Glendale
Glendale, AZ
Starting at Sun Devil Stadium in 1986, the Phoenix area has hosted over two dozen Supercross races across three different venues. The majority of appearances for this race have been rounds 2-5 and 2024 will be the first ever round 6.
Fast Facts
Phoenix Venues
Three different venues have hosted Supercross in the Phoenix area. With the exception of 2021, Phoenix has hosted one round each season since 1997.
- 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 Stadium hosted five rounds between 1986-1997, 1991 & 1997-1998
- 1999-2015: in 1999, the series moved into Bank One Ballpark, home of MLB’s new expansion team, the Arizona Diamondbacks. The baseball venue’s naming rights changed to Chase Field in 2006.
- 2016-Present: Supercross moved into the home of the NFL’s Cardinals in 2016. At the time, it was called University of Phoenix Stadium. It’s now State Farm Stadium.
- SFS has hosted three Super Bowls, the Fiesta Bowl since 2007 and will host the 2024 NCAA Men’s Final Four Basketball games.
In 1986, Ricky Johnson came into round 11 at Sun Devil Stadium with a 14 pt. lead. He was also on a three-race skid; David Bailey had won rounds 8, 9 and 10. So, wrapping up the title that night seemed unlikely (the series was only 12 rounds). But the exact scenario RJ needed actually happened: Bailey finished 9th and Johnson won his first SX title five and a half years after his first race.
1999: Jeremy McGrath beat Mickael Pichon to win the first Supercross held in the home of the Arizona Diamondbacks. It was round 3 and his first win of the season. He took a one point championship lead into round 4.
2005: Ricky Carmichael won his first Supercross after switching to American Suzuki. It was yellow’s first premier class main event win since Larry Ward in 1999. After two rounds, Carmichael trailed Kevin Windham by two in the points standings.
In just his second race with the brand, Ryan Dungey, gave KTM its first ever Supercross premier class win. This happened one week after Dungey opened the season with a 3rd place in Anaheim, KTM’s first ever podium finish in the class.
With 5 victories in Glendale, Eli Tomac is the all-time leader of Supercross racing in Arizona. He won the last race held at Chase Field (2015) and has twice won two in a row at State Farm Stadium (2017-2018 & 2022-2023). If he wins a 3rd Glendale in a row in 2024, he’d be the second rider ever to do so (James Stewart won Phoenix from 2007-2009)
The chart below details the all-time leaders in Tempe/Phoenix/Glendale. Eli Tomac holds the #1 spot for most wins in the region, fitting given travel time from Cortez, CO to Glendale is quicker than to Denver, CO. It’s almost more of a home race than Colorado. To get more granular, Tomac is also the only rider to win in both Glendale (State Farm Stadium) and Phoenix (Chase Field)
All-Time Leaders
The chart below here is year-by-year winner’s history. Glendale was a Triple Crown event in 2020, 2022 & 2023. Keep scrolling to see those in a separate chart