Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/1490240
to win the prestigious title in just his rookie year. That night at Anaheim Sta- dium was one of the highest moments of McGrath's racing career. Fast forward 10 years, and McGrath experienced one of the lowest moments of his career at Anaheim Stadium—announcing his retirement. All great athletes eventually experience this dreaded day. It's the day they hope never comes but always does. It's the day when even the greatest of the greats, the outright toughest, and the most badass of them all, often break down and show their soft side—the side they've been trying so hard to conceal from everyone, especially their opponents, throughout their tenure at the top of their game. It's when they shed tears in front of the whole world when they announce they're finished. It was no different for McGrath. McGrath still had two years left on his new KTM contract when he realized his own dread- ed day had come. In front of a room full of media with cameras clicking inside Anaheim Stadium, McGrath announced he was hanging up his boots. It was January 2, 2003, the Thursday before the opening round of the AMA Supercross Championship. "After a great deal of thought and retrospect, and after look- ing at the career that I've had, this sport has brought me more than I could have ever imagined or dreamed of," he said. "It just seemed like the right time. I'm closing this chapter on the racing and competition part and starting the next chapter of my life. "This sport truly has been great to me," McGrath added. "I can re- member countless times when peo- ple have come up to me and told me that they'd named their kids after me. And I remember so many guys who have come up to me and had pictures of me tattooed on their arms. Kinda crazy, but... I definitely feel honored to have touched so many lives." Two days after making the big announcement and just hours before the starting gate dropped at Anaheim without McGrath for the first time since 1992, Mc- Grath told Cycle News that, as hard as it was for him not to be on the starting line and after hav- ing had some time to reflect on his decision to retire, he was still good with it. "My feelings are the same, I am very confident and feel relieved and really happy about my decision, but at the same time it's going to be emotional when I go out there [for opening ceremonies, in which he was going to participate despite not racing]. I think the hardest day of my whole life, of my whole career, was Thursday at press day. I mean, those were all of my friends, all my peers, all the people I've grown up around. That had to be the hardest day of my life." I guess you could say that for McGrath saying good-bye to racing that day at Anaheim had to have been indeed one of the hardest and lowest days of his racing career, but, when you think about it, you can't really have the lows without having had experienced the highs. And did McGrath ever fly high. CN CN III ARCHIVES P96 Subscribe to nearly 50 years of Cycle News Archive issues: www.CycleNews.com/Archives closing this chapter on the racing and competition part and starting the next chapter of my life. "This sport truly has been great to added. "I can re- member countless times when peo- ple have come up to me and told me that they'd named their kids after me. And I many guys who have come up to me and had pictures of me their arms. Kinda crazy, but... I definitely feel honored to After winning his first two races in a row, Honda ran this ad in Cycle News, which said, "...even we didn't expect him to fly this soon."