Sports Then and Now

Ricky Carmichael has taken a nontraditional path to the NASCAR circuit; he got there by absolutely dominating the motocross world. Born in 1979 in Clearwater, Florida, he first began racing motocross at a very young age. His parents were either very supportive of him or very nearly criminally negligent of him because he began racing at the incredible age of 5.

For the next ten years, he owned the American amateur races; as he went on to win an astonishing 67 titles. That’s nearly seven titles per year from age 5-15. Then in 1996 he decided to stop beating up on all the poor amateur racers and made the jump to pro racing. You know how sometimes there’s a bit of a learning curve when an athlete turns pro? You always hear people talking about college quarterbacks being stunned their rookie years by the speed of the NFL and so on. Well, there was no such harsh transition for Ricky Carmichael. In 1996 he won the AMA Motocross Rookie of the Year Award racing for the Kawasaki team.

Read the rest of this entry →

Motocross stunts can be amazing, but they also come with a great deal of risk.

Through its evolution, motocross has become one of the most popular motorsports in the world. Though the sport originated as time trial races, sometimes double-billed with monster truck rallies, over the last few decades motocross has become a showcase of jaw-dropping Evel Knievel-esque stunts that have stolen the spotlight from other extreme sports, like BMX and skateboarding, at events like ESPN’s X-Games.

As with other extreme sports, failing big tricks sometimes comes with serious injuries. Here is a list of pro riders who should have kept a motorcycle accident lawyer on a permanent retainer:

Bruce Cook’s Impacted Spine

On January 3, 2014, Canadian rider Bruce Cook was attempting a never-before-seen ramp-to-ramp double front flip at a Nitro Circus Live event at the Copps Coliseum in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Cook under rotated the flip, fell from his bike and crashed into the ramp, seriously injuring his spine. Following a three-hour surgery, Cook announced on social media that he had suffered significant spinal cord damage and lost sensation and movement below his belly button.  It remains to be seen how fully he will be able to recover.

Larry Linkogle’s Handlebar Impalement

In 1998, just after a photo shoot for a French magazine at his home in Temecula, CA, Metal Mulisha founder Larry Linkogle was attempting to recreate tricks performed during the shoot by a younger rider from Spain when he got himself stuck in an odd position while in mid-air and crashed into the ground, impaling himself with his handlebars. The impact of the accident destroyed Linkogle’s spleen and tore out eleven inches of his intestines. Larry lost a substantial amount of blood, and had to be resuscitated on the way to the hospital.
Read the rest of this entry →