Story Time | See You at the Detroit Supercross this Saturday

Story Time | See You at the Detroit Supercross this Saturday

By Billy Rainford

Since it’s Thursday, the day we all seem to sit back and take a long, hard look in the rear-view mirror, I thought I’d share a memory from the “Detroit” Supercross from days gone by…days long gone by. Pull up a chair and come for a walk down memory lane with me.

You may be surprised to learn that Detroit has played host to Monster Energy AMA Supercross more often than any other city except for Anaheim and Daytona. That’s a pretty long list of city names to be in the top 3 of.

Today, we’re going back to the year 1987. Michigan used to run an early spring series that would allow you to qualify to race on the very popular Amateur Day in the Pontiac Silverdome outside Detroit in, you guessed it, Pontiac, Michigan.

It was always in the worst weather of the year – you were pretty much guaranteed rain and a temperature somewhere just barely above freezing. I can still remember racing at Baja Acres for one of the series qualifiers even earlier than 1987 in 1983. I have a photo of a fellow 80cc racer with plastic milk cartons cut (or something?) and placed to protect his hands from the driving wind and rain. They looked pretty silly but they worked!

Anyway, I think it was during this season that my father overheard someone saying there was a loophole that would allow international racers into Amateur Day in Pontiac if they just completed one, sigle event and qualified. Now, don’t get ahead of me here…

We headed to Baja Acres for one race in horrible conditions and I made it into what I think was the 125 B class. To be perfectly honest, I’m not even 100% sure of the class.

Whatever class I was racing, I had needled my way through the loophole and received my acceptance to race the upcoming Pontiac Supercross in 1987.

That was also the year I received some sponsorship from Pirelli Tires. As I always joke, I was the crappiest rider they ever sponsored. The reason I mention this is we were absolutely terrible at changing tires. We had 3 rather long tire irons that we would use and about 20 knuckles that we also used.

I even remember that I got a speeding ticket in my hometown of London as I was on my way back from picking up a buddy who was coming with is. The day started out pretty rough and, guess what? You got it, it got worse.

We made it to Pontiac and set up our little pit in the parking lot. We watched lots of races and studied the track. That was one of the years when the track went up into the stands for a classic up and down section.

As it came closer to my time to race, we had just changed out the back tire so I could push my bike to the line with the little nipples on the tire to look like a Pro.

We were sitting there in staging and someone tapped one of us on the shoulder and said, “I think your rear tire is flat.” Of course it is, we’re terrible at this!

Off we went at full speed to the parking lot to change out an inner tube right before my race. Like I said, we were NOT good at doing this but at least we wouldn’t have to completely remove the tire for this fix. We managed to get it swapped and headed back to the starting line with seconds to spare.

My heart-rate was maxing out as we head to the gate for our race.

The gate dropped and I took off on my 2-year-old KX 125 and wouldn’t you know it I pulled the holeshot and was leading a Supercross race. Sorry, an AMATEUR Supercross race. It didn’t matter, I was pumped.

I headed up in to the stands, railed the 180 left-hand corner and headed back down to the stadium floor. Now I had a problem. There was a triple jump just out of the corner that I hadn’t done in practice. I really had no intention of doing it at all!

I remember coming down the hill, swerving to the right, and flying into the air for what semed like the biggest jump I had ever done in my life. In hindsight, I wasn’t likely very big, but it seemed liek it to me at that time.

I was still leading the race as I headed into the next section. I’ll admit, I haven’t got a clue what the track did next. All I can remember was that I was so excited that I had forgotten to take a single breath. Not one.

It was right then and there that I learned all about what “arm pump” was. I had never ever had an issue with it, but here it was loud and clear just when I was leading the biggest race of my life. I was in trouble.

Even so, I was still leading the race on lap 1. I started to think about my buddy, Patrick Poulin, who was down on the track manning the pit board for me. I was ready to read one of the most inspirational/congratulatory message ever written on a board to a racer. It would be something monumental to go along with this moment.

As I struggled to hold onto the handlebars, I kept my positive attitude ready to come by Pat for his message.

Here he comes. I was the first person through the mechanics area. My chest was puffed out and my elbows were high. I was ready to read the headline…

“TUCK YOUR SHIRT IN!” is exactly what it said. Pat told me to tuck my shirt in.

To be honest, I remember thinking it was hilarious and it may have helped calm my nerves enough manage my arms to the checkered flag.

I have no idea where I finished that night. I know one thing – I did not win the race. I don’t even know if I held on for a top 10 and I can’t find results anywhere. It was the one race my mom wasn’t at to take down lap scores. Even still, the tube change and Pat’s pit board message are still clear in my mind some 40 years later.

I’ve told pieces of that story before but never really gone through it all like that. I’m actually surprised that I can’t remember more details about the race itself. Oh well.

Let’s have a look at some historical facts about the Detroit Supercross:

The first 450SX Class round held in the Detroit Market was on March 26-27, 1976, in the Pontiac Silverdome. The 1976 season held 5 rounds with 18 combined motos, with the 3 middle rounds of Houston, Irving, and Pontiac hosting 2 motos on Friday and 2 on Saturday. Pierre Karsmakers (Yamaha) went 1-2 on Friday and won the first moto on Sunday, giving him the best chance to take the overall going into the final moto. Unfortunately, his pipe broke in half during the final moments of the race, losing 4 positions and the overall to Marty Smith (Honda) who scored 4-1-2-1 finishes. Jimmy Weinert’s (Kawasaki, 2-4-4-6) 3rd place finish positioned him favorably to win the title in the L.A. Coliseum finale.

Pontiac hosted Supercross in the historic Silverdome almost every season from 1976-2005, sans 1985. Multiple rounds were held each season from 1977-1993 and 2000 which gave the Silverdome 46 450SX Class rounds. The last remnants of the Silverdome were brought down in 2018, but it stands as holding the third most 450SX Class rounds behind Angel Stadium and Daytona International Speedway.

MOTOR CITY: Ford Field in Detroit was built in 2002 and took over hosting Supercross in 2006, with James Stewart taking the first victory. 2026 will be the 13th time Ford Field will host a 450SX Class round and the 59th time between the Silverdome and Ford Field. The winner of the Ford Field 450SX Class has only won the title in 5/12 seasons, including each of the past 4 seasons with Cooper Webb (’25), Jett Lawrence (’24), Chase Sexton (’23), and Eli Tomac (’22). Before ’22, the Championship % was 1/8 at Ford Field. Pontiac’s 450SX Class winner took home the Championship exactly half of the time (23/46). Combined in the Detroit Market its 28/58 (48%).

SILVERDOME BOB: Bob Hannah holds the record for most consecutive 450SX Class wins at any venue, and he earned that record in Pontiac. Hurricane Hannah won 6 straight Main Events in the Silverdome from 1977-1979 (two per). Hannah earned 1/3rd (9/27) of his 450SX Class wins in the Silverdome after tacking on 3 more later in his esteemed career. Jeremy McGrath tied his record by winning 6 straight in Minneapolis from 1994-1999. 9 is also the most wins any 450SX Class athlete has at any venue.

PAST 450 WINNERS: FORD FIELD
2006: James Stewart, Kawasaki 2017: Eli Tomac, Kawasaki
2007: James Stewart, Kawasaki 2019: Eli Tomac, Kawasaki
2008: Davi Millsaps, Honda 2022: Eli Tomac, Yamaha
2014: James Stewart, Suzuki 2023: Chase Sexton, Honda
2015: Eli Tomac, Honda 2024: Jett Lawrence, Honda
2016: Jason Anderson, Husqvarna 2025: Cooper Webb, Yamaha

PAST 250 WINNERS: FORD FIELD
2006: Josh Grant, Honda 2017: Jordon Smith, KTM
2007: Ryan Dungey, Suzuki 2019: Austin Forkner, Kawasaki
2008: Ryan Villopoto, Kawasaki 2022: Jett Lawrence, Honda
2014: Adam Cianciarulo, Kawasaki 2023: Hunter Lawrence, Honda
2015: Justin Bogle, Honda 2024: Austin Forkner, Kawasaki
2016: Malcolm Stewart, Honda 2025: Levi Kitchen, Kawasaki

Also, congratulations to Ryan Carr and Sami Boldt who won our 2, 4-packs of tickets to the Detroit Supercross. Thank you to everyone who played along.

See you at the races…