Just because ET 'missed' a couple of championships, doesn't mean he didn't dominate those years. ET is an all-timer, no doubt.

Amazing that Eli is still underrated, after all of his comeback performances, victories, overall speed, and talent. He is truly one of the all-time greats in the sport. And to go nearly seven years without an injury is such an amazing accomplishment in the sport. It will be sad to see him retire.

It would be interesting to have a count of how many other riders each of them have passed. With Eli’s atrocious starts, I bet he has the record for most passes.

Too many of you so called moto journalists types missed the raw talent of Tomac! Other than 2016, the year of recovery from double shoulder surgery, Tomac has consistently been the fastest guy in the premier class of MX and SX. Those “weird races” when he was not the fastest guy, when no one could figure out why he ran eighth, we now know thanks to his dad, those were races that he was not willing to risk injury on a bike that wasn’t right or a problem with himself, minor injury, arm pump, whatever. He is a “generational talent” and unquestionably deserves his place in the record books. Championships are nice, but raw talent, fastest guy on the track speed, that’s a rare gift and Tomac has had it for more than a decade.

McGrath raced against nobodies. Eli is literally 1 million times the rider and racer McGrath ever was. Zero comparison. He’s been racing the best riders of all time besides RC. The level of talent is unheard of today it’s insane.

The real difference is that in the past, less riders had the same serious training, program, bikes etc so i guess it was easier to break records before. But today, most top riders have the same level of training, same factory bikes and most of them train together, so harder to have a rider way over the other ones. Also now all bikes are 4 strokes, i think in the 2 strokes era, the gap between good and bad bikes was bigger.

I mean, I feel like they forget how much the sport has progressed since the greats days. These newer guys are so much more talented than most of the field. Not saying if the greats raced in this era, they wouldn't still dominate but its something to consider, none the less.

If you get to 40 wins in SX you're hall of fame level even with zero titles. Odds are you'll have at least one with that many wins, but still, 40+ wins at that level is elite.

Now Eli has also won the outdoor and helped bring home Moto De Nations... He's one of the best in my books

I mean he did stack 3 years in a row of outdoors🤷‍♂️

Tomac will be in the books as a all time great. Truth is MC, and McGrath got their records because the field of racers weren't even close to being as stacked as they are now. If you put ET against MC and McGrath in their prime they wouldn't have the records they do

That was a phenomenal clip of video right there.

I have followed tomac his whole career from Honda, Kawasaki and Yamaha and I do see him as a great, I think what might have put him under the radar to a lot of people is he has been kind of soft spoken on the podiums or more or less very private so I do see where people dismiss him but if you watch all of these guys races and mute the tv and skip interviews and podiums you can not deny Tomac 3. Hats of to Tomac 3 one of the greatest to do it.

How many DNF's did the Kawi give Tomac? Three that I can think of, and each were the game changers for a title. The people doing the broadcasting will never say or acknowledge it.

A stat I would like to know is how many titles line up at the gate each week in all these different eras. How many Loretta’s titles, amateur titles, 250 titles, and 450 titles have been won by riders on the gate for MC in the 90s, RC early 2000s, Reed and Stew late 2000s, and RV and RD compared to the last 5 years with Tomac. I feel like they’re forgetting how much different the sport is with training and such. Yes Tomac is one of the all timers of the sport. He’s definitely a “generational” rider, everyone knows who Eli is. I do believe at times he has been the fastest guy on a dirt bike, he was just so unpredictable on the Kawi

Let me first start by saying I have nothing but respect for Carmichael, McGrath and Blair's opinions. However, I think a few key points were missed when debating the greatness of Eli Tomac: 1. I would argue his ability to adapt and change may have actually propelled him past so many of the all time greats this season. Eli has managed to avoid that truly terrible race this year, especially the early season conundrum that has historically cost him championships. I would like to remind some of you, this wasn't always Eli's fault as there were bike failures along the way, as even Jason experienced at some points early this season with the Kawi (Kawi seems to be more prone to this but that's just my two cents). Every year guys talk about the changes they've made that are going to push them over the top and 99% of the time it's just lip service (just look at Barcia). However, Eli truly did it. Just look at his starts and how much his patience within the race has improved. He's not forcing opportunities...he's waiting for them. 2. I've been watching supercross and motocross my entire life and ET3 is one of the fastest and most gifted guys I've ever seen on a bike. Aside from Stew, there have been very few that can man handle a 450 like Tomac. Webb win's on good tactics but lacks speed, which is why he struggles so much outdoors (Nothing against Webb, it's just that pure "racecraft" is his meal ticket), which is why he disappears when they head outdoors. Traditionally speaking, you're not going to just hold the inside corner and slow people up for 30 minutes and win an outdoor national. At some point it's going to come down to how fast you can throw down lap times on a deteriorating track. @PuplMx You guys aren't giving enough credit where credit is due in this circumstance. If he finishes this season on two wheels it will be Eli's 7th overall (indoor/outdoor) championship, including his 250 career. Anyone watching Ryan Dungey's last season knew Eli was faster but Dungey once more avoided the big mistake (a true model of consistency)...something Eli has rectified late in his career.

"Dad, is he going to beat your record?".....MC- "nope" 🤣

Tomac is 100% all time. I don’t think anyone can hang with his speed when he’s in ET mode.

Weage did the numbers and tomac is the most consistent 450 rider since 2016.

That round in Arlington that he ended up 15th was a brake problem. He had no front brake to finish the race. He shared it on Instagram that week.

Tomac is in a class of his own. True professional. Thank you for what you do.

The pride of Jeremy McGrath is huge. No doubt he was an awesome rider, but please some one tell him that nowadays 5-7 riders might win anytime. During his days if he didn't win, then his shadow won......

what a phenomenal conversation and amazing perspectives from these amazing dudes!!!!!!!!!!!!

The talent pool is so much deeper now.

Let’s put it this way, Jeremy talks down on modern riders, but I’m willing to bet ANYTHING, that Jeremy in his prime would only be a top 10 guy at best 🤷‍♂️

Legend, no doubt about it, Eli is an all-timer.

I don’t think villopoto gets enough credit for what he did

I love RC. He cracks me up with his brutal honesty. 🤣

Dude the year he had undeniable dominance was when he won 8 but lost the championship because of a bad race or two!! He was hands down the fastest man on the planet!!!!

It really does suck when you win but don't feel like you're the best. Something you can never get over

I love this conversation

Just because YOU don't like Eli, doesn't mean that he isn't a all time great. (And a lot of us do like Eli)

Tomac is one of the best outdoors riders ever

He won 3 straight outdoors. Why doesn’t this get brought up more?

He's an all-timer. Its a different era now with different bikes and talented riders. Hes as dominant as you can be now. Amazing rider.

Eli looks so comfortable on bike now and I think it’s a lot to do with the manual clutch, that feeling he’d lost on the kx back for a top rider makes a big difference. Starts on a manual clutch are better, hydraulic is grabbier and has less feel, same in corners

Underrated! I don't think they are giving enough credit to those he is riding with. Theses guys he's been racing with hard just as fast on any given race day. Makes it hard to dominate.

Here after Tomac took the 2022 Supercross AND Motocross Title in the same year. Tomac an all time Great? Not even debatable

Hope they go back to this topic after this Supercross season. To me following up 22 SX season with the MX title and how he has rode so far in 23 I think this may change some minds.

Rick & Jeremy together is awesomness....

Now id never put Tomac ahead of Ricky or Jeremy, but he's gotta be top 5. I feel like back in the day there was 2 maybe 3 good riders, whereas nowadays the top 12 riders are within a second of each other. I think the field is more competitive than it ever was back then which makes what Tomac has done even more impressive. Especially if he wins this year and can back it up again next year, hes gotta be top 5.

Difference is back then had individual training programs now a lot train together so it Allways going to be closer

Well you look at Stew, if you’re going by championships, for how many wins and high regards we view him on. RV,RC and RD have more championship. And the point of “ no weirdo races” is exactly what costed James so many championships. His lack of backing off that we loved about his riding was also what costed him too. And no offense to McGrath he’s the king of Supercross but his class isn’t nearly as talented as today (Barcia,Musquin, Sexton, Webb, Roczen, Anderson, And even Brayton all won races in their career with Stewart not being far off a few times which takes talent) , it was the party era where you’d show up hungover at the track and still put on a clinic whereas now we take the raw talent and can refine it and refine the rider. Eli outright speed is that of James Stewart but his stamina is other worldly so you.

Tomac should be the new goat, he has dominated and dominated for more years than these guys, nothing more than he does not count the problems of his motorcycle or personal

tomac dominated 15-19 and stil lost the championships.

Now if we shift the conversation to outdoors he is no doubt an all timer

I think the cable clutch helps Eli’s riding style a lot. Definitely helped his starts.

Tomac is 100% an all time great top 5 for sure even can make a case for top 3

Top 5 Best all time... 1 The goat RC, 2 McGrath, 3 stew, 4 tomac, 5 villo (just my humble opinion)

Tomac has been dominant for the past 5 years. Championships don't equal dominance. He's the guy to beat if you want to win it.

Only reason Tomac wasnt dominant in 2017 and 2018 was he was still recovering and adapting from the 2015 crash. No more hunching of the back.

Tomac haters. The original BEAST MODE. ET3

Such a mental game

Let the 🐐 talk!

for me et3 is the best rider. he won the race that not necessary for him to get holeshot. usually he is in number 6 or 8 spot at the start but he always work his way to pass them all. he has a tremendous skills so amazing for a rider to have a talent like tomac. no doubt tomac is the all time great rider, thats my opinion. carmicle always got holeshot then win the race tomac is not getting holeshot all the time but win the race by his super skills

You guys should do this podcast at least once a month with Carmichael and McGrath.

to be one of the best of all time, it's not only poidums, win and titles, there is also pure speed, dungey didin't have that, rc yes mc yes rv yes js yes cr yes et yes

watching RC and McGrath shoot the shit about the best that have ever done it feels like such a treat. I'd love to see this crew go on for hours on this topic. (not just Tomac). edit: the description of Dungy sounds like Jeff Stanton to me. never really the fastest, but for those few years he just won.

The points system change is what kept tomac from the championships even after winning 10 races. By itself that's 20 points in the championship.

Tomac had more race wins those years than anyone, but out doors he’s an all time great 4years straight champion

The difference is the talent back in Carmichaels and McGrath time was slim to none and know there're are 5 to 6 guys who can win every night

fav comeback of all time? mine is JS7 2014 Toronto

Hes definitely on the Mt. Rushmore along with these GOATS

Eli is on top of his program an im not sure if is doing out doors but wow how about is it gonna be nect year when hes more comfortable on the yamaha...how good will he be...

What i remember watching mcgrath, rc, steward. Rv etc. Those guys would hang it out there. Checkers or wreckers. They found another gear. We would see that from eli sometimes now and then but others he would be back in the pack. So yeah his stats snuck up!

I think Eli performed at such a high level when he was on, Eli expected everything of himself, and when things went bad, he couldn't collect himself because he couldn't forgive himself. How hard it must have been to win all those SX races and not walk away with titles. IMO, Eli has just improved mentally this year. He did what champions do, dig deep internally, get honest and change. His whole mindset and demeanor has changed this year.

McGrath told the blunt truth on Tomac beating his record of 72 Supercross wins. Truth!

ET should have won 3 SX titles but failed in the most important races of these seasons but he is consistent in terms of wins per seasons. And just imagine the King trainning like the GOAT did since his early 20s, his SX wins record would have been over 100 guaranteed and he would have won 10 straight like the GOAT did in MX but in the main class.

McGrath is correct when pointing at his head while saying "It's right here". Tomac's mental game has finally caught up to his physical game. He could deny the up and comers for some more time.

Eli will be the greatest if he wins outdoors this year and herlings races aswell

McGrath and Carmichael can comment on Tomacs but the others that have never raced at that level should be ashamed of there comments. He has proved you wrong. Go ET3!

I want to see the 7 in this… it would mix this conversation way up

Here is a question tho, When Eli is at full beast mode, is he faster or more dominant than MC, RC, RV, or Stew at their peak?

Tomac killing it on many levels. Leave Weeb out of everything. A guy who cannot ride any other 450 brand, cannot ride outdoors, and sucks in SX whoops is not impressive to me.

Definitely an all timer

I'm sorry but that Yamaha is performing phenomenally for him I've never seen him so comfortable maybe his Geico days he was close

I think as good as the kawi was that Eli had it still seems like it was inconsistent or had a small window where it worked how he liked . Which meant some nights 6th was the best the bike was capable of Or pushing any harder would end in disaster

rc is right with his question about dungey, he was on the podium every time but he wasn't the best, rv was definitely better

Eli is in his own world I hope he does another full year I don’t understand why he’d hang it up after supercross but he’s in charge of it so whatever he does I know he will be classy on his exit

All u guy's ripp.. but love old school 🎒 fellowship

I do remember Jeremy & Ricky dominating, but was the competition less than Eli's competition or was Jeremy, Ricky etc just that much better?

Back in the day pro riders were riding, racing, partying, drinking beer etc…. Nowadays they are all elite level Athletes trying to gain any inch they can get. It’s a different time and you can’t compare it.

Look at the riders Eli is going up against, there's more than ten champions in the 450 class for the last four years..

6 time champ is not bad if not for the injury that took him out for reedy of the year in 2023 he would have easily been 7 Time Champ with 51 wins over all!!

Et kinda reminds me of james stewart besides the crashes careers in 450 sx are neck and neck..hes deff an all timer

Hmmm don’t b taking anything from Tomac. He’s more fluid but pulls out some incredible speed when needed . Last year his outdoor speed was unbelievable = to Stewart at times. His indoor he’s beaten 2 supercross champions and some real contenders. The 4 to 10 th are all fast guys which back in the day it may only be top 4. So because the field is faster ELi not as impressive hmmmm. I think it shows more credit to him. He has took the lead in points while all the champion and Roxen were contenders. He’s also competing over longer period of time winning races. Eli is capable of 3 more seasons but can he take McGrath? It will be tough with Ferandis, and the 250 guy &!sexteen going chip away at wins. 28 wins over possible 55 races. If anyone can do it Eli strengths, speed, endurance, doesn’t get injured nor DNF, mental toughness, his weekness starts and hes improving that’s but does he desire all time wins idk.

As a non bias opinion the playing field is so stacked compared to Jeremy’s error where there was no competition

ET3 is a GOAT....PERIOD!!!

People say that the Kawi is a capable bike and they are right, but Tomac never looked as comfortable as he does on the Yamaha when he was on kawi. He also has never looked better on a bike than he did in the first 3 outdoors races of 2015. He was on a level in 2015 that I don't think we will see again from anyone for a long time

Hate to put it on a MFR but think of all the DNF's Tomac had on the Kawi. He usually could overcome one but I think several years he had more than one.

RC playing devil's advocate. He's been watching Joe Rogan interviews. lol

The legends did have it easier but not so easy with the two strokes. However now obviously the bikes are faster, everything is homogenized in moto these days as every rider is this current era all had been in a training facility at young. Tomac is the generational rider now as beating the record of wins for Daytona matching wins to 44 as to Chad Reed. 3 out door titles and 1 Sx title as he might be closing out with another sx title. Respect to the greats but this era has advanced as RC and Stewart changed the sport Drastically. The Field is as ever close but Tomac knows how to manage it thus making him a great Being Consistent and having Speed and also the fact he is 29 breaking the age expectancy of an average motocross/supercross rider career.

I always say it like this..... If your life is on the line, and you have to pick one guy to win a race to save your life, between those top guys they are talking about. Anyone with knowledge of the sport is picking Tomac over dungey, reed, maybe jeremy, but its hard to say with him becasue of the era difference. I think the only people i would consider betting on over tomac are RV, RC and maybge stewart.

My top 10 SX Riders 1 Jeremy 2 Carmichael 3 Villopoto 4 Stewart 5 Tomac 6 Dungry 7 Reed 8 Stanton 9 Johnson 10 Hannah

So it's cause he doesn't have titles BUT LISTEN he is gonna be the second most winning rider of all time, so yes it makes him better than everyone but who #1 is PERIOD

C'mon guys, let eachother talk. Jesus, everyone talking over eachother and interrupting one another.

I kinda disagree with how they look at Tomac cause if we're talking Sx and Mx Tomac had 3 years of domination in a row in Mx, yea he didn't win Championship in Sx a few years even tho he won more then anyone else but if you put mx and sx together in 450 class he has 5 championships sooo....

It's amazing what happens when there's nobody to race against.

Eli is the one of the greatest of all time no doubt double threat in Motocross and Supercross. He's always 1st or 2nd in every series. Top 5 in motocross wins better then Stewart and Top 3 in Supercross against better talent. The one year when Eli blew out his shoulders he was smoking Dungey , Rockzen and everybody else by 30 to 45 seconds. Supercross to me is all about the start since the 450 4 stroke has been on the track it has become more difficult to pass unless you stuff somebody in a turn or pass in the whoops. So it's a minimum of a lap and a half to make a pass on a single rider. You get 7th place start it's hard to go to first because every person your behind of a lesser talent will hold you up for a lap and a half. Motocross with wo moto format, long and hot races is what the sport is about not some pit bike track that so tight it's easy to make a mistake in the whoops and find yourself in head on traffic. It's a joke especially in the Baseball only stadiums. You should have circus midgets riding in those venues.

you could bank on RV2 & RC winning titles at the start of the season, you can't bank on Tomac....he maybe good or he maybe not good enough. but he is still one of the greats.