Projected 2025 National Numbers after Budds Creek

I know that I am in the minority on this one, but the National numbers system is a clown show with the amount of guys that hold onto low digit numbers year after year after year after year………I know the AMA likes to model themselves after NASCAR in this approach, but MX does not use a team charter system, obviously.

The argument for permanent numbers has always been so that the rider can market themselves under that same number. I’d argue that the occasional fan still will not know or care who runs what number. If the AMA would like to make the riders more identifiable, work with the gear manufacturers to standardize their names on the right and left sleeves of their jerseys.

You should run the number that you earn. Period. Old man take, sure. But that system did lend credibility to the work, skill and grit to get that single or low digit plate. And as a fan, back in those days, if you didn’t know a rider’s number, that was what a program was for. With tech these days, there’s no need for anything but a phone while you’re at the event.

The dumbing-down of the entire sport for the occasional, disconnected fan only proves the weight SX has on the sport.