As a kid growing up during the heyday of the legendary El Cajon zone, SoCal’s Tommy Clowers was a BMX and motocross protégée that’d turn pro on a dirt bike and, at one point, got his own Hi Flyer card – pro motocross’ answer to the Topps baseball card. Rising through the pro MX ranks during the McGrath era, Clowers – running out of the same Barona Oaks MX compound that produced Marty Smith, Ryan Hughes, Mike Craig and Scott Burnworth – saw some success on the various pro tours (SX, MX & AX) both here and overseas. But it would be the then fledgling sport of FMX that would attract Clowers’ formidable dirt bike talents. A consistent invitee to all the major freestyle motocross comps, Clowers showed great talent and was highly sought after as a freestyle show performer as well. So Clowers made the decision and holeshot out of MX/SX and into FMX without looking back. But it would be a new sport at the X Games – the year 2000’s Moto-X Step Up competition – that would become Clowers’ mantra for the next decade. Winning the very first X Step Up comp with a record 35-foot jump (a record that still stands), Clowers would go on to win the next two X Games Step Ups – a three peat – and add another gold in 2005 (four X Games gold Step Up medals and a silver during his five-year reign). Retiring in 2008, Clowers recently returned the 2011 X Games with Monster Energy for Step Up.