And I think that's what allowed a lot of the riders that went
from the 500 CCS to the four strokes adapt very easily
because they went from being super cautious on the throttle
because they didn't want to go launch to the moon.
Now that they're on a four stroke that delivers power in a
little bit more of a linear way and a little bit more
predictable way, they can actually go faster because they
don't have to have that hesitation when they first crack

(49:35):
the throttle and get back on thethrottle after the braking.
They can actually start to roll smoothly because it's not going
to have that unpredictable spikein power that you have to kind
of manage through. So This is why you saw like
halfway through the season, I mean they when they really start
to getting adapted to how the throttle and how the motor
responds, they started, I mean dusting the five hundreds.

(49:56):
I mean they were beating the five hundreds by like laps.
Like this is back when GP ridersused to get lapped.
You don't see that now, but backthen GP riders would get.
Lapped. Lapped.
That power ban on that 2 stroke is definitely a scary moment.
So I know that for for sure, butdefinitely impressive for these

(50:19):
guys to have their, you know, the patients in the front to to
show their skill level to keep up.
But yes, it's it's that they I knew they had there was no time
to go to that, that ICC as you're saying.
No, before, you know, we, we seewhat Marquez is doing right now

(50:41):
in Moto GP and you know, Rossi wanted in 2002, won in 2001.
The next rider behind him was, you know, 140 something points
behind. Granted, Rossi only had 355
points. You know, there were some
talented riders in, in, in the sport back then.
Is it is there more talented riders today in, in Moto GP or

(51:03):
the bikes are just the bikes andteams are just closer together.
So it seems like we're we're on a more equal playing field
today. What are your thoughts, Reese?
Let me see how I put this, how we were talking before my uncle.

(51:23):
I think the riders back then were more of a dog.
It was more aliens back then than it is now.
The riders now they are very talented, but the riders back
then have more skills because ofas like Lewis said, you had to

(51:46):
learn with the power ban on the 500 and with transitions you
into the thousand CC era very easily.
You know, it just the way the power came out with the lineage
and the 4th of you know, the fourth stroke and versus 2.
So and then a lot of the riders nowadays, as you know, we're all

(52:07):
based off of electronics. You know, once we go down to
the, you know, the 8:50 era backdown again now and take away,
you're taking away some things from the rider now it's pretty
much putting the, you know, putting everything back in the
rider's hands. And now it's going to take a lot
more skill for you to actually be up there instead of just

(52:28):
twist A twist of the throttle. That makes sense.
So now, I mean, it's kind of hard that the guy nowadays, it's
like the machines is made the work a lot easier.
The machines made everything a lot easier versus what it was
back then. Back then you had to actually
work. Now you don't have to just kind
of twist the throttle and go andlet them let the electronics

(52:51):
kick in and do it. Right, right.
What are your thoughts, Lewis? I I look at it like any sport
that evolves. The athletes in the sport evolve
with the sport. So at the time of the five
hundreds and the early adaptation of the one thousands,
there was a lot of talent because there wasn't a lot of

(53:14):
shared skill, you know, like youhad to have your you had to come
with talent. But I think over the years we
have very skilled riders now, but very highly talented riders
are still a, a, a dime a dozen, if that makes sense.
The thing is now more guys know the technique to go fast and

(53:37):
learn the technique to go fast, but there's only that few riders
that come with the talent that not only go fast learning the
skill, but then can find that extra notch or that extra peg.
So like a Jorge Lorenzo, for instance, he came in a little
bit later on. So when the when the 1000 were
introduced, he was still in the 120 fives.

(53:58):
He was still a kid and he was seeing what they were doing in
the one thousands. And he was able to come into the
one thousands and quickly adapt to the motorcycles and become
very talented. Why?
Because he had the ability to see the people before him.
Before somebody saw somebody dunk in the NBA, it was all
layups because nobody could reach the the rim.
And as soon as one guy started dunking, everybody started

(54:19):
dunking because that was a new way to score a point.
And then some people just started taking Duncan for
granted. So then some guy started jumping
from the free throw line and that was a new talent that
nobody else saw. So all the guys are just coming
up under the rim and Duncan werelike, oh damn, this dude is
Duncan from 8 feet away. I can't do that, I'm just going
to stay here. And then somebody came and

(54:40):
dunked from 9 feet away. So there's always going to be
skill that goes higher over timebecause you learn from the
people before you, but there's always going to be those one or
two talent guys that take that skill and have that couple extra
notch. I think we have a lot of very
skilled riders now because they've had 20 years of learning
what came before them. And then we do have a few

(55:00):
incredibly talented riders that are also skilled.
So you have your Quatararos and you have your Marquez's and you
have a few others, but like AlexMarquez, I would call them a
very skilled rider, not necessarily a very talented
rider. His brother's the talented
rider. He learned the skills that his
brother put down and then he adopted them, but he didn't come

(55:21):
up with them. And you know, I feel back then
there was a lot more talented riders because they didn't have
anything to latch onto and learnfrom.
They were the first ones. They were the the first man
walking on the moon, you know, So I got to figure this out.
So, oh, so if I clamp this hose,I'm going to die because there's
no air up here. Later on, the guys that went up

(55:42):
there like, Oh yeah, we know exactly what to do.
There's been so many people on the moon already.
We know exactly what to do. Right, TJ Man is, I mean, in
hindsight and we know how great Rossi is now, but just watching,
you know, if you just watched the, you know, up until 2002 A,
you know, can you tell that he was going to be as huge as he

(56:03):
was because he was smashing everybody in in O1 and O2 And as
we go on with the the next few seasons as well, I mean this
guy, this guy was his B. So I mean, is it, you know, we
see the comparison between Mark and and and Rossi, but and Rossi
had the era of the 500CC and hadto have that skill set, a

(56:26):
sharper skill set than Marquez and Marquez don't know that era.
So I mean, does Rossi get the the notch because of that as
well? A2 Part TJ.
Yeah, I'm sure. Rossi looks down and Marquez
like, boy, you know what I've done?
I've I've bred you into this, you know, you gonna treat me
like that, but. Like it's like Jordan's saying

(56:47):
that one's the original. But yeah, I mean, like, I would
definitely see like if I was watching continuously after
2002. Like, yeah, Ross is that guy
because, you know, he was just, he was dominating pretty much.
But yeah, I would see him as, you know, being a Good Friday

(57:10):
going forward and winning championships for sure.
One thing I did notice, though, that the the grid age gap was
pretty widespread. So like Reese was saying, like
these guys out here is more of like the dogs out there and like
the aliens. And now Fridays these days are
more talented, but I felt like the age gap is a lot more or

(57:34):
broader. Like there's some 39 year olds,
37, some younger guys feel like now in the Moto GDP paddock like
this, the talent is just shrunk to a shorter age.
There's this select few that arestill got their skill level at a
higher age. Like, you know, you know, some
riders like even in a world super bike, a baltista.

(57:56):
But yeah, I see now it's just the town has shrunk to a small
age gap and you know, we've learned everything, like Lewis
said, from, you know, everyone taking these these leaves of
papers and steps to experience something and and learn
something new. So.
Right, right. Reece, what are your thoughts

(58:16):
on, I mean it does the ability for Rossi to race in the 500CC
ever win a championship? Does he get the you know, I
think they have tied for titles right now, something like that.
Does that give a notch over overMarquez?
Like I, like I asked TJ, being able to, you know, ride the
500CC and be exceptional and then turn around in the in the

(58:37):
premier class, do the same thing.
It gives a little bit of a notchover it, just a little bit.
Not that much. I mean, like Lewis said, I mean,
Marquez grew up watching Rossi, so he's learned a lot from him.
And he took what he learned and just enhanced it to another

(58:58):
level. And, you know, but what Rossi
has done, accomplishing his career and what he has done for
the sport, that's what gives Rossi that little bit of a notch
up because no one else has done that.
And for what he has accomplished, what he has done,
yeah, Marquez, we can look back and say Marquez has done where

(59:21):
he's won with a Honda, but then he now won with a Ducati.
But now you still have Rossi, where Rossi's won the title with
the Honda, the one year to switch manufacturers the same
the next year to go win the title.
That's following year with a newbrand that where that brand,
which was Yamaha was down, was one of the worst brands on the

(59:43):
grid, was down in the dumps was not where it was, but it took
that brand to a whole, to a whole nother venue.
Right. Yeah, and and he kept winning,
too, so it wasn't like he goes, you know?
What are your thoughts, Lewis? You want to add to anything that
TJ Reese or or you know, argue against?

(01:00:04):
No, I mean, I won't argue with them.
Rossi has definitely done, you know, stepped on more unclaimed
ground than anyone else. I mean, you're talking about out
of the the one O 125 championship, a 250
championship, 500 championship, 1000 championship, 800
championship, back to A-1000 championship.
I mean the dude has won on almost every configuration on a

(01:00:26):
motorcycle known to man short ofwinning the Baja on an adventure
touring bike. I mean, when it comes to winning
on a motorcycle, the guy set thestandard very, very high.
The one thing I'll say is that standard that he set, you know,
all records are meant to be broken.
You know, the only the only record that hasn't been broken

(01:00:46):
to this point right now is GiacoGomo Augustini's overall title
run. But you know, again, this is
we're talking about a very long time ago when he was the most
talented rider in the grid with the best bike in the grid.
So he had, you know, a very longrun where 1, he was lucky never
got hurt, but two, he was the right guy in the right bike at

(01:01:07):
the right moment and he just killed it.
Rossi was the right guy on everybike, on every motor, just
killing it, making it happen. And then same thing Marquez
learned from what he saw from Rossi.
All these guys learned from whatthey saw from Rossi and then
they were able to go that next step.

(01:01:28):
I mean, I think if Lorenzo wouldhave stayed in racing longer, he
would have had a few more championships because Lorenzo
was an incredible rider. I think Casey Stoner, if he
didn't drop out of the Moto GP championship, he would have had
a couple more championships as well.
But he just, he didn't have it in them.
So, you know, by default, Marquez is the last man standing

(01:01:49):
among, you know, the, the, the Mount Everest of of the best of
the best. And I think at the end of the
day, he'll probably exceed Rossior match Rossi in championships,
but he will never match Rossi inthe impact that Rossi made in
bringing the sport one to the mainstream and changing the
perception of the sport even to the people below him, even to

(01:02:12):
the kids that look up to him. Because you know, 1 of Rossi's
famous sayings when he started doing the leg dangle is why do
you do the leg dangle? And Rossi says, I can't explain
why I do it, but I can tell you why everybody else does it
because I do it. So that's that's the kind of,

(01:02:33):
you know, rider that he was. And you you can never take that
away from him. Controversy, no controversy
whatever. Even though Marquez ends up
winning more championships in Giacomo Augustini.
At the end of the day, I look atit the same way I look at the
the LeBron and Jordan debate. LeBron just has more points

(01:02:53):
because he's been around longer.But at the end of the day, who's
the guy that made everybody in the in the NBAA millionaire?
Because before Michael Jordan, millionaires were a dime in a
dozen In the NBA. Now everybody's a millionaire.
Why? Because Michael Jordan set this
new bar for what you get paid and how you play and how
intensified you go to the sport and everything else.

(01:03:14):
And that's what Rossi did. He set the pavement where
Marquez can get $22 million a year to ride a bike and and all
this other stuff. We don't buy, we don't buy
Lebrons, we buy Jordans. Yeah, man, I see Lebrons at the
close out aisle at the Nike outlet all the time.
Every color, every size, always available.

(01:03:36):
Always, always available it is. It's interesting to hear, not
just here, we'll hear and see the players that said if Michael
Jordan wasn't around, I would have won a ring.
And then the same players that say it around LeBron James when,
you know, everybody had to go through him to try to get a ring
and but a different caliber players that are saying this.

(01:03:58):
I mean, anybody who had to go through LeBron to get a ring
probably got a ring because he didn't keep too many people from
winning rings. But you know for a fact, you
know, Michael Jordan definitely kept a lot of people from
winning rings. You know, there's, you know,
Charles Barkley will tell you, you know, he loves him and he
hates him because he doesn't have a ring.
There's a lot of guys that when he retired for those couple of

(01:04:21):
years to go play basketball, tryto take advantage and get as
much as they can while that moment was there.
Because as soon as he came back,yeah, the Rockets looked
unbeatable. And then as soon as he came
back, one on another winning streak and kept guys from
winning again. Man, I think that's it.
We're over a little bit overtimeguys.

(01:04:42):
What are your thoughts on the 2002 series series season?
Anything I miss that you want you you want to bring out a
point out besides the amount of Japanese that were on the grid
for that year and stuff like that.
Any, anything you want to add and or maybe tell the world that
they should go watch these old series because it is still, even
though there's no commentary. And like Lewis says, kind of

(01:05:06):
like when when you're reading subtitles, after a while, you
don't even realize you're you'rereading or hearing the words.
You understand what's going on though.
What are your thoughts DJ on that before we get out of here?
Yeah, I mean, I thought it was pretty cool to go back on on
like for me history, you know, to to see like the evolution of

(01:05:27):
the game, you know, and you know, just by says in still
relevance, like I was looking like Proton had a bike that it's
not really you know, it's it's gone.
You know, like, I don't know if they like transferred the KTMI
was seeing or and and or like NBA Guster some some history on
that I want to read upon. But Proton you can see it at the

(01:05:48):
Barbie Museum. Yeah, yeah, I was serious.
Like they have it at the Barbie.Museum yeah, but it's cool to
see like Kenny Roberts got a bike, you know, for, you know,
named after him and stuff like that.
And I know this penalty has continued all the way to I think
2019 and that's kind of like around the time I started.
But the ride through penalty sucks.

(01:06:11):
So like, you know, when wheneveryou get into like something, a
ride through penalty, your race is done.
Like, like, you know, so it's cool like to see like how we
evolved and the long life penalty now.
Now for people who are just getting into it, just knowing
that, you know, it's pretty coolto see like where we evolved
this. Nice, nice.
I agree. What are your thoughts, Reese?

(01:06:35):
I mean, it's cool to go back andlike TJ said, it's always cool
to go back and there's, you know, it's the same.
You never know where you're going till you know where you've
been and to to know where we were when initially started,
like he's even going to O2 to see who we are now, to see what
the bikes evolved, to see what the riders that the equipment,

(01:06:55):
the technology, to see where everything is.
It's just a a unique atmosphere.The know that, you know, this
industry can grow to that to that extent is almost we were
almost we're we're almost at F1 races.
You know, electronics, you know,that's technically where we are,
you know, Morelli system, all that.

(01:07:16):
And that comes from F1 racing and you know, it's just
surprisingly where you know where the series is gone.
And like, you know, the, like TJsays, long lap penalties, you
know, the double lap penalty, you know, it's just there's an
era of stuff that we didn't haveback then.
Now we do have, you know, rider safety airbag suits and, you

(01:07:39):
know, winglets and ride height devices.
So it's kind of nice to see where we're at.
All right, all right, Key maker,the guy that delivered the
blueprint for Moto GP. For me, the one thing I when I

(01:08:00):
look back at these names, you know, I remember watching these
guys race live and knowing how many of these riders are no
longer with us because of, you know, these guys truly were
risking it all. They were on tracks that didn't
have the safety we had. They were on bikes that didn't
have the electronics that, you know, do protect riders from a

(01:08:22):
lot of the crashes that we used to have previously.
They didn't have the safety equipment.
They didn't have the airbags. I mean, these guys were
literally some of these guys were literally smoking a six
pack in the garage before they got on the bike because if the
bike wouldn't kill them, they can't they the cancer would kill
them. I mean, you know, Marlboro, all
these cigarette companies were sponsoring these guys because

(01:08:43):
they were using the product. But looking back at like guys
like, you know, the Girocado andAbe and all these guys that lost
their lives doing this, you know, it's always good to go
back and see how talented these guys were and and, you know,
appreciate what we have now because these guys didn't have
it then. You know, run off back then was

(01:09:07):
10 feet and I might hit that wall.
You know, we look at now like, you know, the last time I was in
Italy, I was looking at how we take data, crash data, and we
share the crash data from the suits with the FIM.
And this is how the FIM then is able to take this data and

(01:09:28):
calculate how far back they needto push runoff areas or if they
need to add gravel or if they need to pave a certain part of
the area. So if you do run off, you have
the ability to ride the bike a little bit or So like all this
data, this is stuff that's all happened in the past 20 years.
Back then, these guys were just wake up in the morning, strap on
their helmet and, you know, kisstheir family goodbye.

(01:09:51):
And then it might be the last time, but they still did it,
man. They went out there and they
rode their asses off and these bikes weren't slow.
They were as fast. I mean, maybe they didn't have
the top speed some of the bikes have now, but they didn't have
the electronics they have now either.
They were still pushing it, man.So do yourself a favor.
If you're a true fan of the sport, you don't have to watch
the whole season, but just go back and catch one or two races.

(01:10:13):
You're definitely going to see alot of crashes because there was
no electronics. I mean, high sides were like
every weekend there was at leasta dozen high sides, you know,
every. Weekend they crawl.
A shame off the track. We used to have a, we used to
have a chart of like broken collarbones a year because that
was the most broken bone. And in this time, I mean, almost

(01:10:36):
every guy that raced in this eraended their their careers with
plates in both shoulders becausethey would always break both
collarbones, break arms, broken legs.
I mean this was like The Walkingwounded and they got up and
still went and raced again, man.Oh yeah, it was your.
Depreciation. Yeah, You know, we, we kind of,

(01:10:57):
you know, make not make fun of Alex Ren's limping around, but
limping around in a paddock. You like if you watch the
highlights and stuff, you see the guys.
There's a lot of limping. If you weren't limping, if you
were a rookie man. If you were a rookie, you
weren't even racing, if you weren't even racing back then.
You were a mechanic or you were a rookie.
That was the only two dudes thatwasn't limping.

(01:11:19):
You know, it's funny, like nowadays, like when someone
noticed that I was a rookie on the track because I had no
scratches on my seat. So like, you know, like it was
like a saying at club racing that you know, like my suit was
too new. So now people have got to roll
around on the ground and get posed and stuff like that, so.

(01:11:39):
I remember Louis got on me when I first came to the track with a
new suit. He like, are you a new guy?
Nice. White suit.
Yeah, I, I, I definitely agree with you guys saying Lewis about
watching it. It is cool to know where things

(01:12:01):
started. It's always good to know where
you come from personally, but from a sports, if you're into
sports or anything. So it was good to know the
history of it. And if you're, if you're paying
for motogp.com to watch races and you have nothing else to do,
now's, now's a great time to catch up on all the, the, all
the fun stuff and learn about some of these writers.
And you can see where Gracie, when Gracie genie started and

(01:12:22):
what that was like. You'll see what pawns started
and what they was like and all these other teams that are now,
you know, beautiful large Moto GP teams.
They were they were just satellite teams back in the day.
So it's definitely worth to watch.
My name is Rex 45. It's the bee forever cool
podcast. We got TJ with two wheels and
coffee. Reese from Attack, Yamaha, the

(01:12:43):
Rio, Luis Ortega, Peace. Peace, Peace.