Eli Tomac | Two More Years

June 21, 2019

There’s something different about Eli Tomac. I noticed it at the Seattle Supercross, when the championship chase between he and Cooper Webb started to tighten and each Main Event finish meant points where more crucial than ever. That Saturday morning, Tomac walked into the Monster Energy Kawasaki pit area and worked with mechanic Brain Kranz to set the controls on the KX450. When I crouched down to take a photo of the two together doing the routine task, Tomac kicked a foot out and cocked the bars sideways like he was doing a cross-up. It unlike what I was used to seeing on Saturdays at the races, when Tomac is often so focused that few outside of his inner circle get time to talk until after the race.

He went on to win the Main Events at Nashville, Denver, and Las Vegas, but a tough night in New Jersey had him go down two times in the feature race and the third-place finish was just enough for Cooper Webb to put a handle on the championship trophy; a week later the number one plate was awarded to Webb. Although Tomac missed the Supercross championship for the third time in a row, he didn’t appear devastated about the runner-up finish. Instead, he seemed relaxed that the chase was over and seemed set on the summer ahead for his defense of back-to-back 450 MX championships.

Kawasaki announced the contract extension just before the start of the 2019 Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship and the run for a third straight MX title kicked off with the overall win at Hangtown. On Friday at Fox Raceway Donn sat down with Tomac for their first one-on-one on camera in some time, then managed to get a race-worn Bell Moto 9 Flex for a giveaway. A week later, he was willing to run our GoPro for the track preview at Thunder Valley and got on camera for an interview moments after missing the overall win. Those things showed Tomac is more relaxed than he had been in the years since he turned into title contender for every championship and got drug into the debate of who the fastest rider in the world is. The only other GoPro video with Tomac that I know of is one we did together for TWMX at a practice track in Latvia before the 2014 Motocross of Nations.

During our post-race talk at High Point, I figured then was as good a time as ever to bring up the observed change of attitude and it spilled out before I had it properly worded.

“Hey, in these last few months it seems like you’re really enjoying yourself. It’s not as serious, well it’s still serious, but not in the same ‘I have to win or I’m miserable.’ Is that an active thing?”

He seemed a little surprised by the question and laughed before the reply. “I think it’s getting older, right? I think you enjoy it more, getting older, and your mentality changes,” he responded. “I’ve noticed that a lot within the last year or two in the 450 class. You think back to where your mindset was in the 250 class and it’s a lot different than it is in the 450 class.”

“With idiots like me or other people hounding you for things all of the time, does it wear on you? Is that more stressful than getting results sometimes, because you always have to ‘be on’ for someone?”

“Short-term yes, sometimes that does bother you. But I always look back and think, ‘If I’m complaining about what I have and what I’ve been given from the sport, then I’m a knucklehead.’ I try to appreciate everything as much as I can.”

The last questions of our two-minute talk were about his renewed contract with Monster Energy Kawasaki. “It was nice to get the extension with Kawasaki of two added years, 2020 and 2021. That was stressful and I was struggling to find my good feel in Supercross and didn’t have the deal done. Once we got rolling, the contract came too. It was good,” he openly shared.

Tomac is in the prime of his career, but how much longer will he be around? Although somewhat young, he’s nearing the age that is considered the beginning of the end of pro racer’s career, so I asked if this is intended to be the final contract. “I’m 26 and will be 27 in November. Honestly, I don’t know. I am pumped that I made it to 26 and that I still have two years to go. Villopoto and RC, those guys were already done. It would be like me being done at the end of this season. If I make it to 28 or 29, yeah, that would be good.”

If there are just two and a half years left in Tomac’s career, this outlook on life, class-leading speed, and the proven team should be enough to add more wins to his total. Enjoy it while he’s there.