We caught up with Honda’s Josh Grant to have him explain the hidden meaning behind his sleeve for this installment of Under The Gun.
“I was in Florida with all my good friends and I decided I wanted to get a tattoo and I didn’t really know what I wanted so I was trying to figure that out. I knew I wanted something meaningful because I didn’t want to put something on my arm for no reason. Carey Hart had hooked me up with one of his guys named Robert at Hart and Huntington in Orlando.
I wanted to make like a graveyard of all my buddies that have passed away riding that I have known for a long time. With a whole graveyard and Jesus Christ theme so people would know it’s a Christianity thing. So I really thought about putting their numbers and some kind of fog coming out of the graveyard.
Hill of Crosses, Lithuania
I found some pictures online and there’s this place called Hill of Crosses in Lithuania. It was the coolest picture I could come up with, and had a bunch of crosses. Thousands of people have been putting crosses on this hill for centuries. That’s how I got the idea and then I spent about 24 hours total on my arm. I did it in three days. I did two eight-hour sessions first, and I think one was a seven-hour session. It was right after the season was over and we were going to go to des Nations, so I did it the week before des Nations was at Budds Creek.
I’ve got roses around the base of the cross and the fog comes up around the cross. Below that is the Christ statue with a bunch of crosses and a staircase coming up to the top of my elbow.
For the numbers, I have 412 which is my friend Jason Ciarletta who I grew up riding with in Riverside. He passed away a few years ago riding San Diego Supercross. I have 556 for Shane Kelly on there. He was a guy I knew for a long time that passed away at our local track in Perris.
I also have 38 for Brett Downey. He was a young little rider coming up that was a cool kid who I’d known for a long time. I knew his family for a long time and he passed away out at Glen Helen practicing. Those are the three that I have on there.
People come up and look at it and once they realize the story behind it they’re kind of shocked a little bit. From far away it looks like it might just be a regular tattoo sleeve on my arm but it has a lot of meaning to me."
Missed the last Under the Gun with FMX'er Mike Mason? Check it out.
