Racer X ReduX: The Respect Generation
Wednesday, September 12, 2012 | 4:15 PM
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PrintLast year at Pala, it was time for Ryan Dungey and Ryan Villopoto to become leaders. The duo faced with a steep climb to become the next stars of this sport, because the previous stars were still around. Bob Hannah broke his leg, Rick Johnson broke his wrist, Jeremy McGrath lasted long enough for age to finally creep up, and Ricky Carmichael retired. In those cases, the torch was passed suddenly, but smoothly. Not so for the Ryans, because James Stewart and Chad Reed are still there to challenge. But the numbers say Villo and The Dunge have combined to take the last six 450 Motocross and Supercross titles. It's their world now.
Last year's motocross finale hammered it home. The 2011 season may have been the best and most competitive ever, but after nine months of battle, only the two Ryans were still in championship contention by the final moto of the year. When they crossed the finish at Pala, the long season would end, and Villopoto would emerge with both the indoor and outdoor titles. But Dungey was right there. With the smoke on a fiery season just beginning to clear, how would they greet each other after the race?
They smiled. They shook hands. You could visibly see the relief on their faces, the championship tension finally broken. The next weekend, they would be Team USA teammates, get along well, and conquer that, too. With the world watching to see how the Ryans would play this rivalry, they both made the conscious decision to take the high road. No trash talk, no rough riding, no insults. They would not be friends, but they would show resect. And as the new leaders, they will incite followers—witness a five-rider fight in the 250 Class this year, completely devoid of rough riding, off-track drama or personality conflicts. Just racing and respect. Boom.
Ryan Villopto (left) and Ryan Dungey (right) embrace at the final round of the 2011 Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship at Pala after a closly contested series.
Simon Cudby photo
And that's how it works. Bob Hannah showed up in the golden era of the 1970s, when the sport was still new and fun. The first American star was Marty Smith, and he was often compared to a surfer. The very essence of surfing is the very essence of joy. But Hannah took that fun and stuffed it in the stinkin' trash. Hannah was mean and pissed, and he worked at hating the other riders. He didn't just hate them, he worked at hating them so he could fuel his aggression. No more fun and frolic, and in his wake came the "super training" era of the 1980s, when the riders morphed into triathletes. That hard-working era produced some close racing, but it also broke a lot of riders down early. You just couldn't keep that pace up for long, and mid-twenties was considered retirement age. Only the tireless will of Jeff Ward and the attention-loving showmanship of Rick Johnson could survive. But hardened will still ruled the day, which is why many thought Damon Bradshaw would become the greatest of them all. Bradshaw not only possessed Johnson's showmanship and Hannah's "fueled-by-dislike" desire, but he had more natural talent than either.
Combine Brashaw's hate for everyone with the first budding American-international feud between Jean-Michel Bayle and Jeff Stanton, and you had blood on the track every weekend. Between Bradshaw/Matiasevich ram fests and JMB playing mind games with Stanton, it seemed like things had reached zenith. These were riders motivated not only by the desire to win for themselves, but by the pride of beating the competitors they didn't like.
It seemed like the ultimate expression of sport, but it couldn't last. All of that infighting and stress and negative reinforcement burned the whole crew out, and, amazingly, JMB, Stanton and Bradshaw all quit, mentally, while their bodies still had plenty left to give.
Which ushered in the exact opposite. Jeremy McGrath became the next leader, and he did it by enjoying it. He had fun, he kept it light. For every zig of a Hannah or Johnson, he zagged. RJ once released a VHS tape called Motovation. MC came out with one called Winning Can Be Fun. MC probably aged less in 10 years than Stanton did in three.
Bob Hannah (center) worked at hating other riders.
Racer X Archives photo
And of course, everyone followed. The 1990s generation found fun in having fun, and now those days can be looked at fondly like the 70s. The super-training 80s birthed a guy like Bradshaw, who took no prisoners and made no friends. The McGrath era 90s birthed freestyle, and, the ultimate expression of that era is the fun loving, friends-with-everyone character, Travis Pastrana. You know what's funny? The guys who won through training often now say they wish they had backed the training down a bit. But the guys who won by having fun never say they wish they had trained more!
It flipped again. Carmichael went all-serious, and suddenly a rider couldn't do an interview without saying "hard work." Carmichael, in fact, seemed to try to purposely suck the fun out of racing for everyone else. He tried to crush people and show them up, breaking their will. It got very, very serious. When I hosted the post-race press conferences during the middle 2000s in supercross, you could hear a pin drop whenever Carmichael, Stewart or Reed were in there. It was blood, sweat and tears in those days. Reed and Stewart carried that mantle forward. They genuinely hated each other, and Stewart, who at one point seemed to love the motorcycle life every bit as much as Pastrana, got sucked into the volatility with Reed.
I don't even think it's in Reed and Stewart's makeup to be that way. With a little time to loosen some tension, Reed has emerged as a laid-back guy who never seems to sweat things too much. Stewart can still be funny. But we didn't see much laid back or funny stuff in 2009. The theme of the day prevented it (with a nod to Larry Brooks, who pressed the "you against the world" button when he was Team Manager for those guys).
The McGrath era of the 90s brought back the "fun" to the sport.
DC photo
So a year ago, it was up to the Ryans to determine where the next generation would go. Would they go for the throat, hate everyone and make it personal? Would they go deadly serious, get cold blooded and systematically remove everyone's soul? Would they party like it was 1999?
Pala told the story. They would simply race. They would never be friends but they would not get caught up in mind games, either. Hannah and the generation he inspired found ways to be mad, invented ways to motivate each other. Meanwhile, you simply can't get Ryan Dungey to bite on any of that stuff, ever. Zero extra drama for The Dunge. When Hannah switched teams, he adopted a scorched-earth policy. Dungey, meanwhile, never once pissed on Suzuki when his bike let him down last year, and he never said, "I told you so" when he made his oft-criticized switch to KTM work. Never got ruffled by Mike Alessi this summer either—whereas Bradshaw would have risked his own championship season just to take Mike out for blocking.
Dungey works on himself, and himself only. The schedule and pressures on today's racers are too much to get caught up in anything else. The Ryans systematically eliminate all extraneous thoughts or drama, and focus only on riding dirt bikes better. And not even better than each other—just better than the last time they rode. They are raising the bar and also inspiring the next group to do the same. And thus, from this year's 250 Class, great, inspired, intense, all-out racing, but not a peep beyond what happened in the motos. We all like some drama, but I think we can live with this, too.
The Chad Reed (left) and James Stewart (right) rivalry has been one of the most controversial over the years.
Simon Cudby photo
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Screw BillC
thats true, two best in the world right there wont get much better.
Great write up, Weege.
Good stuff
I miss the trash talking.But most riders are in a corporate world now.No trash talking allowed unless you want to keep your ride.Just name your sponsors robots.
That is why I am a REED fan(remember bel ray sponsor..gone now).
Reed tells it like it is,no BS.
It's like young kids now days on any given team stick and ball sport.....The losers get participant trophies or ribbions..BS
Good write up Weege.
Great read. Having grown up during the Marty Smith/ Hannah times I remember it just like the article. During Mc's dominance it seemed that everyone was racing just to get second or "the first behind Mc". Now it is back to when RV, RD, CR, JS, BB, Tomac and Barcia get second they are clearly disappointed at getting beat.
Nice one Weege-sauce.
Like that picture of Chad and James, I can imagine what they must have been saying to each other. But I will let the rest of you guys fill in the blanks on that love affair! lol
I think that's DeCoster on the left side of the Hannah photo. Yeah, he was hard-core. I grew up watching Howerton race locally in central TX, so I was a big Howerton fan, but listen to Hannah go on about Howerton in his (Hannah's) Motocross Files episode.
I wonder if hanna still rides, I see kent out at cycle ranch in floresville just about every weekend he's still pretty fast
Excellent writeup Weege ! I really appreciated the respect and friendship displayed at pala last year between the Ryans, They then went to MXON and were teamates, these guys are doing it right- its war on the track but only clean and not dirty riding, and respect off the track.
CR was too whiney for my taste when JS was beating him but he also seemed to grow up the last few years. I would hate being as good as reed and having to race against RC and then JS. I have watched Reed closely for the last ten years and can only respect his 100% effort every time he raced and extreme desire to win, the guy is a champion and a sportsman!
JS is somewhat of a none issue now due to his many diggs and I really hope he can turn it around and be a factor with some consistant rides and stay on two wheels. He still has it if he can keep focus- if not for his sake I hope the best. . .
I have no idea what it will be like when we have a healthy Canard, Wilson, Barcia, Tomac, all knowing and believing they can win. The pressure is already building with the uncerntanty of knowing no two objects can occupy the same space at the same time. It looks like we will have 8-10 guys that will be going for that one space in front.
We have the old next group that I fear will be pushed back yet a little futher- KW, JG, Brayton, DM, BT, AS, IT, etc, who are all great racers and popular. The stadiums will be packed and I believe we will have our best season ever in 2013. I also believe we will have less injuries than the last 3 years as riders know and will be trained better to keep their focus every second they are on the track. WE have more past champions than ever training and coaching our racers now and this only makes it better.
"no two objects can occupy the same space at the same time" I like that though im not to sure about injuries though i hope youre right
Notice how DeCoster is checking out Hannah's bike. Always a thinking man....
That old school picture mid column of Hanna, look at it closely...Man, does Barcia ever resemble the Hurricane.
ORU your GF did last night!!
.whereas Bradshaw would have risked his own championship season just to take Mike out for blocking....LOL good stuff!!
Good eye sef154!! lol
I didn't realize how much Weigandt dislikes Bob Hannah
@ sef154 Decoster is checking out that HAIR LIP McCarty's pet-a-Cure
Chad Reed will be retiring after the SX 2013 SEASON NO.............Outdoor MX
Roczen will be on a 450 outdoors next year !
Good article Weege. You are a true professional, and hats off for pulling a story out of thin air. Mind games are like explosive ordinance disposal games. In the end, nobody wins big. While I am a huge Hannah fan, his approach always puts an asterisk on his results. Straight up racing is beating your competition at the top of their game, and that is fun to watch, at least for moto nerds like myself.
Actually, Dungey has been caught up in drama before. From the 250s to his rookie year in 450 SX. J-Law got in his head many times, even got Dungey to make comments in press conferences. Rookie year in 450s Dungey got into it on the track with J-Law during practice in Indy.
This is really good work from Weege.
I've mercilessly blasted him in the past when his work was sub-par, but I will give credit where it is due.
Well done.
Great job Weege! Perhaps we have finally morphed from vicious hatred...to seriousness...to respect. If that is really the case then this sport has many years of nice growth ahead of it.
I do believe that Mike McDade should have gotten Sportsman of the Year instead of Alessi. Alessi rode well...but he still has a way to go to overcome some of the stupid stuff he has generated over the years. But perhaps even Alessi has grown up...
I think the fun days are dead and gone in every sport. No more fat white guys in baseball. Like Tiger in golf RC changed the face of MX. Golf and MX are very much analogous in that regard. Golfers used to play on talent alone (other than Jack who worked hard before it was cool) drank, smoked, and partied hard at the 19th hole. You can't do that and expect to win consistently anymore. The Ryans are definitely all business. The talented fun guys will pull one out occasionally but will never be the best.
I think when the current 250 guys are all in the 450 class fighting for wins, you could see the aggression come back. Tomac, Baggett, Barcia, Wilson, Those guys all got teeth if you know what i mean
Moto-cross of Nations 2013 will be at RED BUDD
@CZmark,........he's what I think is being said in that photo,...Reed to J/s......"Hey Dik,..stop running into me!!!!! Stew, back to Reed, " #$@% You!!! "Move that piece O #@^% out the way!!!!! 5437 you,!!! NAAAA #$@^ YOU!!! ect ect ect..///// My guess./
Heres*
I can never make a post w/o errors, sorry scholors.
Wait till next year and see how laid back these guys are. Dungey got pretty upset with Barcia last year.
Awesome article, finally where credit is due!
So where does Mike Brown sit in this? Seems like he has mellowed in ramming others (AGE syndrome?), but still a great racer!
When Brown and Rhino were pushing the limits and each other, it was great racing, as long as neither one took it personally.
Seemed like in one season Brown would punch Fonseca hard in quite a few races, then Ernesto got the better of Brown in a race and Brown congratulated Ernesto afterwards - I like seeing Ernesto tough it out, not giving up and Brown not taking it personal.
Am sure Ernesto is still toughing it out and going all out today! He has heart!
Great article, I just wanted to say that Bayle left for road racing, he took a much harder path that led him to a factory Yamaha 500 with Roberts, nothing to do with mental stuff.
"that said" It's a carlsbad thang !!
So... we're just turning a blind eye to what went on with Tomac and Wilson... or Barcia's temper tantrum he threw... or the Bogle and Stewart incident at Dallas... or Bogle and [insert name here] at just about every other supercross race...?
I know this is probably focused on the outdoors but there was quite a bit of supercross talk in there too.
@Jason; This was an article that didn't (need) to be written, but I am glad you found it worthy of writing. The Ryan's are a different breed form the pack. Both these guys have had fantastic support from stable families, and it appears they were both programmed to become Champions, and went about doing just that in the most efficient manner. Neither (it seems) is motivated by the hype and glamour that can get in the way of just doing business. They both have had records of clean racing and a underlying respect for their fellow riders. Jason Lawrence and Mike Alessi have come the closest to getting under both Ryan's skin, but who's haven't they.
Watching them battle tooth and nail last year to the wire and then to see them cross the finish line together at Saint-Jean-d'Angély, France for last years MXdN was pretty damn cool. Equal parts skill, respect and determination coming together for a common goal. The closest thing to team-work in an individual sport like Motocross is rare, just like the two of them, rare. In a good way.
Thanks, Jason for finding time to write this omage to the Ryan's, they both deserve this written acknowledgment. Great Piece.
Excellent !
And never saw that shot of "The man" & Hurricane before.
Just reed an ITW of a 6 years old .... the words "hard work" sounds so ridiculous in his mouth ...
I had prefered "good fun" at this age !!!