Ryan Dungey has not only come out of retirement to race professionally again in 2022, but he’s having a lot of fun doing it. The 32-year-old multi-time Pro Motocross champion has been nearly all smiles through the first seven rounds of the season despite narrowly missing the podium on a number of occasions. So now that we are into the second half of the season, the question begs of whether Dungey will go back into retirement at season’s end or is he back for the long haul?
We caught up with Dungey after his fifth-place overall finish at the Spring Creek National to ask him about his day, how the season is going, and what future he foresees for himself in the sport moving forward.
Racer X: All right, 4-6 on the day. Obviously, you want to finish on the podium at home, but you came up in the second moto, you ran up front in the first moto, it was a pretty good day, right?
Ryan Dungey: Yeah, it wasn’t bad. I mean that first moto I was really happy with. You know, we settled in for fourth just right behind Jason [Anderson] and even [Chase] Sexton wasn’t too far up the road, and it was nice. Second moto, just not the greatest start. I put myself in a bad position and just had to make a lot of passes in the beginning of the race but ended up sixth and went 4-6 on the day. I think I was fifth overall. I just feel like I’m on that verge where the next step is the podium and I’m not letting it stress me out and putting all this pressure on myself to get there. Of course we want to do it, but I just kind of feel like these last few races of hanging in this balance of fourth through seventh. You know, the third through seventh place as far as the points go at the end of the day, it’s like we’re all within one or two points or tied. The last couple weekends, I feel like the first moto has been good, but the second moto, I just haven’t backed it up. So, I really want to put in two solid motos moving forward here.
It's been six years since you’ve raced all of these tracks, are you finding coming back that these tracks feel different or have different tendencies about them?
No, it honestly just feels like I never missed a year when I show up to these tracks. I think that’s just instinct and second nature. I do have to be more creative when it comes to the practice timing and getting fast laps. These guys are really creative. I don’t really catch onto things right away, but I see some footage and I’m like, “Ah geez, why didn’t I think of that?” So you watch your Tomac’s, and Anderson’s, and Sexton’s and they do these things that like, I don’t know if we just didn’t do that stuff 5-6 years ago, but they do stuff that’s really creative and it lowers their times quite a bit. Trying to just pick up on that stuff has been challenging.
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Has it been tougher to get used to that early moto intensity again or that late moto push again?
That first few laps, they push. I would say after the first three [laps], things seem to settle. I do need to get a little bit better. It’s not coming natural to me. I don’t think it ever has with that intensity at the beginning of the moto. I think the two things, like yeah, I want to explode out at the beginning but I’m also at the point where I’ve got to get out of the mindset where I’m like trying to manage and pace myself in the moto. It’s like, “No no no, you’re getting fit enough and strong enough to push yourself.” And today, both motos, physically I felt pretty dang good, and it was pretty humid and hot. We’re getting there.
When you decided to come back too, I’m sure there were some [tracks] on your calendar your calendar that you thought, “Man, I can’t wait to do that again.” Was this one of them today or have there been others that you’re like, “I’m so glad I came back and raced this one”?
Yeah, this is one of my favorites for sure. I think this one and RedBud and Budds [Creek] and we’re going to Washougal next week. That track’s been really good to me over my career. Hopefully, we can kind of roll back into where we were five or six years ago.
Now we’re into the second half of this year, we’re getting to the point where this is coming to an end again, have you thought about, “Am I done after this? Am I maybe going to do some more?” What are you thinking?
Yeah, I definitely have an opportunity on the table. There are some doors that are opening, which is good. I do have a lot of stuff to think about between myself and the family. I think Minnesota is good right now for the short term for riding, but I think if we’re going to keep doing this and move forward, we’re going to have to relocate probably down to Florida and do something. We’ve got a lot of stuff to figure out between now and then. I’m not giving you an answer, I’m just saying that a lot of stuff is on the table. We’ll have to have some stuff ironed out by October. But yeah, we’re weighing out all of our options. For me, as long as that drive, and hunger is still there moving forward—I mean this year I probably cut myself some slack a little bit just being out so long. But, if I’m going to do it, I want to win. I want to do it right. If we can do that and keep the balance with the family. I’ve got to think about all that stuff now. I’ve got two kids and everything and my wife. I want to make sure we have a good balance in all areas.
Yeah, now that you’re a dad, like you weren’t racing when you were a dad [before], is it different? Like do you want to show your kids what dad can do and is it cooler to have that aspect as well?
Oh it’s nice. I mean my wife; this was the first race that she’s been to this year since I started back up and even we brought my daughter Harper too. She brought Harper. Little man stayed home, he’s too small yet. [Laughs] He’s on the nap program. But it’s one of those things that it’s cool to share that moment, give her a little kiss before I go up to the line. I guess the first moto she was all pumped and counting the leader one, two, three, four as we came across the finish. But I also don’t want to think about it too much because it’s like, you know, I know the risk of the deal and it’s more dangerous to go out onto the track riding with fear and being scared. So it’s like, “Nope, I’m going to do my job, do it right, do it 100 percent, and be smart.” But it’s cool that I get to go home now, and whether tonight, from the practice track, or flying home from races, I get to see my kids and wife. It’s a different time now. There’s a lot of joy there too.
Watch the full interview here:
