Ricky Brabec: “It is tough for Americans to make it in the off-road world”

Ricky Brabec carried the Stars and Stripes to victory at the 2020 Dakar Rally, becoming the first American to win the legendary race in the bike category. However, he feels his countrymen and women have not been getting the love that would ensure they have a place in off-road racing.

In an interview with Wade McElwain of SportsBoom.com prior to the 2024 race, Brabec explained it is getting increasingly difficult for Americans to find their break in off-roading due to the decline in factory support in recent years. Brabec is one of the exceptions in rally raid specifically as a member of Monster Energy Honda Rally Team, as is his new team-mate Skyler Howes who spent much of his career on his own before finding his break with Husqvarna in 2021. Both compete in the World Rally-Raid Championship‘s RallyGP category for factory-level riders; although fellow RallyGP competitor and California native Mason Klein has a partnership with Kove Moto that gives him factory-level access to their resources, he is still by and large a privateer competing with his family-run operation.

“For the industry of motorsports, it’s really tough. I think when I got into where I’m at, it’s hard to say because in America, there’s not really any off-road racing factory-supported riders,” began Brabec. “I would say I’m the last generation of it because right when I was trying to make a big push to get to where I’m at, there wasn’t much support, but I was able to get in and get support.

“But then ever since then, 2015, I haven’t seen very much support being handed out so it is tough for Americans to make it in the off-road world. The rally world is definitely where you want to be, where you want to go, but even within the last two years, I’ve seen things kind of going, not downhill but definitely slowing down. It’s a shame. You look at all these other sports and off-road is definitely a unique one. There’s a lot that goes to it, but it’s just unfortunate that a lot of people are taking away from it at the same time.”

This sentiment can extend to other forms of off-road racing in America as well. Short course is perhaps the most notorious case, having enjoyed national coverage and support from manufacturers throughout its heyday in the late 1980s and 1990s until manufacturers withdrew their backing at the turn of the millennium; nowadays, it is not uncommon for short course series to take the stage as the preeminent championship only to fold shortly after due to financial pitfalls or tensions boiling over, and the current mantle holder Championship Off-Road was recently threatened by a breakaway series that ultimately did not come to fruition. Although short course remains quite popular today, it is certainly nowhere near where it once was.

The situation is exacerbated among disciplines that don’t take place inside a closed circuit such as desert racing and rally raid; after all, it is hard to watch a race in a wide open desert compared to an actual track. For example, while SCORE International’s UTV classes have brands like Can-Am, Honda, and Polaris pitching OEM support into works teams and affiliated drivers, other categories do not quite enjoy the same amount of pledges. Brabec suggested that a lack of coverage in the U.S. contributed to dwindling factory support, a natural consequence of it being very difficult for the public to follow along.

American media coverage for the 2024 Dakar will be overseen by MAVTV and NBC Sports, the former airing one-hour highlight shows while the latter and FloRacing are streaming services that will also post clips after each stage.

“Obviously, the Dakar is televised and people are really into the Dakar, but off-road racing here in America, there’s no TV on it, so it’s really tough,” he said. “If every round was televised more frequently, even if it was a rerun of a show, obviously you’re not going to get spectators there, you’re not going to get people buying tickets to go watch a stadium event in the middle of the desert because you can’t put an off-road race in a stadium. So that makes it tough. But honestly, I don’t really know what would make it better. What would make factories or manufacturers be more involved to help people that want to be into it.

“For the Dakar, they have drones and helicopters, but for all the smaller races, I think drones would be super sweet if they had all these media guys around the ground with their cameras. But if they were able to put a little bit more drones in the air and send that footage into a media company to make a 45-minute show, I think that would be really awesome. I know that they’ve tried this, but I think it just costs so much money and I mean everyone always wants more money, so it’s kind of tough.”

Although there is certainly American interest in rally raid, especially among competitors, Brabec opined that fan enthusiasm typically spikes for just the Dakar—which is to be expected as the biggest race on the calendar—only to wane again for the rest of the year.

“Dakar’s definitely growing here in America,” Brabec began. “There’s more and more Americans that are going and trying to go, and I think it’s really awesome. My girlfriend’s (Sara Price) actually going to Dakar on a side-by-side. I think she has a big fan base and I think a lot of people are stoked that she’s going. I think this year, there’s probably maybe six Americans going that are competing. Every year, I think the Dakar grows in America a little bit more. But will there be a rally here? I don’t think a rally would be in North America just because of everyone out here and their land and their fences and I don’t know, I don’t see it happening. But the Dakar is definitely growing here in America and people are super excited for it.

“The unfortunate part about that is it’s only once a year. People watch it and then they have to wait a whole year again, and that’s where I think the loss of following the sport is, because if it’s only once a year, it spikes up Christmas time and then the end of January it falls back down until Christmas. The sport is really rising up right now, but then after January it just kind of falls down and then that’s where they lose a lot of viewers, I guess.”

In the meantime, legions of fans and OEMs or not, he will gear up for his ninth Dakar and first with a fellow American for a team-mate at Honda. Howes, who finished third in the 2023 Dakar, joined the team in September.

“Me and Skyler grew up racing together out here our whole careers, our whole life basically,” Brabec recalled. “I’ve known Skyler for actually ten years, I would say, we’ve been racing together for ten years and now that he’s on the team, it makes training a little bit easier just because I feel like Honda would give more—not that they don’t give support, but they’d give more support and more things to help us train here because there’s two of us rather than one of us. Essentially, it makes a better plan to have two Americans so we’ll help support them. I feel like maybe we can get away with a little bit more freedom. It’s definitely awesome having a teammate. I mean, he does live three hours away from me so it’s not super far, but the last three weeks we’ve been training together and it’s been awesome because Skyler is more or less the same style, same speed. To have someone to train with that you can push and they can push you, I think is really beneficial.”

The 2024 Dakar Rally kicks off with the Prologue stage on Friday.

“I know the first week is going to be pretty rocky,” he commented. “The second week will be easier than the first week. From what I’ve heard, the first week is going to be the tough navigation week for sure.”