Chad Reed knew from a young age he wanted to be like Jeremy McGrath and race AMA Supercross in the United States of America. He first watched McGrath on a small TV back in Australia and would not stop at anything short of following in the footsteps of his idol. He would embark on quite the unique journey from Australia to Europe, without a true plan other than whatever it takes to get to U.S. AMA Supercross.

In 1999, Reed got his first taste of racing in the U.S. From there, he would return several years later and become a podium staple in the paddock full-time, for over two decades. When he finally hung up the boots from professional racing in June 2020, Reed’s name was spread all over the history books, just like his idol. His all-time premier class SX starts (265) and podiums (132) are marks that seem untouchable by anyone else. Year in and year out, every weekend, Reed was always there, and he was always competitive.

Last week, Reed made the final “start” of his career: he was inducted into the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame as a member of the Class of 2025 on October 23, 2025. Now, Reed’s name, records, and memorabilia sit among the greatest in the sport, again, including his idol, Jeremy McGrath.

If you have not caught on by now, Reed’s four favorite things in life—in no particular order—are AMA Supercross, Jeremy McGrath, his wife Ellie, and his three kids (Tate, Kiah, and Pace). Those that watch the sport know just as much as Reed was at the races, so were his family, often being part of opening ceremonies to kick off the night racing.

While Reed has been retired for a handful of years now, his passion for the sport—and skills on a bike—have not faded. He jumped on a supercross track at ClubMX just two days before his induction into the Hall of Fame and a quick Instagram video showed he still has it. But now, he is getting to share his love for the sport with his kids, as Tate is eyeing a jump into the SMX Next amateur program in the near future and his daughter Kiah is turning heads with her racing as well.

After the ceremony, I caught up with Reed to talk about the ceremony, his speech, his career, and his family.

Racer X Online: All right, Chad Reed, you’re in the AMA Hall of Fame, congratulations. It’s a couple hours now after the speech, and you’ve been inducted. Has it settled in yet that you’re officially a member of the Hall of Fame yet?
Chad Reed: Yeah. I mean, I feel like I was really lucky, actually. You know, not many people can claim that they’re in multiple Hall of Fames. And beginning of this year, I was inducted into the Australian Motorsport Hall of Fame. And so, I kind of had a little bit of that initial feeling. I didn’t attend the event, and so I missed that part. So, this part, you know, definitely brings up more emotions, like what it’s about. And, you know, speaking of just things as an athlete or as a human, you suppress and keep those feelings all bottled up. And an evening like this, they all seem to come bottling to the top to the tears, I guess. So, just proud. Proud to be amongst a lot of…Yeah, I don’t even…there’s just no word other than legends. A lot of my friends and people that I, you know, spent many years battling. And for me, it’s just a real honor to be a part of that group.

And so, I was actually here when James Stewart got inducted in. We know the rivalry you had with him and Ricky. James actually said you and Ricky had both texted him that night when he was inducted in. Have you heard from those guys? And kind of what’s it like now that relationship?
I got a text from Ricky. I’m going to make sure that I don’t have one from James, so I don’t leave him out, but I do not. I do not have one from James, I don’t believe, but Ricky texted me and [Ryan] Dungy texted me you know, as far as, like the guys that I raced. But James is not a texter, so I wouldn’t expect that from him anyway.