Garage Finds | James Stewart’s 2006 Fox Helmet and Oakley Goggles

Garage Finds | James Stewart’s 2006 Fox Helmet and Oakley Goggles

Presented by Throttle Syndicate

It’s amazing what will amass in your garage when you’ve been covering the sport for nearly three decades, and especially so when you’re forced to pack up your office into a dozen little boxes and relocate all of the treasures that have gathered on your walls. While trying to reorganize my garage a few days ago, I realized that much of the memorabilia I’ve gathered has a cool back story that is well worth sharing. Thus was born our new weekly feature, Garage Finds…

In 2006, James Stewart raced for Team Kawasaki with personal sponsorship from Red Bull and Boost Mobile. The Austrian energy drink brand was testing the waters in motocross and only required Stew to run sticker branding on his helmet, rather than the can-themed complete paint jobs that are more commonplace today. As they continue to today, Fox Racing complements each set of riding gear with a matching helmet, and as such, each of James’ helmets was outfitted with a sticker kit that was produced just for his helmets. 

In 2006, Oakley also produced a JS7 Signature Goggle, complete with gold frame graphics and a textured strap. At the time, Stewart had formed James Stewart Entertainment, which was the business entity that he ran all of his endorsements through. The design of the goggles followed the branding of JSE closely, and was a popular seller for the goggle manufacturer. 

Upon first inspection when I first dug this helmet out of storage, I counted the 12 Fox crossbones stickers on the back of the helmet and assumed that it was from James’ perfect 250 National Championship season in 2007, but that didn’t make sense because Monster Energy signed on as the title sponsor of the Kawasaki factory effort starting in ’07. No one in the Stewart camp was happy about this as he was forced to part ways with Red Bull as his personal sponsor, but as well all know, he was reunited with the brand in 2009 when he left Kawasaki and signed with the San Manuel Yamaha team. Getting back to the dozen stickers, Stew won eight Supercrosses and four MX Nationals in ’06.

Through the years I’d say that James and I became pretty good friends and while it was always easy enough to talk him out of a jersey here and there for a good friend of mine (or my daughter Megan, who was a rabid fan), he always redirected me to “his guy” when I asked for the helmet that I personally wanted for my office wall. At the end of the ’06 season – after Stewart was also on the winning United States Motocross of Nations team – I got a mysterious box from “his guy,” Chris Onstott at Fox Racing. “Could it be?” was written on the top of the box. Needless to say, I was pumped – super pumped, even – when I opened it up and discovered this inside.

Today, James Stewart is retired and raising two sons in Orlando, Florida, with his wife, Breanna. Oddly enough, he’ll usually reply to my texts about life and family, but anything motocross related usually goes unanswered. A few weeks ago, James did break his silence in THIS cool video produced by Seven MX and we can’t wait for part two.

Throttle Syndicate Bike Graphic of the Week

Honda No Wing No Prayer

Price: $199.99

Throttle Syndicate is a new name in the motorcycle graphics game, but the company has been around for years and has amassed more Amateur National, Supercross, and National MX Championships to list. Long-time sponsors of the Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki and Troy Lee Designs/Red Bull/KTM teams, as well as Kawasaki Team Green and more, Throttle Syndicate is known for exceptional quality, perfect fit, and awesome designs.

This week’s Throttle Syndicate Thursday Bike features the No Wing No Prayer Kit for Honda CRs and CRFs. Throttle Syndicate offers a wide variety of starting points for every make and model of motocross bike, including this one for the Honda fans. Thanks to the intuitive and easy-to-use ordering system on the Throttle Syndicate website, customizing the numberplates, front and rear fenders, swingarm and airbox only require a few clicks. If you have special requests, all you have to do is call the crew and they can make your dream bike a reality.

We’ve relied on the Throttle Syndicate crew for years and have consistently been blown away by their products. Two thumbs up from Team SML. CLICK HERE to customize and order!