While riding a tiny 50cc bike on his family’s ranch in southwest Colorado, a young Eli Tomac started down the track toward motocross immortality.

Tomac, the son of iconic mountain biker John Tomac, got that first bike for Christmas when he was 4 years old. In the decades that followed, the father and son trained relentlessly on what was at first a small-scale track on just a couple of acres.

Now, the same 800-acre ranch where Tomac still trains is a sprawling motocross oasis in the shadow of the Battle Rock sandstone formation in McElmo Canyon. There’s a full-size motocross track, multiple supercross tracks and some smaller practice tracks, too, encompassing about 80 acres.

“We started to build the track when we first started riding together, and it kept evolving as his bikes got bigger, as his skill level raised,” John Tomac said. “We just kept advancing the track with him. We added on, we refined it, we moved it a couple of times.

“There’s a lot of kids who are good racers when they’re younger, and they don’t pan out later. I think it helped that I was a professional athlete, we had the land to practice on, and I kind of knew a good pathway and I could gauge where he was at, and where he might end up. … But even with all that, he definitely exceeded what a normal expectation for a career would be.”

Tomac is the local headliner at the Thunder Valley National on Saturday in Lakewood.

A four-time motocross champion and two-time supercross champion, he’s racing there for the first time in a couple of years after injuries prevented him from competing in 2023 and ‘24. Tomac enters the race in third place in the 450 class, 17 points behind leader Jett Lawrence.The 32-year-old veteran’s won four times in Colorado as a pro. He claimed the first supercross event at Empower Field in 2019 and has also won at Thunder Valley three times: the 250 class in 2013, and the 450 class in 2018 and ‘20. Thunder Valley promoter David Clabaugh says Tomac’s return “notches up the excitement around the event.”

Tomac, who broke his leg in February at a supercross race in Tampa, believes he still has the speed to win and vie for the circuit title this season despite being one of the oldest competitors in the field. Tomac placed second in the first race of the season at Fox Raceway, then fourth in the second race last weekend at Hangtown, where he won the first moto but crashed in the second.

“The comeback and the rebound have been really good,” Tomac said. “I’m looking forward to a better showing in Colorado, because the last time I raced in Colorado in 2024, I ended up breaking my thumb in Denver (during supercross). That was a bummer.

“… I’m more motivated when I show up in Colorado. I get this natural lift and motivation, and the home crowd’s always great.”

While Tomac looks to return to the Thunder Valley podium, John is the grand marshal of Saturday’s event. John’s guided Eli throughout his career, from the time Eli won his first race at Loretta Lynn’s at the age of nine, to Eli becoming the only rider ever to win his pro debut in 2010, and through the championships and Eli’s 108 total American Motorcyclist Association wins.

Eli said his father’s coaching and support have been critical to his success and longevity. The father-son duo got their start in the sport together when Eli was little and they’d travel to races with John competing in his own class as an amateur.

“He’s been with me by my side since the beginning of it all, going to every race,” Eli said. “It’s a little out of the ordinary, but we’ve made it work, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. We’ve been able to maintain a great father-son working relationship. He’s always had a great eye in terms of technique on the motorcycle, helping me find lines before the race, and the little details of the sport others might overlook.”

Considering both of their resumes, John and Eli are one of the most accomplished father-son duos to ever get on two wheels.

John won the National Off-Road Bicycle Association Championship in cross-country, downhill and slalom in 1988, and went on to accumulate several more titles before retiring in 2005 as the winningest mountain biker ever. He was also an elite road cyclist who competed for the U.S.A. Cycling National Team.

All that earned John induction into the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame and U.S. Bicycling Hall of Fame.

“There’s a reason why they call him ‘The General,’” said motocross racer and family friend Jeremy Martin, who trained with Eli in Cortez for several years. “That dude left no stone unturned, and he held you accountable. Even on the days you were tired, he showed up, put in the work, was consistent, was rock solid. He did what needed to be done when you never wanted to do it.”

Now, “The General” is determined to see his son finish his career on his terms.

Eli says he’s planning on racing at least one more year after this one, then he might hang it up. But John says he’s heard that before and thinks his son has even more in the tank while going up against the sport’s next generation of stars, such as Lawrence, a 21-year-old phenom who’s already won an AMA 450-class title in motocross and supercross.

“He says next year will be his last, but he’s told me that three or four times,” John quipped. “There’s some really fast young kids who are coming up now, and he really enjoys competing against them. That’s part of the fire in his belly, is to prove he’s still got it.”

A win at Thunder Valley would bump Tomac up the all-time standings.

He’s currently fourth on the all-time 450 motocross wins list with 32 victories, one short of tying Rick Johnson for third place. He’s also second on the all-time 450 supercross wins list with 53. His 85 combined wins in motocross and supercross are only bettered by the sport’s greatest rider ever, Ricky Carmichael’s 124 wins, and the king of supercross, fellow icon Jeremy McGrath’s 87 wins.

Both are AMA Motorcycle Hall of Famers, a club that the speed demon from tiny Cortez seems destined to join.

“The guys he’s surrounded by in the record books are legends, so I think Eli is absolutely a legend, too,” Martin said. “He’s a good ol’ Colorado country boy who works hard, has stayed true to his roots, and has consistently found a way to win. And I don’t think he’s done winning.”