“Maybe Honda will steal me forever, I'll ride rally bikes ‘til I'm 85 years old or something.”
Whenever there’s a World Rally-Raid Championship round, it’s fair to say there’s always some anticipation about what hair style Monster Energy Honda HRC’s Ricky Brabec will turn up with. We’ve seen the red hair, the blonde mohawk, the mullet - often paired with a pineapple-printed collar on his race kit or one of his trademark Hawaiian shirts when he’s off the bike.
As bold as his appearance can be, the American rider is quite the opposite in character: one of the most humble people you could ever meet. At this year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed he even joked that he wasn’t sure anyone would actually recognise him. At times he almost seems to forgets that he’s a Dakar legend - twice a winner (2020 and 2024) and the first American to lift the iconic Bedouin trophy.
Ricky looks pensive, “I would say right now, the first time I won much more special than the second time. The first time it was more of like a party environment, you know? Many more people were excited because no American had done that before so there was a massive party back home. Then the second time I won, it wasn't so much of a party; people were excited and texting and calling but the first time compared to the second time was like night and day. The first time I won my phone wouldn't stop ringing for four months, the second, the phone was only busy for like two weeks.”
Realising he sounds like he’s moaning (something his girlfriend, Dakar Rally four wheeled racer, Sara Price, playfully ribs him about often), he acknowledges what he has accomplished. “The feeling though from the first time winning to the second time was the same, it's really cool, really awesome, badass. But winning any race it’s a good feeling, right?”
Now cemented in the Dakar Rally history books forever, the Californian native didn’t initially dream of going to the Dakar. Sure he’d watched it on the television growing up but his background was BMX and motocross to begin with. Ricky adds, “The Dakar is not like something you could just drive your van to and sign up and race. I think that's the hardest challenge is all these teams working probably eight months of the year preparing for the Dakar, where like local racing in America, we load up the van the day before the race and we drive to the race, sign up, race and go home, all within two days.”
After a stellar 2014 season where he clinched the Hare & Hound Championship, Best in the Desert and victories in the Baja 1000, Baja 500, and San Felipe 250, his career would start to ascend when he caught the attention of Honda Racing Corporation. His eyes light up as he remembers, “I never even thought I'd be at the Dakar, it was just something I watched and one day I got a phone call asking what I thought about rally. ‘I mean, it's super cool. I love watching Robbie Gordon’ and they asked me what I know about it and I said, nothing. I raced off road, I didn't know anything about rally. And they asked me, ‘Do you want to try rally?Yeah, no problem, let's do it.’”
Ricky’s first Rally Raid was at the 2015 Abu Dhabi where he finished fifth and then following his second race, the Desafío Ruta 40, it was then that the wheels got into motion for the Dakar.
“After that they were like, ‘well, what do you think about Dakar? Or do you want to go to Dakar? Yeah, no problem.’ My first Dakar I got ninth overall and then after that is when I got my first one year contract. I didn't even know what I was doing, I just signed whatever they put in front of me. And from then on I just stuck with them and they stuck with me. They believed in me. So here we are, 10 years later, two Dakar wins, second place on the podium as well and looking for more. So, it's quite a dream come true.”
The Dakar Rally, often considered the most famous and toughest motorsport event in the world, pushes competitors to their limits over two gruelling weeks of racing across unforgiving terrain. Now held in Saudi Arabia, the rally unfolds against the breathtaking backdrop of the Empty Quarter’s vast dunes, where Ricky has claimed both of his victories.
“The normal public doesn't understand what we go through at the Dakar because the television highlights only show a little bit. It misses the three or four hours of sleep, the 4am starts and all the behind the scenes stuff. The mental aspect of it is tough. You have to stay focused for ‘X’ amount of hours for 15 days and you know, that could be four hours a day or it could be eight or 10 hours a day. And to keep that focus for 15 days, or maybe even more, because you have to be focused before the race too, that side of it's really tough. The physical side can be tough but also there's transfers, there's sleep and stuff that's involved but the mental side of it means your brain never gets a break because even when you're not racing you're thinking about the rally and about the next day or about the day you had. You can sit down and lay down in bed and rest, but your mind is still racing.”
The physical side of the rally also takes its toll and riders aim to arrive to the Dakar in peak physical condition, however that doesn’t always happen with the timing of the World Rally-Raid Championship calendar now and Ricky found out the hard way when he got injured at the 2024 Rallye du Maroc, just two months before the 2025 Dakar.
“Staying healthy all year is probably the hardest thing because you have all these other rallies in between. When I broke my tibia plateau in Morocco the worst part about my injury was I flew home directly from there and I got a blood clot. By the time I got to Dakar this year I had done no riding for two months so just to finish the Dakar in one piece and then get home and actually heal my leg was a big positive.”
As he prepares for his eleventh Dakar Rally in early 2026 he can’t help but notice how much the event has changed over the past decade. The rallies are now set out differently and he seems to long for the days when it was all about the adventure.
He stares off into the distance, “My trainer, Jimmy Lewis, raced the Dakar on a twin cylinder and he was like, ‘That's when men were men’. He always gives me crap. Now we're sprinting every single day in the rally, it's a motocross race. Back then, I feel like it was more of an adventure, the bikes weren't as nice or as good as they are now, but they were fast. It was more about the adventure of getting to the next location whereas now it's a sprint from prologue to the last kilometre so that's where I feel like it's different and maybe we're riding a lot more physically and a little harder, we’re fighting, whereas back then it was full of games and adventure.”
He admits he’s living the dream he had at 18 years old and while there are moments when he just wants to turn up, race and go home, he knows it all comes with the territory of being one of the world’s top rally-raid racers.
“I'm happy where I'm at and I want to keep going. I’ve had a couple of big injuries and maybe it slowed me down a little bit or made me think a little bit more, I mean, I’m getting older. When I started, I was young and more flexible, I would say. But now, getting older and this next Dakar will be 11; it's a long time but I want to keep going as long as I can and try to do the best job I can in every Dakar. And for me, Dakar means more than all these other little rallies.”
He’s still only 34 years of age however the physical side of competing on a bike in rallies can start to take their toll. His Monster Energy Honda HRC teammate Pablo Quintanilla, recently announced his retirement and fellow riders Sam Sunderland and Toby Price also decided to quit the world of two wheels, although the pairing have now turned their attention to four wheels. Would he ever make the switch too?
Ricky laughs, “Yeah, I would. I mean that's a horrible question to ask, why wouldn't you want to switch to four wheels? Of course I want to go to four wheels. In America, it's a hobby as I race four wheels in America just for fun anyway. We race only like four or five rounds a year for rally, so kind of half the year we're busy and half the year we're bored. So if I have a weekend off and there's a a four wheel race then I'll go if I'm ready or my car's ready or my little backyard team is ready. It's a very small program, but to switch to four wheels would be cool. No American has won four wheels in the top Ultimate class and I want to be the American that wins on four wheels in an Ultimate car. There's already a couple of drivers in that top class who are American; they haven't made it happen yet and they've been racing for a couple of years. But I feel like with regards to overall experience, I have more years under my belt than any other American at the moment, so I feel like my chances are pretty good. But, it's also four wheels, wider cars, two extra wheels to worry about, a navigator and I don't have the money to buy myself a spot. I don't see the four wheel programmes here just calling a random Ricky Brabec asking what I think about four wheels, like Honda did to me in 2014. So I think that'll be a long journey when my time is there. I want to be the American that's won on two and four wheels and if some American beats me to it on four wheels, then they can have it, but then they don't have the two wheel win.”
With most of his bucket list already checked off, he knows it’s time to add new challenges. Four wheels have already become part of that journey and it’s clear he’s not the kind of person who will sit still once he eventually closes the door on his bike career. He bleeds Honda red, speaking with passion about the Japanese team members he works with and his career with the brand. When the time comes to step off the bike he hopes to channel that same passion into an ambassador role, perhaps even chasing Dakar glory again on four wheels, if Honda ever considers building a vehicle for it.
“So maybe in the future I can make it there, maybe not. Maybe Honda will steal me forever, I'll ride rally bikes ‘til I'm 85 years old or something. Who knows? I'll be in the senior category at rally. ‘Ricky Brabec, somewhat of a legend. 92 years old racing Dakar.’”
He isn’t just somewhat of a legend, he’s the real thing. Two Dakar victories to his name is no small feat and with any luck, we’ll see him back on the top step again.
