Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128310
o ne thing that people a re really talking a lot about is that you seem much different now than you did in your " last MX career." How is today's Kevin Windham different from the Kevin Windham of 2002, or even the '90s? A Well, quite obviously, in the late r port ion of my pre I-'retire ment career - like the '99s and 2oo0s and stuff and ultimate ly 2002, whe n I took my ret ireme nt - I just didn't have desire then. I think that was a big reason why I wasn't riding the way I needed to ride. But even before that, li ke the '94s and '9Ss, all of those years when I was rea llyclicking off good years and had some successful seasons and some successful rides - like I was the first guy to win on a 2S0 when I was'still a 12Scc rider - I had a lot of good stuff going for me then. It slowly got to where winning was my everything, and I think that coming back now - obviously with the events that have gone on in my life, both with my family and the way that my daughter came into the wo rld, and all the things that I found out about myself- I got kind of lost and wrap ped up into the "I was just a moto rcycle rider." Ifyou we re in my hometown and you ask, "Where do you live?" they might say, "I live right next to that motorcycle guy." My dad, to a lot of people , isn't Duane; he's the father of me. I kind of got wrapped up into like that that was my only identity, and now that I've taken some time off, I've realized that racing is a large portion of my lif but e, there 's so much else that I can do in life and be successful at . Winning is not my everyt hing now. Whe n I came off the track at Anaheim - I got ninth - and at Phoenix - I got first - my daughter looked at me the same way both wee kends, and it really didn't matter to her or my friends or my family - the peo ple who matt er to me - if I won or lost. That' s a kind of cool thing that I'm trying to kee p going, that there's going to be Q "You name it, and she pretty much went through it, and to come into this world and be such a fighter like that, that's why I don't want her dad to not have the same fight in me." lt really seems like you're more comfortable in your own skin now, Y eah, absolutely. I'm back because I made the call, and there was no one putting pressure on me. I realized what I wanted to do , and my family has taught me a lot, and just being a father for one year has taught me so much about life... Yeah, I'm definitely here for the right reasons . It feels good . A another day and another race. And don't get me wrong, I want to win, but if I don't , you know, we 'll go back to the drawing board and try and figure it out , and I'm just going to continue to have fun and not put winning up on a pedestal as just the one and only thing in my life. YOU weren't this outwardly we ll-spoken the first time around. It seems like maybe you weren't willing to convey these sort of things before. Why is that? A I think that , when you get to a point of bumout, you #'"\hold a lot in, and you're scared to talk because you don't know how everybody 's going to respond. Youknow, 'me to get everyth ing off of my chest while I ase or whatever it was. and d honest, and Q Q DOyou tend to shy away from the team pol itics and stuff now that you're in your own rig? A Well, I mean there's definitely some politics going """'round our camp right now. (Laughs) Sometimes you can't avoid 'em , but I'm just out here racing. I don't want to make excuses; I just want to go out and do the best I can, and at the end of the night I'm going to try to get the best start and try to put in the hardest 20 laps that I can. I'm not a good politician: I'm just a motorcycl e racer and a family man, and that 's the biggest thing for me right now. Q and was trying to fight it. Even if I saw it kind of being real, I didn't want it to be like that. I myself was even trying to hold it back, so therefore you don't even want to talk about it. And now, I am what I am, and I went through what I we nt through , and I'm tru e to myself now in the fact that I don't ever want this to happen again. I don't want it to happen for myselfand my sponsors and my fans and my family, because it was a tough ride for me both in the sport and in my personal life. It really was trying on me , and to answe r your question , yeah, now I'm just open and honest , and I'm here for th e right reaso ns, and when those reasons go away - if ever - then you won't see me ore . HOW would you compare your team atmosphere now, as opposed to the teams you've ridden for in the past - Suzuki, Honda and Yamaha? A Well, I definitely don't want to knock any of the II-\.teams, because before when I rod e for Honda and made my move to Suzuki, I was kind of looking for som ething that a team couldn't give me. I was looking for som ething to make me happy, and really it was up to myself to Q _ .... CYCLE -. NEWS • FEBRUARY 11, 2004 41