Cycle News

VOL. 51 ISSUE 41 OCTOBER 14, 2014 P67 part of getting to the top in rac- ing. You have to go and do other things, the riding and the training. Formal schooling gets put in the back seat—it gets put to the side. So there's a point in time where there's no returning, you know? It gets to the point of: "This is all I have. There's nothing else. I better make the best of it." It's not like I was thinking that way. Things happened so quickly and you're young and you enjoy it. The job aspect of it doesn't come until a lot later. It took an incredible amount of dedication to get to where you are at now. There is no in between if you want to get to the very top. It's sort of a make it or break it deal, isn't it? Yeah, you either make it or break it. The biggest thing is that probably 98% of the families out there break it. They don't make it. They put a lot of money and sacrifice into trying to make it and they're not left with anything. That's a hard pill to swallow for the parents. It's a hard pill to swallow for the kid. It's hard be- cause by the time he figures out he isn't making it he's 20 years old and he's like, "Shit. I've got to get a job." When that happens he's going to be starting off on the lowest rung of the ladder or very low on the totem pole at an older age. Normally, you start all that stuff at around 16. Yeah, starting a career in the work force with no real skill set or an educa- tion. Obviously, most of these guys stay within the industry be- cause they've built relationships and with some of those positions there is a high turnover rate so there are always jobs available. When you clinched the 2014 Supercross title last April, more than a few racers, rac- ers such as Jeremy McGrath, mentioned in the media that you looked liked you weren't having too much fun with the sport. True? Oh yeah. For sure. Maybe they don't think that way, but if you go ask Ricky or Jeremy what has changed since they each left the sport. It would be real interest- ing to hear what they say. Think about it. Your initial thought might be, "Ricky didn't quit racing all that long ago." But you look at the calendar and it was a long time ago. It was seven years ago. Think about the technology with the bikes and think about this and that, and all the levels just get raised. For me, for the guys who say that I'm not happy or whatever, well, the sport is so different now, technology has progressed so far, that they may not fully know what we're dealing with now in the sport. They know the racing side of it, you know, the gate drops and you have 20 laps. They know the basics of it. Just think about training today versus when Jeremy was rid- ing. Ricky may have been one of the first who started serious off-track training, before Ricky it was different. I've heard stories. I'm not saying it was all that way, and I'm not saying all those guys did things the same way. I know Jeremy took it seriously—I'm not saying that they didn't. It's just a different world now. I know that when I retire after next year and have been out of racing for three to five years, it's going to be a different world then as well. The ball keeps rolling. Jeremy was the legend in his time; he passed the baton to Ricky. Ricky upped Ready for a new challenge, Villopoto will head to Europe and compete for the FIM MXGP World title.

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