Interview with Jamie Little

If you've watched Supercross in the last six years, you know her: the bombshell with the microphone, Jamie Little. Jamie's in her sixth year covering Supercross, and is now a full-time live announcer with ESPN. You may have seen her on ABC Sports lately covering IndyCar; Jamie has been all over the place covering motorsports events across the country 40 weekends a year! But she still finds time to ride her CRF230, her new Two Brothers Racing KLX110 and do some downhill mountain biking. We thought it was time we sat down with Little to hear what she's been up to. She talked with us about her gig at ESPN, her new video game: MX World Tour Featuring Jamie Little, and why her passion will always be Supercross.

Age: 27
Resides: Las Vegas
Marital Status: Single (don't get any ideas!)

DR: Kawasaki recently presented you with a custom KLX110; was that a surprise, or did you know that was coming?
JL: I knew the bike was coming because Kawasaki asked me to host a Supercross pep rally for all their employees. I said, "Well, instead of getting paid, I want to get a 110." Because I've been racing and I'm tired of riding Pastrana's (or whoever elses) bike, and I break it. So they said they'd get me a bike and have some stuff done to it.
Then I'm going down the line during the meeting and I'm interviewing Bubba and he grabs the mic from me and says, "Jamie, all that you've done for our sport, we have a gift for you." Then Joel Albrecht from Two Brothers Racing rides my bike out. They supped it up, made it bigger for me since I'm so tall. It looks like a Barbie bike! It has pink and purple hibiscus flowers all over it; it's so funny. The way they presented it was just so cool.

So you're racing now?
Every once in a while, a couple times a year, like at the MiniMoto Supercross they had last May at the Orleans [Arena in Las Vegas]. They had a women's class. There were about 20 women, and this year I hear there's going to be a lot more. It was a big race. I had about a ten second lead and then I hit a tuff block and endoed and broke the bike. I got back up and finished second. So I'm coming back for redemption this year. It's nice to have my own bike so I can actually practice now.

Tell me about your video game coming out.
It's called "MX World Tour Featuring Jamie Little" for Xbox and PlayStation2. It's through Crave games; they did Travis Pastrana's game. They wanted to do something different to appeal to girls that play video games and women that ride. They thought, "Instead of paying high-price for a rider, let's try something different and we'll bring in Jamie and see what happens." I voiced the game, I'm the main rider and it goes on tracks all around the world that they've created; 32 different tracks. It's really fun. It's kind of surreal, but I'm excited about it. Anything to help the sport, I'm for. Click here for more on MX World Tour Featuring Jamie Little.

How are you enjoying being with ESPN?
I love it. They have me so busy; I did 40 events last year. I was on the road about 40 weekends total. I'm loving it, though. They're keeping me busy with IRL (Indy Racing League), Supercross, Motocross, X-Games, Great Outdoor Games, so it's awesome. I love it, but my passion is Supercross, so I always love starting off my year [at Anaheim]. It's the best thing.

They respect the fact that Supercross is your favorite?
Yeah, they know this is where I want to be. If not, they would have replaced me last year and put me on something else, which is fine, but they'd want to move me to another sport and I'm like, "Wait a minute, I'll do other things, but I like Supercross." For now, it's just the best place to be. When you love something, you're good at doing it, so why move to another sport that I'm not as passionate about?

How about IRL; do you have a lot of background or experience there?
Last year was my first year. They came to me at Winter X-Games and said, "What do you know about car racing?" and I said, "Nothing, but I can learn." Three weeks later I did my first race in Homestead, Florida. The series is split between ESPN and ABC, and I did all the ESPN [coverage], so I did about ten races and then I ended up getting put on the Indy 500. ABC kept adding me to theirs, so this year, I'm in for every single race... all 17.

What did you do in preparation for covering Indy?
I went to car racing school for three days just to get the feeling because I really wanted to know what it was like. I watched races on tv, I still do go to every website every day; that's how you do your homework all year long. I wrote down 200 questions and I [get answers] from the guys that know it. You have to go up to every team and introduce yourself. I remember going to Anaheim Supercross, walking up to every team and introducing myself to people I didn't know. I let them know who I was and what I was doing. You learn a lot, and then those people you go introduce yourself to are the ones coming and telling you stories, or [giving you] insight.

How do those events compare to covering Supercross?
It's definitely more of a challenge because, for one, it's live tv, and a lot of the races are on ABC Sports, so it's a much larger audience watching. And what you say goes! Everybody hears it; there's no taking it back or doing it over. And it's SO much more intense because it's so loud and the cars are so fast. You can get hurt; I have to wear a fire suit in the pits. The fires in IRL are clear becasue of the fuel, so it's very dangerous. There's a lot more stress to it, and I think there's a lot more on the line—it's life or death, not broken bones like it is [in Supercross].

Have you had any embarrasing moments or fumbles?
Yeah... definitely in IRL. They threw to me in the pits one time for a pit stop and I wasn't even at the car yet. There was a miscommunication with my producer, so I made up a pit stop. And it turned out to be right, but I made it real generic: "He's getting fuel and tires; no changes." Well it turned out that's what he did - thank God. You just gotta wing it! You're on live tv, you can't say, "Oh, umm... I don't have that answer for you..."

For more on Jamie Little including news and pictures, visit her website at JamieLittle.com.