Yahoo Autos Tomac on the recovery trail, and building toward 2024
“You don’t quit when you’re winning. You keep going. If you can win, you keep winning.”
That was 1983 AMA 125cc national champion and 1984 AMA Supercross champion Johnny O’Mara referring to sidelined Eli Tomac over dinner in Southern California. The motocross visionary based inside the Team Honda camp monitors and the sensational Lawrence brothers, who are currently making waves in the 2023 Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship.
Less than 24 hours later, this writer was on the phone with Tomac, who agreed with O’Mara’s view that if you’re winning and controlling a championship, you just keep going.
“That’s the way I feel about how all of this went down,” explained Tomac, who was eliminated from the 2023 Monster Energy Supercross Championship by a ruptured Achille’s tendon while on course for would have been his third stadium title.
“I did not want to go out on those terms at all. I mean, that was leaving the track and hanging my leg off of the bike and that being it. As a racer, I’m not done yet and I did not want to leave that mark on my career, so that’s the reason for coming back. I still want more and I still want to be competitive and do what I can to try and get wins. That’s the reason for trying to do the best that I can in this recovery, and I want to try to come back swinging.”
Did Tomac get a glimpse of what retirement would look like during his forced injured reserve list status?
“Oh yeah,” he said. “I’ve been living it the past couple of months. I mean, right now I just started some more serious cardio work. Before that though, I saw retirement, man. That’s being home, and there is nothing wrong with being home with your kids, but at the same time, you’re kind of wondering what you’re going to do the next day or the next morning. You don’t have something totally figured out oftentimes. It’s a different pace, but as a racer, that competitive spirit comes back into you. That’s why I decided to sign back up again.”
And of being approximately 15-minutes away from winning that would have been his 52nd career Supercross main event victory, and with it, title number three?
“Yeah, I’ve gone through different stages with that scenario,” explained Tomac who was out front and pulling away at his hometown Supercross in Denver when the injury occurred. “First was anger and bitterness, and then it was kind of depression for a couple of weeks. It was like, ‘Why did this happen to me?’ The third stage of it all, I guess was just recovery in general and you deciding whether or not you want to keep doing it.
“The circumstance of it all, I think, was pretty close to the top of the list for one of the freakiest deals and one of the strangest lost championships that I have seen, and it just happened to be me. All I can say was that it was a freak deal.”
A specific variable in the calculus of championship-winning Eli Tomac has been Team Yamaha.
“Going to Yamaha was revival for me,” said Tomac, who migrated away from Kawasaki to the powerful Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing outfit at the conclusion of the 2021 racing season. “It extend my career. It’s been a great tine with the Star team and it has been good the whole way. Just everyone involved has been good with it. I signed up another season with them for 2024.”
When Tomac did confirm that heis returning to the competitive fray in 2024, there was a significant outpouring of positive emotion and feedback from the Supercross fan base the world over.
“I got all of that from social media,” he said. “It drove me crazy not to be able to tell my fanbase what I was going to do. We had to keep it on the down-low for exactly what we were going to do. Finally, that’s all in stone now and I can tell everyone that I’m going racing. It’s the support of the while industry. You know, we want to see a competitive environment and to keep the good guys around as long as you can. I’ve totally seen that support, and it is awesome.”
Going back to the sensational Ricky Carmichael and followed up by such phenomenal multifold champions as Ryan Villopoto and Ryan Dungey, Tomac spoke about what goes through his head when he contemplates his championship legacy.
“Yeah, I have thought about that,” he said. “You never know what you’re going to get and how far you’ll go, but at 30 years old, all of a sudden I’m there. It goes by in flash, but yeah, it’s been a good ride to get there, you know? I’m having a hard time bragging about myself. Being second all-time with 51 Supercross wins, that’s a big deal for me. I want to keep winning. If I’m lining up, I’m trying to win.”
Going back to O’Mara and the Lawrence brothers as well as championship-winning charger Chase Sexton, Tomac is fully aware that a new era in the sport has arrived.
“There is a totally new era coming, and you’re seeing it unfold right now,” he said. “I mean it s already here, right? It’s very impressive to see. The thing that impresses me so much about Jett Lawrence is just the demeanor that he has with his racing, and what he is showing on the track at that age is definitely next level in showing the next generation. I haven’t even been in that position of winning that many races in a row and that many overall victories. It’s awesome to see, and I’ve been trying to study a lot of it because I know I’m going to be racing him for at least another season. It’s cool. I like it.”
