Langston, Grant
Name/Title
Langston, GrantTags
Motocross & SupercrossDescription
- The only rider to win an FIM Motocross World Championship, an AMA Motocross National Championship and both AMA Supercross Regional Championships (East and West) - A supremely versatile rider who won championships in both outdoor motocross and indoor supercross and in the 125cc, 250cc and 450cc displacement categories - Now a professional race commentator and motorcycle dealership owner Hailing from Durban, South Africa, it was a long but ultimately successful road to the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame for Grant Langston. After learning to ride aboard a Yamaha PW50, Langston quickly fell in love with racing motocross at a young age. “My very first race, I think I finished last or second to last,” Langston said. “But I picked it up very quickly. I think it was my fourth race that I won. And I don’t remember exactly what drove me, but I think between liking motorcycles and then the feeling of victory, motocross just consumed my life.” In 1998, Langston — just 15 years old at the time — left his home country and moved to Europe to launch his professional racing career. Joined by his father, Gerald, and uncle/mechanic, Andrew, Langston quickly gained notice by winning the 2000 FIM 125cc World Motocross Championship riding for KTM. “I was so young and naïve, I didn’t really know what I was getting into,” Langston said. “It was a little tough there for a while. But I think that also helped drive me, because I was like, ‘Man, I’m going to win a world title and then I know I’ll have opportunities to go to America,’ because I wanted to get there as soon as possible.” Owing to his success on the international stage, Langston soon inked a deal to move to the United States and compete on the AMA Supercross circuit — despite his total lack of Supercross experience. Just like he did in Europe, Langston wasted no time making a name for himself in the U.S., claiming the first-ever win for a KTM rider in an AMA 125 Supercross event with his victory in Dallas in 2001. Whether he was competing on the American or World circuit, Grant Langston was always in the hunt to collect more championships. “In the beginning, Supercross did intimidate me a little bit, but I’m a pretty driven person,” Langston said. “I wanted to become successful in Supercross because I really didn’t want to be known as just a motocross guy.” Langston added another first for KTM in 2003, becoming the team’s first AMA Pro Motocross Champion when he captured the AMA 125 National Championship. During that same season, Langston also earned another national title in the Unlimited category of the AMA Supermoto circuit. Langston departed KTM for Kawasaki in 2005, opting to race a four-stroke 250cc motorcycle, and he remained dominant on the track, picking up the AMA 125/250cc East Region Supercross title that season. One year later, Langston added the AMA 125/250cc West Region Supercross title, becoming the first rider to win both regional championships in what was then one of the most competitive racing series in the world. In 2007, Langston moved to Yamaha and started racing in the 450cc class. The jump to bigger bikes didn’t faze him at all and, thanks to a late-season surge, Langston clinched the AMA 450cc Pro Motocross Championship that year — decisively ending AMA Hall of Famer Ricky Carmichael’s seven-straight streak of AMA 450 Pro Motocross Championships. “That season was a bit of a rollercoaster,” Langston said. “The first part of the season, almost to the halfway point, it was a struggle. I just kind of caught fire in the second half of the season.” Langston’s career was tragically cut short when he began suffering from vision problems during the 2008 season. Upon further evaluation, doctors found a cancerous tumor, and although it was successfully removed, his vision never fully recovered. “I think because of how my career ended, I had no exit strategy,” Langston said. “It was a tough pill to swallow, and then I think for a while it was a little tough to figure out who you are and what your identity is.” As his professional racing career wound down, Langston began new chapters in the world of motorcycling by opening his own multi-brand motorcycle dealership (Langston Motorsports) in Perris, Calif. Langston also remained close to professional motorcycle racing by serving as a race commentator for NBC Sports’ coverage of the Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross Championship. His induction to the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame remains one of the highlights of his career. “Being from South Africa and growing up doing amateur racing in my home country, you don’t really understand the magnitude of the AMA, which for me I discovered when I moved here,” Langston said. “I was fortunate enough — I was in Ohio in 2010 and a friend and I went and saw the AMA Hall of Fame Museum. From that day on, I was like, ‘Wow, it would be a true honor to be in here...’” And now he is.Category
Class of 2023