NASCAR NEXTEL CUP SERIES

HISTORY

Joe Gibbs Racing MX History Founded by Coy Gibbs, the son of NFL Hall of Fame Head Coach Joe Gibbs, winner of three Super Bowls, as well as three Sprint Cup Championships and a Nationwide Series Championship as a team owner. The Joe Gibbs Racing, Motocross (officially titled as the Muscle Milk/Toyota Team) debuted Jan. 5, 2008 in Anaheim, Calif., at the opening round of the AMA Supercross Championship.

The fledgling team had only modest goals for its 2008 rookie year, with more aggressive plans for 2009 and beyond. Even so, the innovative new entry to action sports garnered a substantial amount of media attention, and was warmly received by the fans. Josh Grant joined the effort for 2009, and exactly as they had done in NASCAR, the young team won the first race of just its second season at the AMA Supercross Championship season opener on January 3, 2009 at Angel Stadium in Anaheim, Calif.

As the team moves into 2010 it now benefits from some of the most sophisticated equipment available to prepare engines and suspension. Josh Grant remains with the team for his sophomore season in the premier class, and is joined by newly signed Justin Brayton. From the start, the personnel comprising the staff has been among the most respected and accomplished group of its kind in the industry. With the staff now going into their third year as a team, and Grant and Brayton as the riders, the program is positioned well with the Gibbs family philosophy that in professional sports, you win with people.

The Muscle Milk/Toyota Team is unique in that the entire team including a dedicated trainer and a specially constructed training facility with both supercross and outdoor motocross practice track, are all housed in one central location. Coy Gibbs hopes to expand the audience for supercross and motocross by bringing private resources in conjunction with outside sponsorship, just as Joe Gibbs Racing has done in NASCAR.

The Sport of Supercross

Widely regarded as the king of extreme sports, American supercross is considered the world’s premier action sports venue. The events are produced inside stadiums across North America, each in a major urban market. Supercross is the second-most-attended motorsport in the U.S., frequently selling out venues such as Edison International Field and the Georgia Dome. Only NASCAR has greater live fan attendance. To build the track, hundreds of loads of dirt are brought in and sculpted using construction equipment.

The 17-round 2010 season kicks off Jan. 9, in Anaheim, Calif., and will conclude May 8, in Las Vegas, Nev. The format has qualifying heats leading to a 20-lap main event for the premier Supercross Class. The smaller displacement class, called Lites, races a 15-lap main event. JGRMX fields two riders in the Supercross Class. The action is intense, and riders often make contact. There are two 65-foot gaps on each track called “triples” that the riders soar over, often only inches apart. Eight events will be broadcast on CBS, with the remaining events airing on SPEED, two of those will be broadcast live (the opening and closing rounds).

The Sport of Motocross

Professional Motocross has never been more popular. The AMA Motocross Championship Series was recently purchased by the Daytona Motorsports Group, led by Roger Edmondson, the founder of the CCS motorcycle racing series and Jim France, Vice Chairman/Executive Vice President of NASCAR. Regarded as the original action sport, fan attendance has skyrocketed from 109,827 in 1994 to 379,064 in 2007. The motocross culture is now in malls across America, thanks to lifestyle retailers such as Pac Sun and No Fear.

The AMA Motocross Championship is a 12-race series starting in May and ending in Sept. as it crosses the country. The venues are rural areas throughout America. Each race is really a two-day affair, with many fans camping at the track starting Friday with the race ending Saturday evening. As in supercross, there are two divisions, the premier 450 Class, and the smaller displacement 250 Class (JGRMX fields two riders in the 450 Class). There are two races, or “motos” for each class, with the overall best results of the two 30-minute-plus-2-lap motos determining the class winner. Held in the summer heat, the natural terrain is rough, rutted and treacherous, making the athletes among the fittest in the world. In 2009 all of the first motos were carried live on www.allisports.com. There were six live events, three on SPEED and three on NBC, with the remainder covered by SPEED with same day airings.