Where Are They Now: David Vuillemin

Also, very aggressive.
Yeah, very aggressive, sketchy. So, we had to calm him down and work on technique. A lot of work. Then he got hurt in Atlanta ’18. Broke his jaw and everything, so he was out for a while. Then ’19 was better. He won the supercross championship against Adam [Cianciarulo] when Adam blew up in the last race. Then had a good season with Adam outdoors. Came up short. Then won both titles in ’20, and then ’21 the 450. So that was great. Just like I was saying on the show, it was good to finally find someone that I could do everything on a daily basis, like the training side. My vision of training, my vision of riding. That was the first time basically that I got to do that with someone.

They were all in.
Yeah, all in. That was good.

When you go to the races now, when you’re working with Marvin or Dylan, what do fans want to talk to you about? What’s the first thing they want to talk to you about? There are a few things that come to mind from your career, but what do fans say? “Oh, I remember this or that?”
It’s funny. It’s never the wins. I remember the goon riding video, and Reality of Speed, the TV show. So, a lot of people still talk to me about that. But it’s never about the wins or the things that I’m the most proud of. It’s just like something that went viral. So, I guess the TV show was more viral and then the goon riding video from the Transworld DVD or whatever.

I would think the Fox video, Dream On, or whatever that was where you were at the dunes.
We did the dunes just like a photo shoot, but I was in Terrafirma 7. But I never hear about stuff like that. That’s kind of old. That was 2001, so very old.

Favorite teammate you had?
It has to be Red Dog [Tim Ferry] and Nick Wey. Both kind of the same kind of dude, mellow and easy-going, never had problems. I really enjoyed my season at MDK with Nick. Nick got hurt that year and most of the year I was alone, but it was good. Red Dog we were teammates for a while and never had any problems. They were nice. Family was nice. Parents were at the races all the time. Always super nice. Never had any problems. Those were nice guys.

You could have stayed at Yamaha in ’06. You got a better deal for supercross only from a privateer team. Was that a regretful situation? Should you have stayed at Factory Yamaha, or looking back, was that where things went south for you?
Maybe, because I was having good results in ’04, ’05. I got fourth in supercross, fourth in motocross both years, so it was good there. I don’t really regret because at that time, with the money and I was signing for supercross only, it was the best deal for me to do two years and then retire. That was pretty much my plan. It didn’t work out, so halfway through we split and then I had to start from scratch and find a bike. Then I ended up going to nationals on MotoWorld. Keith McCarty helped me out pretty good with parts and everything. He told me whatever he would give me factory bonuses for nationals if I podiumed, or whatever.

Then I got second in Millville in the mud and then they paid me like I was a factory rider, so that was good. Then I had a little bit of money from No Fear to do that season. That was a crazy year because I moved back from Texas and started from scratch. I picked up a bike at Yamaha, a stock bike. I just rode a stock bike for the longest time to get ready. Then I think I did first privateer in outdoors and got some top four, top five, which was good at that time. But I was on the downhill. Then MDK I got, not a good deal, but I got a ride at MDK that was also good. I did top privateer in supercross and did good outdoors, until I got hurt pretty bad at Millville at the start. But at that time, I already signed my contract. I already broke my second year deal with MDK to go to Factory Suzuki, and I got hurt really bad. That screwed up my season the next year because I started late. It was tough.

You started in the GP’s. You won a bunch there. Are you glad you ended it at the GP’s? It didn’t go the way you wanted it to, but your family moved over there. You got to sort of put a bow on the career racing a GP?
Yeah, obviously it was a privateer effort. It was a lot of better equipment. All the factories were there, factory teams but European-based team like the Rinaldi, Geobers back then that was Suzuki. They had a lot of experience. So, I showed up and obviously I didn’t really ride sand for ten years, so all the sand tracks I had a tough time. But it was kind of a fun season. I moved the family there, so we stayed ’09. I raced. I retired. Then right away, Gautier Paulin asked me to help him train and get ready for his move to Rinaldi. That’s when he moved to Rinaldi in the 250 team. So, we stayed two years. I bought a house in France.

You bought a night club!
Yeah, but that was a little later. I bought a house, that I still have that house. My mom lives in it. It was good for me to put my kids in a French school. French public school right away. Obviously, it was pre-school and then my daughter went to kindergarten in France. I think that helped the kids. They’re bilingual now, so that was important. But I rode the French nationals that year. That was one of the highlights.

I thought you were done. I didn’t even know you did the French series.
Yeah, I did the French series during the season. It was like six rounds or something. I did some top five, maybe one top five. I was racing with Swanny [Gareth Swanepoel]. Swanny was a Factory Kawasaki guy. It seems like I was always racing Swanny in a race somehow. We always got together. I was kind of racing with him all year. I missed a few rounds. I got hurt. I knocked myself out at the French championship one race, then I took a month off and stuff. So, results-wise, it was not great. But I think it was good for the family that we saw something different. If I look back, after I got hurt at Millville in ’07, I should have just said, “You know what? I’m done.” Because ’08,’ 09 as far as the racing goes, it wasn’t the best. So, looking back, I wouldn’t change anything else because the decision I made at the time, I thought that was the best for me. So, that was my own decision. Nobody put a gun to my head and said, “You have to do this.” But I think the Millville injury, I think I broke 11 bones.

Yeah. You got run over by 38 guys or something.
Yeah. So that was rough. I think I slept sitting up for three weeks. It was rough. I should have pulled the plug then, but we kept going. Then the BUD Kawasaki [team in France] guys that I’ve known forever, they came and said, “We want you to come.” Money was decent and I was like, maybe this is an opportunity to build something in France. We don’t have anything in France. I didn’t have anything. No house, no nothing. I’m glad because now I have the spot in France. My mom can live there. So as far as personal life, it was good.

Tonight, on the PulpMX Show show, we crowned you the third best French rider of all time, and you were good with that. JMB, Marvin Musquin, and then you.
Yeah, as far as overall, yes. Basically, with my results in the US, because other guys didn’t have the same success here in supercross mainly. But even Pichon and Tortelli, they were amazing. Pichon maybe we didn’t see the best of what Pichon could have done, I think.

I will always remember, when I think of DV - I worked on your team for three years and was around your whole career almost - I remember being amazed at this guy in Seattle winning out of an FMF box van. Like, who is this guy? I think of Bercy and the domination you had there. You had 14,000 people loving your every move. I can’t even imagine what that would have been like. The pride you must have felt, the sense of accomplishment you must have felt. Just working everybody at Bercy and having the whole arena in the palm of your hand. That’s pretty cool.
Yeah. Bercy is the biggest race since ’83 in France. The first time I went to Bercy was ’85. I saw [Johnny] O’Mara, [David] Bailey, [Rick] Johnson. I saw Magoo’s [Danny Chandler] crash. I was in the stands. I went every year from ’85. I raced one night. I was 16 in ’93 on a 125, but only the last day. I did not miss any in that time. I missed some after I started racing. I raced ’95, ’96, ’97, ’98, 2000, 2001, and then I missed 2001.

You went from ’85 to ’01.
Nineteen eighty-five to ’01. I was a spectator, a fan, or I was racing. For a French guy, it’s huge. For a Canadian, it’s like winning the Stanley Cup. It’s very, very big. Somebody just posted on Vital about the video, my first win there against [David] Pingree on the 125. It was in ’95. It was two motos a night, and Ping won the first five. He was dominating with the PCR Kawi.