Jeremy McGrath (1993, ’94, ’95, ’96): Speaking of masterpieces, next for Team Honda came Jeremy McGrath. A BMXer-turned-motocrosser from Sun City, California, McGrath had a particular skill for supercross. He went from a 15-year-old Novice class winner at the ’87 AMA Amateur National Motocross Championship at Loretta Lynn’s Ranch to winning the ’90 125cc Las Vegas SX main event on a Team Green Kawasaki KX125. That caught the eye of Mitch Payton, who was just building out his first Honda satellite team, the PEAK Anti-Freeze/Pro Circuit team. McGrath dominated the 125 West Region the next two years. By the time he moved up to a 250 in 1993, he was already considered the best 125cc Supercross racer yet to emerge.

For the first two rounds of the ’93 AMA Supercross Championship, McGrath was just inside the top five. But then at the third round at Anaheim, McGrath went off, passing three-time champion Stanton for the lead and never looking back—for four years! From ’93 through ’96 McGrath just got better and better, both indoors and out. He was stuck riding a 125 in ’93, even while taking over supercross, and he actually won the opening round at Gatorback. But supercross was where he really excelled, and over the next three seasons he would break every record there was—wins, titles, laps led, everything. His nac-nac maneuver became his signature move, and arguably ushered in the entire freestyle motocross movement. He was also the first true mainstream star the sport ever had.

In 1996 McGrath was just one win away from the perfect season, winning the first 13 races in a row before his rival Jeff Emig finally stopped him at the next-to-last round at St. Louis. But the following week Jeremy picked it right back up, winning Denver to cap the single most dominant AMA Supercross Championship of all time (with a nod to Jimmy Ellis, who won every round in 1975, but it was only a four-race series). Here’s the thing: That Denver ’96 race would mark the last time a Honda would wear #1 in the premier class on AMA Supercross because he would split with Honda for the following season, taking his #1 to Suzuki, and when Ricky Carmichael came along and won his titles, he always wore #4 once he was champion. (Bookmark this for future silly season conversations.) 

Jeremy McGrath lost his title to Emig in ’97, then switched to Yamaha and added three more titles in ’98-’00, adding to both his title record and wins record—7 and 72—when he was all done. But he had one more Honda moment to come: In 2006 he temporarily came out of retirement to race a Honda CR250 (two-stroke). At the Phoenix SX he somehow got the holeshot against a field of mostly 450cc four-strokes, and when he got to the first triple jump he threw out a huge nac-nac. That was the swan song for 250cc two-strokes in AMA Supercross, and it was only fitting that the last man to lead a main event aboard one was Jeremy McGrath, the King of Supercross.