A
sk any
diehard
FMX fan for
the defining
moment that
was a catalyst
to spark the
entire freestyle motocross movement
and there’s a high chance they’ll say
Crusty Demons’ first video. More
specifically, Seth Enslow’s ridiculous
jump in the dunes where he seemingly
plummets forever before melting into
the landscape in one of the most
spectacular crashes you’ll ever see.
Even today, 14 years later, it defies logic
that Seth could walk away from that
monumental crash, or the multitude
of others in his career that would’ve
legitimately killed a lesser man.
After decades setting the world alight
with the Crusty Demons, crushing
world long-distance records and
running riot at countless afterparties,
the Seth Enslow you’ll meet today is
a different man. He’s still passionate
about the sport and riding motorcycles,
but he’s now settled into a career of
home remodeling, drywall and house
construction.
We caught up with the easy-going,
humble Seth from Costa Mesa for an
in-depth chat about the early days of
FMX, horrific crashes, crazy memories
and world records.
Good to catch up with you, man.
You’re well-known for your Crusty 1
jump in the dunes but obviously you
were riding well before that. How’d
you get into it?
Having a dirt bike was my childhood
dream, but we grew up pretty poor;
my mom had five kids and no dad to
help out with bills or anything. I started
working when I was 12 or 13 and saving
money, so by the time I was 16 I was
able to buy a truck and a dirt bike and
head to the races.
Even as a beginner I was jumping all the
jumps on the track that the pros were,
just because I loved jumping. The sport
just grabbed me and I wanted to pursue
it as a career.
My family and everyone at high school
said ‘you can’t make a living out of
motorcycles’, but I didn’t want to get
old and say ‘what if’, you know?
By the time I was 19 I wanted to escape
the snow and brutal winters of New
York State, so I moved to California. I
wanted to be a stuntman, so I thought
I could go to Hollywood if racing didn’t
work out.
As it turned out, the first person I met in
California was Bubba, who was working
at Race Tech Suspension. He told me
about these guys, Jon Freeman, Dana
Nicholson, Damian Sanders and all the
snowboarders he was friends with. I
was like ‘sh*t, you know those guys?’
I grew up watching the Creatures of
Habit videos to get me amped to go
snowboarding, and just couldn’t believe
it.
The next day I met Dana and a few of
the guys at Huntington Beach and Dana
offered me a job and taught me how
to do metal stud framing and drywall
plastering. I only had $1000 on me and
was living in a cheap motel, so I jumped
at it.
Talk about a stroke of luck.
Oh man, it was crazy. Dana told me he
wanted to make a motocross video like
the old snowboard videos and I knew
straight away it was going to be a hit.
I quit racing and focused on just doing
the videos with him.
Every FMX fan has seen that massive
dune jump from Crusty 1 that made
you a legend overnight. Take us
through that day.
That was within the first few months of
moving to California and my first trip
to the dunes. I remember the whole
thing. I got knocked out for a little bit,
but I came to and all my buddies were
around me wondering if I was alright.
My back was super sore but I couldn’t
get up, even though I could move my
feet. They put me on a dune buggy and
brought me to the car to take me to
hospital as they couldn’t believe what
they’d seen and that I was OK.
Did you have any idea how much of
a legend you’d become overnight
because of that?
We knew the video would be big and
knew that people would be excited to
see that footage, but we didn’t know
the magnitude of it, I don’t think. Seeing
how far it went was just amazing – I’ve
had countless people come up to me
saying they watched Crusty 1 on VHS
so many times they burnt a hole in the
tape. u