The 24 Best Motocross Riders Of All-Time

Ricky Carmichael was inducted into the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 2013. He is known as the GOAT, or the Greatest of All Time, because in his 11 years as a rider he managed to dominate the sport, with 150 wins in professional competitions.

He is the only AMA Motocross rider to have an undefeated season - and he did it three times, in  2002, 2004, and 2005.  He was the AMA Pro Racing Athlete of the Year five times, in 2001, 2002, 2004, 2005, and 2006. After retiring from motocross he took up stock-car racing.

Carmichael is sponsored by Kawasaki, Honda, and Suzuki. 

Jeremy McGrath was inducted into the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 2003. He became one of the most notable racers of all time in the '90s and was featured in commercials as well as on shows like The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.

His best tricks on the track included the high jump as well as the Nac Nac, which helped create freestyle motocross. 

James "Bubba" Stewart Jr. became the youngest AMA motocross champion in 2002 after winning the 2002 125cc title.

He is called the "Michael Jordan of Supercross" because of his talent and his penchant for accessories. In May 2019, he announced his retirement. 

Ryan Villopoto has 10 championship titles under his belt, but he is most noted for winning four supercross titles in a row.

He worked though a lot of personal turmoil and contention with his opposition and channeled his negative energy into his races. 

Roger DeCoster was inducted into the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 1999. He is often referred to as "The Man" because of his stoic stature. He was the manager for the first US team to win the Motocross des Nations in 1981.

One of his signature moves was to watch other riders and study their posture and tricks, advancing his own technique on the track. 

Bob "Hurricane" Hannah was inducted into the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 1999. He didn't start racing until he was 18 years old and by 1999 was one of only two racers to win titles in 125cc motocross, 250cc motocross, and Supercross.

His versatile skills made him a champion across the board. 

Stefan Everts secured the record for 10th World Championship title in 2006 and retired shortly thereafter. Everts is know for his technical abilities and has partnered with brands such as Yoko and Suzuki.

His teenage son, Liam Everts, is considered an up-and-coming motocross prodigy. 

Rick Johnson was inducted into the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 1999. He is a champion on his own, but has also served on four winning US Motocross des Nations teams. He held the the record for all-time AMA Supercross wins in 1991, which was later broken by Jeremy McGrath.

Johnson and David Bailey had a rivalry in 1986 that went down in history, and the racer retired at the age of 26 due to an injury. 

Jeffrey Herlings is a four-time World Champion. He achieved his first national title in the 2002 Dutch Amateur 65cc Championship and has since pushed himself to do better every year.

Herlings has sustained several serious injuries, yet continues to get back up and place in international races.  

Antonio Caroli became the youngest Italian to win a major motocross world title in 2005.

In 2015 he was considered the reigning "King of Motocross," with eight titles to his name, earning another one two years later. 

Ryan Dungey made his mark in 2010 when he won both the premier Supercross and National Motocross titles in his first season.

He helped bring the KTM family their first AMA Motocross win in 2012 and still managed to succeed in his own races despite breaking his collarbone. 

Chad Reed is known to be durable, announcing for Racer X in 2019 that he plans to get back on the track in 2020, one year after he's recovered from "eight broken ribs, a broken scapula, and a collapsed lung."

He is a champion of the people, earning loud cheers even when he doesn't place first. Reed is a team racer and has consistently moved up in his career despite any fallbacks. 

Ken Roczen's first year racing in the US in 2014 earned him the honor of AMA Supercross Rookie of the Year after he raked in several notable victories. He especially shines in the outdoor races, winning a notable 20 of 24 titles in the 2016 AMA Motocross series.

He also managed to bounce back after two major accidents in the following years.  

Travis Pastrana, known for his versatility in action sports and his hit show Nitro Circus, won the 1988 World Freestyle Championship when he was just 14 years old. He was named Motocross Rider of the Year at the ESPN Action Sports & Music Awards in 2001, and has accumulated 11 X Games gold medals as well as five Gravity Games golds.

Most notably, Pastrana mastered the world's first double backflip on a motorbike at the 2006 X Games.

Joël Robert was inducted into the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 2000. He is credited for being an integral rider for a European motocross team that helped launch the sport in the US in the '60s and '70s.

He is known for being a naturally talented champion in spite of his reckless lifestyle. 

Heikki Mikkola was inducted into the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 2006. He is known by the nickname "Flyin' Finn." Mikkola has four World Grand Prix Motocross Championship titles.

In 1996 he won the Finnish Junior Enduro Championship while racing with a broken wrist, and went on to excel in international races after that, eventually securing a reputation as one of the most successful Finnish motorcycle racers. 

Jean-Michel Bayle was inducted into the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 2000. He has raced on Kawasaki, Honda, Aprilia, Team Roberts KR3, and Yamaha, and even took some time to compete in Touring Car and Off-Road Rally races.

He is known for his versatile skill on almost any vehicle. He is also the first rider in history to win three titles in one year, in 1991. 

Torsten Hallman was inducted into the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 2000. He was a four-time World Motocross Champion when he came to the US in the late '60s and helped popularize the sport of motocross.

Hallman, who was heavily influenced by the look and function of riding gear, spearheaded motocross's growth in the states. In fact, it was his race near Simi Valley, CA, around '66 that made him famous, with newspapers writing that "no one had ever dreamed that it was possible to ride so fast on a motorcycle." 

Damon Bradshaw's aggressiveness on the track earned him the nickname "The Beast From The East." He became a monster truck driver after he retired and had accomplished four overall victories by 1997.

Though his career spanned 30 years, his success came from just four seasons in the early '90s. 

Georges Jobé is remembered for conquering the Hawkstone double, a jump so big most athletes would ride through it rather than leap over it. He was not the first but perhaps one of the most successful racers to attempt the mounds.

Jobé is a two-time defending World Champion who never gave up on his potential for success. He passed in 2012. 

Brian Deegan is known for pioneering what freestyle motocross calls "ghost riding." In 1997 at the Coliseum in Los Angeles, CA, Deegan ghost rode his bike across the finish line and made history. He is said to be the most decorated freestyle motocross rider and the only rider to participate in every competition since the X Games began in 1995. 

Joël Smets is five-time defending World Champion. He won his first world title in 1995 despite the fact that he began racing when he was 17, later than most professionals.

Smets was the Belgian Sportsman of the Year in 2000. 

Ashley Fiolek is the first female motocross champion to earn a factory ride. She is a two-time gold medalist in the X Games Super X and four-time Pro National Motocross Champion.

She is a representative for female athletes in the male-dominated sport, as well as athletes with different abilities given that she was born profoundly deaf and depends on vibrations in her bike to tell when her gears shift. 

Vicki Golden became the first female rider to backflip the 12-foot moonbooter ramp in 2019.

She is a three-time Moto X Racing gold medalist, and once made history by smashing through 13 wood walls that were in flames on the show Evel Live 2, beating motorcycle stunt pioneer Evel Knievel's record.