There are a lot of memories assciated with Eli Tomac’s long and successful career underpinned by his wide open, railing the outside and heavy clutch style that brought so many wins, but like most riders even Eli Tomac had to ride the rollercoaster with the highs and lows.
You can’t forget that insane 2015 speed outdoors until that Colorado crash, that horrible achilles injury that cost him his third Supercross title but ultimately lengthened his career. The dominant USGP win in 2016 at Glen Helen, beast mode in the great outdoors for years, that epic 2022 season winning the Supercross title and a nail-biter outdoor season against Chase Sexton and the MXoN at Red Bud, being a late volunteer for team USA in 2023 and almost leading them to the win, but I have picked five that stand out to me, most of them races we saw in person that had a lasting effect.
Winning his first ever pro race at Hangtown:
We were fortunate enough to be at Hangtown in 2010 when Eli immediately came out swinging and put his name on the map. Of course, he was already well known from his Suzuki amatuer days but that day at Hangstown showed he would be something special, he had all the speed he needed and just came out with all guns blazing, probably even surprising himself against the likes of Christophe Pourcel and Trey Canard as well as Tommy Searle, to show the world America had another teenage sensation on their hands. The first race of his career had the wow factor that would be emblematic of his great rides for years to come.
Battling Roczen in 2013 MXoN and that huge crash:
Ken Roczen usually had to battle Eli Tomac in America but on that weekend the shoe was on the other foot with Tomac representing the USA against Roczen in Germany infront of Roczen’s vociferous home fans. The duo put on a clinic of speed with Tomac showing the world outside America just how fast he was – and then he had that huge crash that no-one watching at home or there in person will ever forget. It was an epic weekend of racing but Roczen v Tomac was unforgettable – it was just a pity Herlings was injured or it could have been the three all-timers battling it out for glory on the 250!
Finally winning the AMA Supercross title
After showing searing speed for a few years on a 450 but having out of character results randomly and that crash late in 2017 where he got up slowly and Dungey used consistency to win the title Tomac finally got it done in 2019 and it released a lot of pressure off his shoulders, he finally made this ultimate dream come true and it was pivotal moment in his career. From there, Tomac opened up more and showed more of his personality especially once he moved to Yamaha, it felt like he coudl enjoy his career once he won that first 450 Supercross title and it showed.
WSX Cardiff 2022 interview
We got the chance to see Ken Roczen v Eli Tomac at the new style WSX in 2022 and while the racing and format was exciting the best part of that weekend was Eli’s openess with the media, Eli had already given a long interview with legendary French journalist Pascal Haudiquert, then we approached him for another interiew and Eli said no problem giving us over ten minutes and some very open answers looking back at his career until that point in time. After that he did another long interivew with out French friend, Kevin Frelaud, at dailymotocross.fr, all while being pretty jetlagged, but Eli couldn’t have been more accomodating and personally, any time we have interviewed him since he has been great, even earlier this year at A1 ahead of his AMA debut on the KTM, he was class act despite it being the most pressurised race of the year.
Win against Jett Lawrence 2025 San Diego
His wins with KTM this year were awesome, the broken tooth after Daytona will be unforgettable and unfortunately a pre-curser to the bad luck and crashes that ultimeately ended his career and robbed us of seeing Eli in 2027 but of all his wins last year’s one on one battle with Jett Lawrence was probably the coolest. Two generational legends fighting it out on opposite ends of their careers and Eli coming out on top after injury had robbed his third title was a very cook moment to witness in person and to see how respectful Jett was in the press conference of getting to race against Eli for the win told you all you needed to know about the respect Eli has earned with his peers.
Eli Tomac will go down as one of the fastest riders ever on a dirt bike with the titles and races wins to back it up. We Went Fast provided some brilliant statistics that encapsulate Tomac’s brilliance in numbers Eli raced for 18 seasons as a pro winning eight championships, 57 450 Supercross wins, 32 450 MX wins, 113 total wins.
Tomac won four AMA 450 Motocross titles, two AMA 450 Supercross titles, two 250 Supercross regional titles, one 250 AMA Motocross titles plus won the MXoN and WSX as well as the USGP, what a career!
And oh yeah… here’s that wheelie at Daytona – we aren’t forgetting that in a hurry!
