INTERVIEW: JOHNNY CAMPBELL
It might be relatively compact and it might not be as shiny and gleaming as the race team headquarters of America’s factory motocross race teams, but Johnny Campbell Racing punches well above its weight when it comes to the sheer volume of race success it has enjoyed over the past three decades.
In American off-road and Baja racing, JCR has long been a dominant force, with its patron saint of thunder, Johnny Campbell himself, leading the way. And he’s done it all on Honda four-stroke dirtbikes, ranging from the legendary XR600R, through the thundering XR650R, to the latest CRF450 thumpers.
To a legion of Honda big-bore XR riders, Johnny Campbell is Ride Red royalty and during a recent trip to south California, we just had to drop in on the great man at JCR HQ in San Clemente and benchrace his amazing career …
WHERE DID THE JOHNNY CAMPBELL DIRTBIKE STORY START?
I actually grew up near the beach in southern California, and as a kid I was body-boarding all the time. But my dad rode dirtbikes and raced as an amateur, so we’d go out into the desert to camp and ride bikes. Dad always rode Honda CRs and XRs, so my first bike was an XR75.
DID YOU RACE MOTOCROSS AS A KID?
I did, but I was more attracted to desert racing
