VOL. 52 ISSUE 50 DECEMBER 15, 2015 P93
there. People expect you
to win. You expect your-
self to win. It's like that
expectancy, that's when
you feel the pressure
and that's when you put
pressure on yourself. You
don't do it for anybody
else but yourself, but
there's a lot that comes
with it. There's a big load
if you want to be a domi-
nant guy. It's a lot to handle."
And once you've set your
sights on winning champion-
ships at the top level, and
demonstrated your ability to do
so, it turns out that it's not really
less stressful to be out of cham-
pionship contention. And that's
pretty interesting, as most would
assume that you can just go out
and have fun if you don't have to
worry about points so much.
"Honestly, not winning the
championships, those are prob-
ably just as stressful as winning
them," Dungey said. "It's a lot of
pressure if you're not perform-
ing, because you want to know
why and so do all the people
who are depending on you to
win. And on the other side, when
it's boiling down and you're in a
championship hunt, then here
comes the pressure. And then
it's like, how do you handle that
pressure? That's where you
mentally have to stay strong.
You've mentally got to stay
focused. Knowing that you can't
afford a hiccup, but also that you
can't think about that. You've got
to stay focused on the here and
the now. I've learned a lot. My
first championships I probably
could have thought a lot less,
especially at the end of the pro-
cess when it was coming time
to wrap it up. But it's something
you work so hard for, it's such
a fine line. You prepare in your
mind. You go over, and over, and
over. But championships, I think
a lot of people treat it like it's
easy, like, 'Oh, he's so good, he
just pulled off a championship,
that's cool.' But it's tough work.
It's one of the hardest things in
our sport to do once, much less
consistently. You've always got
guys who are coming to try and
knock you off the top as well. It's
a heavy load. The number-one
plate, there's a lot that comes
with it. It's like, 'I can't believe it,
I'm in this situation, and I don't
want to buckle under the pres-
sure.' That's one way of looking
at it, like a burden. Or you look
at the situation and you're like,
AFTER 50
YEARS,
NOBODY'S
GOING TO
REMEMBER WHAT I
DID ON THE TRACK,
SO I'D RATHER BE
REMEMBERED FOR
WHAT I DID OFF IT.
WE'RE NOT GOING
TO TAKE OUR
TROPHIES WITH US.
Only a few racers can boast
winning a Supercross and
450 MX title in the same year.
Dungey is one of them.
