Jeremy McGrath

Infobox Celebrity
name = Jeremy McGrath


caption =
birth_date = Birth date and age|1971|11|19|mf=y
birth_place = San Francisco, CA| death_date =
death_place =
occupation = Supercross Rider
website = [http://www.nacnac.com http://www.nacnac.com]

Jeremy McGrath (born November 19, 1971, San Francisco, California) is a Supercross racer and has won a record of 72 250cc Main Event wins and captured 7 250cc Championships between 1993 to 2000. He is often referred to as "MC", "Showtime" or "The King" meaning, the King of Supercross. But supercross and motocross were not always his past times early in his life he loved riding BMX but after becoming one of the leading BMX riders in the nation he became bored with the sport and moved on to professional Motocross His parents agreed and at the age of 15, McGrath began racing motocross. Even though his parents helped, McGrath had to support a major portion of his racing by working at the local supermarket. Even though he came to racing much later than most top motocross and supercross riders, McGrath was able to translate many of the racing tricks he’d learned in the rough and tumble world of BMX and bring that to motocross racing. After just three years riding as an amateur, McGrath made his AMA debut in 1989. He finished his first Supercross season ranked eighth in the 125 West Region Series.

MX career

After two 125 West Region Supercross championships in 1991,and 1992 for Team Pro Circuit Peak/Honda, he became the first rider to win the 250cc Supercross Championship as a rookie in 1993. He won 4 Supercross Championships in a row with Team Honda before moving to Team Suzuki for the 1997 season. Many in the industry were shocked that McGrath had left the most powerful team in motocross but the two parties were unable to come to terms with one another when negotiating a contract. Mcgrath was also reportedly annoyed with the restrictive nature of his relationship with Honda. [ [http://www.motocrossactionmag.com/me2/dirmod.asp?sid=&nm=&type=news&mod=News&mid=9A02E3B96F2A415ABC72CB5F516B4C10&tier=3&nid=9BD5C2673ED247DA821AB9D3A7539AB2 Biography of McGrath] retrieved 16th October 2007] . McGrath had produced the most amazing supercross record to date, winning 14 out of 15 250cc Main Events in 1996. He effectively moved from the strongest team in motocross to one of the weakest. Suzuki had not won a Supercross Championship since 1981, and even mere event victories were few and far between for the beleaguered squad.

McGrath had a very unlucky year in 1997 as several uncharacteristic crashes and mechanical gremlins with his RM250 left him just a few points short of winning the Supercross title for the fifth consecutive year. That crown went to McGrath's longtime nemesis, Jeff Emig of Team Kawasaki.

He switched to Chaparral Yamaha for 1998 and regained the Supercross championship in convincing fashion. During that summer's outdoor national season, McGrath withdrew from the series as the points leader due to a broken wrist. It would be the last time he would contest a full outdoor season, because for 1999 McGrath signed a "Supercross only" contract. He won the titles for Chaparral Yamaha again in 1999 and 2000. During these championship runs McGrath seemed to put his total Supercross win record at an almost untouchable level.

McGrath started off the 2001 season in typically strong form, winning 2 of the first 3 main events. However, he lost the next event to Team Kawasaki's Ricky Carmichael. Carmichael would then win every race from there on out, dethroning McGrath as Supercross champion and equalling his 1996 win record of 13 consecutive main event victories. McGrath returned in 2002 to take a shot at regaining his crown, but chronic arm pump and perhaps age caught up with him, and he could only muster a 3rd place in the final standings behind Carmichael and Yamaha's David Vuillemin.

For 2003 he signed with Team KTM but a pre-season crash on the much maligned KTM 250SX made him rethink his future in racing and he decided to retire on the eve of the 2003 supercross season. He did a farewell tour with KTM to show his appreciation and sign autographs for fans.

In 2005, McGrath came out of retirement to race a limited schedule on the Supercross circuit. He rejoined forces with his former Team Honda squad and has recently proven to be at a competitive level and speed that has not been seen from McGrath since the 2000 or 2001 seasons. At the age of 34, he has placed regularly in the top 5 positions. The same year Jeremy also raced Supermoto in the X-Games and placed 2nd to take home the silver medal. McGrath switched motorcycles from his trademark Honda CR250R 2-stroke to a Honda CRF450R 4-stroke at Round 3 of the 2006 Supercross season. In keeping with his partial schedule, McGrath withdrew from the series after Round Six, after earning multiple top 5 finishes, and running as high as fourth in the point standings. Jeremy competed in the 2006 Summer X-Games, earning a 2nd in Step-Up and 7th in Supermoto. He announced plans for the McGrath Invitational, an off-season supercross race with an innovative track and huge purse. McGrath announced that the 2006 Invitational will be the final professional Supercross race of his career. McGrath was inducted into the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 2003. (NOTE: Jeremy planned and even raced the McGrath Invitational but due to all the stress of planning, getting ready to race, etc. he was not fully focused when race day came around, resulting in a crash sometime in the race, breaking bones in his neck. He has since recovered)

In April 2007, he announced he had signed a driver development contract with the NASCAR team JR Motorsports, owned by Dale Earnhardt, Jr. with Monster Energy Drink sponsoring.

McGrath has occasionally raced in Championship Off-Road Racing off-road races in recent years. He has finished in the Top 10 in several PRO-2 races.

Career Highlights

Taught since MC was 3 till 19 he had started to win these ChampionshipsTotal Individual Career Championship Titles: 12
* 250cc Supercross Championships: 7 (1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1998, 1999 and 2000)

* 125cc Western Region SX Championships: 2 (1991 and 1992)

* 250cc Outdoor MX Championship: 1 (1995)

* FIM World Championships: 2

* Individual Motocross des Nations win: 1

Total Team Career Championship Titles: 2

* Motocross des Nations Championships: 2 (1993 and 1996)

Total Overall Career Wins: 102

* 250cc Supercross wins: 74

* 125cc Western Region SX wins: 13

* UltraCross wins: 5

Other AMA Sanctioned Regional race wins: 10

Personal life

Jeremy married his wife Kim on August 3rd, 2002. They had a baby girl, Rhowan Parker McGrath (RPM) on December 9th, 2005. A second daughter Bergen Paisley McGrath was born January 10, 2008.

Books

He wrote an autobiography with Chris Palmer called "Wide Open: A Life In Supercross" it tells about his life going through the ranks as a rookie to his current day life. [ [http://www.ussx.com/news/news_030925a.asp] retrieved 16th October 2007 ]

References

External links

* [http://www.motorcyclemuseum.org/halloffame/hofbiopage.asp?id=304 Motorcycle Hall of Fame]
* [http://www.jeremymcgrathlive.com Official Jeremy McGrath Website Community]