VOL. 54 ISSUE 50 DECEMBER 19, 2017 P173
we won by. Might not have been there. It might not
have been nine points going into the last round."
And ultimately, that's how Dungey is going to be
remembered. He always did everything he knew
how to do. When you leave it all on the track, it's
probably much easier to hang up the boots when
the time comes.
"Even today I don't regret the retirement from
racing either. A lot of people don't understand.
Even when Roger was up there saying [at Dung-
ey's retirement ceremony], 'You're 27 years old at
100 percent!' I'm thinking, 'I know, Roger.' I kind
of start to feel that guilt kicking in. I know I'm only
27, but the truth is it's a shorter career. I don't
know why, but it's like that and it just seems like
that 10 or 11 years, maybe one more is maximum.
It's not a matter of physical. It's not a matter of
anything but that I think mentally you're just at it
and you're hitting it hard for so long. What people
need to understand is there are so many races
a year that we have now, especially in the 450
class. There's very little time off. Practice is an
adrenaline rush, too. You're on that edge. With
the racing one day a week there's also three
other days of riding a week, and the training. It all
starts to add up. I just feel like the last 11 years it's
been, you wake up and it's just kind of there. It's
on your mind. You know what you've got to do.
You know where you've got to be. You know what
goal you're going after, and how are we going
to get better today? I always wake up embrac-
ing it and try to enjoy it, but it starts to weigh on
you. That little thing starts to kind of get heavier. I
don't know if that's just about wanting to do good.
Once you finish where we have and the top spot,
it's so hard to expect anything less. I'm very fortu-
nate for that, and that's not why, but more men-
tally it just got to a point—and I felt slight signs of it
last year in the outdoors—just that mental exhaus-
tion. You're sitting on the gate and it's hard to get
into it. I don't want to put myself in that position.
That's why I stopped and didn't do the outdoors.
Not because I didn't want to fulfill my obligation on
my contract, but because my mind wasn't in the
game and things happen too quick."
That's how a champion wants to go out: On top,
without hanging on for too long. And that's what
Dungey did. CN
"You're sitting
on the gate and
it's hard to get
into it. I don't
want to put
myself in that
position. That's
why I stopped
and didn't do
the outdoors."
