Glendale
State Farm Stadium
Starting at Sun Devil Stadium in 1986, Supercross in the Valley of the Sun has visited three different area venues. Historically, Glendale’s round falls within the first five stops in the series.
Fast Facts
In 1986, Supercross came to Sun Devil Stadium for round 11 of 12 and Ricky Johnson had a healthy 14 point lead after being podium-perfect through the first 10 races. But his teammate David Bailey was on fire, going 1-1-1 at rounds 8-10.
Wrapping up the title in Tempe seemed unlikely but the exact scenario RJ needed actually happened: Bailey finished 9th and Johnson won the race and his first SX title 5.5 years after his first race.
In 1999, Jeremy McGrath capitalized on a disastrous night by rounds 1-2 winner, Ezra Lusk (16th in PHX) to win his 53rd SX and the first Supercross held in downtown Phoenix’s Bank One Ballpark.
McGrath led all 20 laps and beat Mickael Pichon for his first win of the season. MC apologized to the 48,702 fans for the ‘boring’ race. He took a one point championship lead (over Pichon) headed into round 4.
Ricky Carmichael, who missed the 2004 season entirely and then (shockingly) switched to Suzuki for 2005, won his first Supercross main event in more than 22 months. Kevin Windham, who won the opening round in Anaheim, was second.
It was Suzuki’s first premier class main event win since Larry Ward won the 1999 Seattle Supercross. After two rounds, Carmichael trailed Windham by two in the points standings.
Like Ricky Carmichael seven years earlier, Ryan Dungey produced huge results for a new team in his just his second try and, like RC, did it under the guidance of Roger De Coster. “A lot of people said I was crazy,” Dungey said of switching to KTM. “KTM was willing to do whatever it took.”
Dungey gave KTM its first ever 450SX win, one week after a 3rd at Anaheim, KTM’s first ever podium finish.
Eli Tomac could call Glendale home, given he can get there faster from his ranch in Cortez, Colorado than he can get to Denver. And that might explain why he’s the all-time wins leader in the Glendale/Phoenix area with five, two of those coming from Triple Crown events.
Tomac’s very first 450SX victory came at round two in 2015 and he is the only rider to win in both Glendale (State Farm Stadium) and Phoenix (Chase Field).
Venues
Three different venues have hosted Supercross in the Phoenix area, the most populous metro area in the Southwestern United States (5 million). With the exception of 2021, Phoenix has hosted one round each season since 1997.
State Farm Stadium: In 2016, Supercross moved into the home of the NFL’s Cardinals, called University of Phoenix Stadium at the time. SFS has hosted, Super Bowls, the Fiesta Bowl (since 2007) and the NCAA Men’s Final Four.
Chase Field: 1999-2015. In 1999, the series moved into what was then called Bank One Ballpark, home of MLB’s new expansion team, the Arizona Diamondbacks. Naming rights changed to Chase Field in 2006.
Sun Devil Stadium: The first Supercross in the Grand Canyon State happened in May, 1986 at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, a college town east of Phoenix and a marathon’s distance from the current location in Glendale. Sun Devil hosted five rounds between 1986-1997, 1991 & 1997-1998.
The interactive table below details the all-time Glendale leaders. Who has the most starts, wins, podiums and points. Filter by class. On mobile, slide left to access more columns.
All-Time Leaders
Who won Glendale, in what year and what round was the race? Winner history makes that easy to see. Tap ‘additional stats’ to see more info. For Triple Crown events, keep scrolling for a separate chart.
Winner History
Full race results from every Glendale Supercross in sport history. Tap ‘additional stats’ to see position changes and qualifying ranking