Interview with Johnny Greaves, Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame Honoree

Ripping around the north woods of America’s heartland in a distinctly-sounding M-claw shod Toyota PRO 4 off-roader, Monster Energy’s Johnny Greaves is a living legend within the tight knit short course off-road community in and around his native Wisconsin.

And this past weekend, in Vegas, Greaves’ legend grew even more when he was recognized by the Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame (ORMHOF) for his longtime prowess and successes on the long and short course tracks of multiple Western States, Baja, the Midwest short course series (SCORE, SODA, TORC, etc.) throughout history and, most recently, the AMSOIL Championship Off-Road.

Greaves’ unmatched off-road racing efforts, especially in short course, span some four decades. The former pro motocross racer, who’s been with Monster Energy since 2005, said that the ORMHOF induction was definitely a career highlight, especially when you consider the legendary off-road firepower that currently lines the walls of the Hall.

“It was really a cool deal. Obviously, a huge honor to be recognized in the Off-Road Hall of Fame, especially when you look at the list of people that are in there - the legends, little bit of everybody in the off-road industry,” said Greaves. “I’m probably one of the younger ones in there now. They (ORMHOF officials) put me in somewhat early compared to the others.”

Greaves joked that, when they were all getting together for photos, which included, posthumously, Monster Energy’s late great Ken Block, other inductees were asking Greaves “Aren’t you kind of young to be in here?”

“Figured I wasn’t the youngest, but for sure younger than most,” said Greaves. “Big thing is I’m still engaged in my career in racing, where most of them are done by the time they get in there.”

Younger than the Hall members, but the elder statesman in AMSOIL Championship Off-Road racing, Greaves is known for his classic line “Today they all just got beat by a grandpa,” said from the podium of a recent COR event, with his grandson, Jackson, in his arms.

But as that and many other great podium quotes from Greaves were easy to come by, he admitted that he got choked up a bit when it was time to give his acceptance speech at the South Point Hotel & Casino in Vegas.

“About the time they call you up to do your speech, that’s when it really sets in,” said Greaves of the impact of his Hall recognition. “You quickly realize there’s 800 eyeballs staring at you, lot of the past inductees and everyone’s involved in one way or another. That’s when the butterflies set in. It was actually a bit nerve wracking. I’m usually pretty, good at that. But this past weekend was a little bit different.”

A couple of those 800 eyeballs belonged to Greaves’ son, currently multi-discipline COR champ CJ Greaves. And it’s a pretty safe bet that CJ, if he continues anywhere near his current short course winning trajectory, will join his pops in the Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame – which would be a “really cool thing,” according to the senior Greaves.

“CJ and I have done so much together as a race team, partners in this whole racing world,” said Greaves. “If he were ever to get nominated into that, and I agree, he’s on that path, done everything right and is now super involved in building the sport AND race cars. It’s really possibly, yeah, and I hope it happens.”

In addition to Greaves’ 20 years with Monster Energy, he’s also logged an incredible 30 years with Toyota – a company that was equally thrilled with Greaves’ Off-Road Hall of Fame induction.

“Oh yeah, Toyota was definitely pumped. They sent two of their top people in Toyota Motor Sales and Toyota Race Development, and they also sponsored the event,” said Greaves. “Toyota also ran some social media ads congratulating me – and they were definitely there and on board. Both Monster Energy and Toyota have been my longest term sponsors. A little over 30 years with Toyota, dating back to 1994. And Monster, it’s been 20 years now. Pretty cool to be able to maintain a couple sponsorship at that level for this amount of time.”

Now with the leaves fallen and snow right around the corner, Greaves shifts gears and heads down to his place in Florida to catch up on rest, relaxation and fishing. His plans for 2025 are to still get after it on the COR series, the extent of which is still in the works.

We really don’t know. Will wait and figure it all out as we get closer,” said Greaves to the team’s plans for 2025. “ They (COR) have a new schedule and added a couple races, with which comes a lot more traveling. We’re waiting to see what kind of purse that involves and see if they come up with some way to entice the drivers to chase it. (We’ll) take a look at it as we get closer and see where it’s going.”