Ryan Dungey is a well-known competitive dirt bike rider who rose to fame in the motocross and supercross scene years ago.
What happened to Ryan? Well, today he’s still looking to get back into racing after a brief retirement. He’s been doing a lot of practice recently and enjoying his freetime.
Frontaer is providing an insightful guide about this life of this MX and SX legend.
Let’s begin.
Ryan Dungey Overview
A lot can be said about a man who really pushes the limit, especially in a world where hiding behind the cell phone has become the new normal. We’re becoming complacent and watching others be successful.
In Ryan’s case, he’s inspired thousands of young riders to get out there and push themselves beyond the comfort zone. Because life is better lived behind the handlebars.
Ryan essentially grew up riding every single weekend. He loved nothing more than riding his dirt bike on the MX track and with his parents support, his passion certainly paid off.
By the age of 16, he was already on a professional contract and on his first riding team after winning the Loretta Lynn’s Amateur Championship. That certainly got the attention of some sponsors.
Racing Career
Ryan Dungey is known for his crazy accomplishments in his racing career. From 2006 to 2017 he certainly put in the hard yards to achieve mastery behind the throttle.
His titles include:
- Winning every major title in American Supercross (crazy!)
- And then winning every major title in American Motocross
- 3x Winning the world’s largest international Motocross race
- 7x Wins at the American Motocross Association Championships
With 450+ overall wins under his belt, it’s fair to say that’s he’s absolutely done the work. A weapon behind the handlebars would certainly be an understatement here!
Case in point: From 2009 to 2017, he only finished twice outside the top 10 on the leaderboard, often due to injuries or engine problems. That’s a man who is seriously committed.
What Happened to Ryan Dungey?
Ryan has been enjoying his retirement after finishing the 2017 season through recreational riding and travelling, however, he’s looking to make a comeback in 2021 and race again professionally. He’s still around but isn’t receiving as much media attention as he did 10 years ago.
Coming out of retirement is no small feat. Very few, if any, riders ever come back from their former glory days. Why? It’s the next generation of riders who are lighter and have incredible attention spans which can dominate the leaderboard.
We do look forward to seeing what comes of this space. Likewise, we look forward to seeing Ryan coach the next generation of riders looking to dominate the leaderboards.
In Closing
Ryan has inspired a generation of riders to go the extra mile. While the world has its fair share of couch potatoes, Ryan has certainly pushed himself to incredible heights and lengths to simply win.
That has the respect of us and the entire dirt biking community. If he doesn’t quite make his comeback into motocross, it wouldn’t surprise us to see him entering the Dakar Rally.