Anyone notice this tidbit from Ping ? (Dungey)

When asked if he will come back and do any more races he said "oh gosh no." Would love to see him race again. I miss his "boring" riding style, everything so smooth and effortless.

Lots of rumors last year but that's all done now.

Listen to Matthes post race interview with Ryan. Nothing indicated to me that he would have any desire to go racing again.

This has come up a few times. I even brought it up with Roger in the podcast we did a while back.

Seems Like He has Though about it , But at the end of the day He made his decision's for a reason and decided to stick with them. I personally would love to see him do some more , even if it's not a series and just for fun
Seeing ex champs Ride is always good and the talent is clearly still there !

It makes sense to want to retire on top, not everybody... almost nobody gets to do so, not even McGrath. In my lifetime its been RC, RV, and RD. McGrath didnt, Stewart didnt, Reed hasnt. So he arguably made the choice he had to make if your RD or RV you dont want to slowly get worse each year. The decision is kind of made for you when youre those guys and you have 3+ championships in a row you have to retire at the end of that run to cement your legacy. Personally though Reed is still a legend and he hasnt won in years so Im not sure in the grand scheme how much it really matters if you love racing and wanna race.

I liked that he always raced with his head. He didn’t have to win every race to win the titles and he was so consistent...

KTM should put him on a two stroke like he raced ar RBSR at a few rounds. Gives KTM exposure to their two stroke models, scratches his itch and will bring in the taliban to the races. He's shown he's good on the two strokes and with his RBSR bike he'd probably post decent results.

OldYZRider1 wrote:

KTM should put him on a two stroke like he raced ar RBSR at a few rounds. Gives KTM exposure to their two stroke models, scratches his itch and will bring in the taliban to the races. He's shown he's good on the two strokes and with his RBSR bike he'd probably post decent results.

I really like that idea!

OldYZRider1 wrote:

KTM should put him on a two stroke like he raced ar RBSR at a few rounds. Gives KTM exposure to their two stroke models, scratches his itch and will bring in the taliban to the races. He's shown he's good on the two strokes and with his RBSR bike he'd probably post decent results.

PJRAUS wrote:

I really like that idea!

He's retired not stupid ;-)

He talks to Swap about racing on this video about how he actually did toss up riding again, @ 4:05, he also hints that at least he might ride in Sydney / Visit Sydney next year which I kind of think means AUS X Open @ 3:50

OldYZRider1 wrote:

KTM should put him on a two stroke like he raced ar RBSR at a few rounds. Gives KTM exposure to their two stroke models, scratches his itch and will bring in the taliban to the races. He's shown he's good on the two strokes and with his RBSR bike he'd probably post decent results.

PJRAUS wrote:

I really like that idea!

Richard Tease II wrote:

He's retired not stupid ;-)

Party pooper!

drt410 wrote:

It makes sense to want to retire on top, not everybody... almost nobody gets to do so, not even McGrath. In my lifetime its been RC, RV, and RD. McGrath didnt, Stewart didnt, Reed hasnt. So he arguably made the choice he had to make if your RD or RV you dont want to slowly get worse each year. The decision is kind of made for you when youre those guys and you have 3+ championships in a row you have to retire at the end of that run to cement your legacy. Personally though Reed is still a legend and he hasnt won in years so Im not sure in the grand scheme how much it really matters if you love racing and wanna race.

moore433 wrote:

I liked that he always raced with his head. He didn’t have to win every race to win the titles and he was so consistent...

Ryan Dungey pretty much epitomized the term “race craft”, as far as I’m concerned for those very reasons. On very few occasions did we ever see Ryan ride (to our knowledge) way past where his personal “edge” was & take stupid risks. Like you said, he was willing to back it down and take a second rather than push it and risk getting hurt. He knew how to manage a championship.

If he put the work in, he or Tomac would be battling for title. There is no one right now that has both speed and consistency in SX and i think RD knows that as feels it would be worth gunning for it.

Would love to see Husky grab him

Richard Tease II wrote:

He's retired not stupid ;-)

It also seems pretty stupid to retire from competing in something you enjoy when your on top because you think it somehow preserves your "record". To me thats a sure sign of lowly evolved ego. I can understand stepping away if your burnt out on the training/racing regime but as they say "racers race".

It appears he wants to race some and he's probably not going to find it fulfilling to show up at amateur events and wax the field by a few laps. The KTM team may not feel they need another four stroke effort but the two stroke arena is wide open territory at this point. There's an increasing two stroke MX market that KTM could show some love to so it could be a good fit for everybody.

The John Elway of motocross. Smart man.

aees wrote:

If he put the work in, he or Tomac would be battling for title. There is no one right now that has both speed and consistency in SX and i think RD knows that as feels it would be worth gunning for it.

Would love to see Husky grab him

I think he would have won the last 2 even if he has lost some pace purely through his consistency and the lack of it from any other rider at the front

I can see him becoming a Brand Ambassador for Honda and cashing in from a company that nobody equates with Ryan Dungey. That seems to be the retirement path these days.

On a serious note, I hope he races a few more fun events. He looks great on the bike and is still fast as hell.

The dude likes training and being healthy, that doesn't automatically mean he's training for 2019.

deluxeman wrote:

I can see him becoming a Brand Ambassador for Honda and cashing in from a company that nobody equates with Ryan Dungey. That seems to be the retirement path these days.

On a serious note, I hope he races a few more fun events. He looks great on the bike and is still fast as hell.

If he went anywhere else I would expect it to be to Suzuki. Imagine if he got back together with Reed and Goose with technical assistance from JGR and Suzuki and a friendly call to Makita......

moore433 wrote:

I liked that he always raced with his head. He didn’t have to win every race to win the titles and he was so consistent...

davistld01 wrote:

Ryan Dungey pretty much epitomized the term “race craft”, as far as I’m concerned for those very reasons. On very few occasions did we ever see Ryan ride (to our knowledge) way past where his personal “edge” was & take stupid risks. Like you said, he was willing to back it down and take a second rather than push it and risk getting hurt. He knew how to manage a championship.

drt410 wrote:

It makes sense to want to retire on top, not everybody... almost nobody gets to do so, not even McGrath. In my lifetime its been RC, RV, and RD. McGrath didnt, Stewart didnt, Reed hasnt. So he arguably made the choice he had to make if your RD or RV you dont want to slowly get worse each year. The decision is kind of made for you when youre those guys and you have 3+ championships in a row you have to retire at the end of that run to cement your legacy. Personally though Reed is still a legend and he hasnt won in years so Im not sure in the grand scheme how much it really matters if you love racing and wanna race.

I don't know about that. Jeremy McGrath is always going to be at or near the top of the list of great SX riders. Sticking around for 2 more full seasons after his last championship doesn't change his legacy.

As a fan of sports, I always like it better when great athletes stick around as long as possible. I still like to see aging players on the downside of their careers. I like to know that they have nothing left once they retire. It's very likely that Dungey left at least one more SX championship on the table. I also don't fault guys for hanging it up once they've had enough.

Except Tom Brady. I wish that guy would retire.

drt410 wrote:

It makes sense to want to retire on top, not everybody... almost nobody gets to do so, not even McGrath. In my lifetime its been RC, RV, and RD. McGrath didnt, Stewart didnt, Reed hasnt. So he arguably made the choice he had to make if your RD or RV you dont want to slowly get worse each year. The decision is kind of made for you when youre those guys and you have 3+ championships in a row you have to retire at the end of that run to cement your legacy. Personally though Reed is still a legend and he hasnt won in years so Im not sure in the grand scheme how much it really matters if you love racing and wanna race.

RichieW13 wrote:

I don't know about that. Jeremy McGrath is always going to be at or near the top of the list of great SX riders. Sticking around for 2 more full seasons after his last championship doesn't change his legacy.

As a fan of sports, I always like it better when great athletes stick around as long as possible. I still like to see aging players on the downside of their careers. I like to know that they have nothing left once they retire. It's very likely that Dungey left at least one more SX championship on the table. I also don't fault guys for hanging it up once they've had enough.

Except Tom Brady. I wish that guy would retire.

Dungey would have won last year and the year before. Outdoors too. 2017s season points were the lowest in years. Dungey could have left it in 3rd gear all season outdoors cruised around to 3rds all year and won the season with how incosisntent everyone else was

OldYZRider1 wrote:

KTM should put him on a two stroke like he raced ar RBSR at a few rounds. Gives KTM exposure to their two stroke models, scratches his itch and will bring in the taliban to the races. He's shown he's good on the two strokes and with his RBSR bike he'd probably post decent results.

Maybe race the 125 stuff at the nationals. Short fun races with no pressure

Most of us don’t realize how rough it must be to be at the top of your sport. The constant training for one. That has to be exhausting and then the travel and the testing and risk of being injured. Can’t blame him for walking away.

I said it early in the summer, but everyone said I was an idiot when Mookie told me Dungey would be on the gate at A1.