Johnny Greaves Bio
Beginning at the age of 12 in motocross, Johnny Greaves has won races and championships in every level of competition. At 23, he switched to four wheels and soon earned success while buggy racing in SCORE off-road desert and SODA short-course off-road series (the precursor to Championship Off Road Racing - CORR).
In the early ’90s, Greaves, from the Green Bay Wisconsin area, earned multiple buggy-class championships, including an incredible “double” in 1992 with titles in Class 1-1600 and Class 9. That same year, Greaves took his first steps in compact trucks by racing select events in Class 7s. In 1993, he began racing trucks exclusively and debuted a Toyota SR-5. With his energies devoted full-time to truck racing, Greaves finished the season in the winner’s circle at the final two events of the SODA season.
From 1994 to 1996, Greaves won two championships and more than 70 percent of the races he entered. He developed a two-truck Toyota team with his closest rival, Jeff Kincaid, in 1997. Greaves/Kincaid Motorsports won 19 out of 20 races while capturing the championship (Greaves) and a second-place finish (Kincaid) in both the SODA Series and CORR Winter Series.
The 1998 and 1999 seasons were a continuation of the Greaves/Kincaid team’s incredible success as they dominated the CORR Pro-Lite compact truck class in their Toyota Tacomas. In 1998, Greaves was victorious in 10 of 16 races and upstaged himself in 1999 with 11 wins, capturing his third Pro-Lite championship.
In 2000, Greaves made the move to full-size trucks with a two-wheel-drive Pro-2 Class Toyota Tundra. Season highlights included a win at the finale in Topeka, KS, and the top Pro-2 truck (third overall with the Pro-4s) in the Borg-Warner Cup at Crandon.
Greaves made another jump in 2001 up to the Pro-4 (full-size, 4WD) class with great results. His three victories were second most in the class, placing him third overall in his first season. He is the only racer in series history to have race wins in each of the three professional classes.
Greaves reached another milestone in 2002 with a Pro-4 championship in his Forest County Potawatomi Toyota Tundra 4x4 and led the class with three victories. In 2003, Greaves earned four wins, to tie for the division lead. He also had nine top-five finishes in 13 races to finish fourth overall in the Pro-4 division.
In 2004, Greaves earned four wins and had 11 top-five finishes in 14 races to finish fifth overall in the Pro-4 division. Greaves dominated the big money off-road racing action in 2004 by winning the BorgWarner Shootout at Crandon International Off-Road Raceway for the $100,000 BorgWarner Cup. Greave’s win was the first for Toyota. In 2003, Greaves won the Potawatomi Governor’s Cup - an event similar to the Shootout.
In 2005, Greaves started the season slow in his Toyota Pro-4, but ended with an astounding finish, taking the championship with an incredible seven consecutive win rally! This win streak gave Greaves the all-time record for consecutive wins for CORR, and additionally brought Greaves’ total win record up to 44, giving him the record for most all-time victories for CORR. Greaves winning season also captured the manufacturer points, giving Toyota the Manufacturer Cup Award for Pro-4, for the first time, and as a finale, Greaves claimed the Precision Gear 2005 Driver of the Year award!
Johnny successfully defended his 2005 title in 2006 for the Forest County Potawatomi, Toyota and BF Goodrich team and was crowned Lucas Oil CORR Series Champion for the 5th time. He came from the back of the pack in the final CORR round to first to claim his 7th win of the season and win the points battle by a comfortable margin of 28 points.
Johnny Greaves now has a total of 51 CORR Series race victories since 1998 and leads the way in that category, giving him the title of the “winningest driver in off-road short-course racing”. He has won 15 times over the last two seasons – seven wins more than anyone else, including his next closest rival who has 8 victories over the same two seasons. He was named the 2006 Driver of the Year.
Winning was a family affair these past two seasons with his brother Curt Greaves being named 2005 and 2006 “Crew Chief of the Year.”
With the establishment of the mid-west Lucas Oil, World Series Off-Road Racing series, the 2007 season found Greaves Motorsports travelling back and forth across the country to run two series. Johnny once again established himself as a dominate force in the short-course off-road racing scene by winning his 6th career championship, taking the Pro 4x4 title in the inaugural WSORR series for team Monster Energy Potawatomi Toyota. It was also his third title in three straight years with a BorgWarner cup and a Potawatomi Chairman's Cup victory as well.
In CORR, Johnny had his ups and downs but established himself as the man to beat and clearly a fan favorite. Johnny started the season off great with back-to-back wins on the opening weekend, taking first place in the first Jason Baldwin Memorial Cup race broadcast on NBC Sports. At the Fairplex in Pomona, CA, Johnny took the top spot followed by Rick Huseman as Toyota went 1 and 2. This was Johnny’s 55th career CORR win. Johnny finished the 2007 season with wins in Antelope Valley, Chula Vista, Dallas and Primm. Johnny won the cup race in Dallas after a miracle motor change between races by crew chief, Curt Greaves, and the Monster Energy Potawatomi Toyota/TRD team. Johnny Greaves finished the CORR points race in 4th place.
In 2008 Greaves Motorsports took their racing program to another level by adding a second truck to the mix in the Pro 2 class. The season proved to be a challenge for the Monster Energy Potawatomi Toyota BFG team but the team made significant progress with several podium finishes and a win in Primm, NV – 13 top five finishes.
While Greaves did not run the entire WSORR season, he did participate in the races at Crandon International Raceway picking up his 70th career off-road win on Labor Day weekend.
One of his worst crashes of his career came at Pomona, flipping nearly 8 times, sending him to the hospital, and making him unable to race in the Sunday race. Johnny and his team proved their resilience by coming back and winning at Crandon two weeks later after having to completely rebuild the truck only to have it wrecked again during the Borg-Warner Cup race. The team went to work once again to have the truck ready for the CORR race in Chula Vista the next weekend. Johnny completed an amazing comeback by landing on the podium in 3 of the 4 races in Chula Vista.
With the demise of CORR, Johnny and a group of pro drivers formed the Professional Drivers Group (PDG). This group organized with the goal of developing a united, short-course off-road racing series. Out of that emerged The Off Road Championship Series (TORC) headed up by supercross Legend, Ricky Johnson and Johnny's agent, Mitch Covington. The 2009 inaugural season remarkably came together in a very short time with a great TV package and top national venues.
Before the season began, a great opportunity presented itself to Johnny Greave Motorsports, with supercross superstar Jeremy McGrath joining the team to drive Johnny's PRO 2WD class Toyota.
Johnny's 2009 TORC Series PRO 4X4 season was filled with near misses, spectacular crashes, and exciting victories. He earned his first win in the second race weekend at Perris Auto Speedway in Perris, Calif. He managed a weekend sweet at the Bark River International Raceway in rounds 7 and 8. Johnny finished the season in a respectable 4th place in points.
In the off season, Monster Energy/Toyota/BFG pulled together to attempt a record jump in a 4-wheeled vehicle. Johnny not only beat the record – he shattered it by jumping to a new World Record: 301 feet! |
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Jeremy McGrath Bio
Jeremy Mcgrath is a legend in Supercross and has won a record of 72 250cc Main Event wins and captured 7 250cc Championships between 1993 to 2000. He is often referred to as "MC", "Showtime" or "The King" meaning, the King of Supercross.
But supercross and motocross were not always his pastimes early in his life he loved BMX but after becoming one of the leading BMX riders in the nation he became bored with the sport and moved on to professional Motocross. His parents agreed and at the age of 15, McGrath began racing motocross. Even though his parents helped, McGrath had to support a major portion of his racing by working at the local supermarket. Even though he came to racing much later than most top motocross and supercross riders, McGrath was able to translate many of the racing tricks he'd learned in the rough and tumble world of BMX and bring that to motocross racing. After just three years riding as an amateur, McGrath made his AMA debut in 1989. He finished his first Supercross season ranked eighth in the 125 West Region Series.
In April 2007, he announced he had signed a driver development contract with the NASCAR team JR Motorsports, owned by Dale Earnhardt, Jr. with Monster Energy Drink sponsoring.
Jeremy was a natural when it came to off-road racing so he devoted much of his time in 2008 to racing the Championship Off Road Racing series finishing in the top 10 in several Pro-2 races.
With CORR folding and the emergence of TORC-The Off Road Championship, McGrath joined forces with Johnny Greaves Motorsports to run in the Pro 2WD class for the 2009 season.
Jeremy finished the season 4th in the points standings with an impressive 6 podiums and 11 top 5 finishes in the 16 rounds of racing. He earned the coveted Oakley Bomb Award for the fastest lap time on the 1.5 mile track at Bark River, Mich.
Supercross Career Highlights:
Total Individual Career Championship Titles: 12
250cc Supercross Championships: 7 (1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1998, 1999 and 2000)
125cc Western Region SX Championships: 2 (1991 and 1992)
250cc Outdoor MX Championship: 1 (1995)
FIM World Championships: 2
Individual Motocross des Nations win: 1
Total Team Career Championship Titles: 2
Motocross des Nations Championships: 2 (1993 and 1996)
Total Overall Career Wins: 103
250cc Supercross wins: 74
125cc Western Region SX wins: 13
UltraCross wins: 5
Other AMA Sanctioned Regional race wins: 10 |