Casey Stoner is without a doubt one of the greatest humans to ever throw their leg over a motorcycle. He won over 40 Australian Dirt Track and Long Track titles before moving to Europe to try and make it big in road racing, his eyes always set on MotoGP. As Casey reveals in the podcast, the path was always clear in his mind – 5 world titles to match (but not break) his hero Mick Doohan and then retire with a wife and two kids. In the process of working towards this goal, Casey became a somewhat mythological figure in the sport of MotoGP. His rivals called him the most talented rider of all time and on his best days he could beat the best at 50% effort. He changed the way people rode a motorcycle and shifted the baseline for what we all think is possible, leaving the future of the sport to paint with a new brush. As you will hear in this 4 hour podcast, he did this all while battling crippling anxiety…

I first met Casey a couple of years ago at the Doohans house celebrating Jacks birthday and also his farewell as head headed to Europe to race 4 wheels. I was shocked when Casey bought up his favorite Gypsy Tales shows and further blown away when I realized he knew more about motocross and supercross than I did. We will have to save more of that for another episode but some of his stories of working with Ryan Villopotto are insane. Over a few ridiculously expensive bottles of wine from Mick’s cellar we bench raced for hours with the occasional detour to talk about another closet obsession of mine, golf… At this time Casey was still dealing pretty heavily with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and wasn’t out on course as much as he would like to be but we agreed to tee it up first chance we got.

I honestly can’t remember if the podcast came up with regards to Casey appearing on as a guest. I remember when I first started the podcast, everyone who I mentioned Casey being on the show too would quickly shut the idea down. Casey didn’t really do a lot of media and his battle with CFS certainly didn’t help the cause. Regardless, I would always rather have a genuine friendship with someone than an episode of the podcast and I was stoked that Casey listened to the show and was keen for a round at some point.

Towards the end of last year, we had started playing golf a bit more regularly (Casey is a fucking weapon by the way – I just try not to get in the way) Casey mentioned that he would be keen to come on the show and that was it. We decided we should for sure get in a round near the studio before we sat down and during the Christmas break we made it happen. Casey went on to shoot his lowest round ever at a 75, we had an epic lunch at Palm Springs and then sat down for what is one of my favorite shows of all time – even though I am not supposed to have favorites.

From his incredible technical breakdowns of talent, the human gyro that he believes was so pivotal to his success, turn 3 at Phillip Island and more. I have so much respect for how open and honest Casey was in this podcast. For a guy that openly has shied away from fame and attention, he gave fans a special level of access to the way he works as a person; something we were rarely privy to during his racing career.

About midway through our round of golf that morning, Casey mentioned that he had recently been diagnosed with anxiety. We spoke at length about our struggles and it wasn’t something that I was going to bring up on the podcast, but as a testament to the level of honesty on display during the show he bought it up himself.

To speak on anxiety, releasing a show like this, with someone so respected in the game; is my biggest source of anxiety. I spoke about the level of anxiety that I had around releasing the Danny Ric show; but for this one I was surprisingly at ease and to have it come up to such an awesome response is one of the best parts of doing this as a job. 

This won’t be the last content you see with Casey on Gypsy Tales in 2022 and as a member you will be seeing it all first. We are balls deep in organizing parts for the CRF450R flat tracker build, and the great man is keen as to jump in for a SX Companion.

As always I hope this extended into the show has given you even more context around this episode of the podcast and I thank you all for being a part of the gang and watching / listening.

Jase