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Ryan Dungey Goes Red

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Ryan Dungey Goes Red

Ten Minutes with GEICO Honda’s New Team Owner

The news dropped after lunch on Monday: former Motocross and Supercross Champion Ryan Dungey had invested into the GEICO Honda team and had become a part-owner alongside Factory Connection’s Rick “Ziggy” Zeilfelder and businessman Jeff Majkrzak. The last time Dungey dropped a bomb on us was when he announced his retirement from racing after the conclusion of the 2017 Monster Energy Supercross series, but this one was far more unexpected. We were able to chat with RD at the Honda team launch event on Monday, and the excitement he has for his new venture is obvious. We can’t wait to see what impact his involvement will have on the already powerful race team.

Okay Ryan, talk about a bombshell! I got the press release on Monday while I was driving down the freeway, I forwarded it to my guy and asked him to post it immediately, then I pulled over to post it on Instagram. 

Was that you on the side of the road? (Laughs) 

I think everyone was shocked. You’re blowing people’s mind here…

Yeah, its one of those decisions in life that’s tough to make. Though, at the same time, there’s a lot of factors that come in to play. Especially after racing, you take time to digest a little bit and ask those tougher questions about yourself; what motivates you, what are your interests, and how can you apply what you’ve learned to the next generation? Family plays a huge role as well, I mean family is number one. I guess when this opportunity came about I was just really excited.  You get approached with a lot of opportunities that aren’t ideal, but the more I sat and thought on this one, the more it seemed like a really good idea. Especially with this team, as it is such a premier team with them having had so much success. They are very professional on and off the track. When making such a big decision, you want to make sure you’re surrounded by the right crew and riders. And this team fits all of those. Just a new challenge, a new venture, but business has always been an interest of mine so being able to take that on with a sport is cool. We have a great structure in place with the staff, riders, and everyone on this team. Aside from joining, now we want to set those goals of where we want to be as a team. 

When you retired from the sport, obviously you still wanted to be involved. I don’t think anyone would’ve been surprised if you took over management of team RedBull KTM, but to come back and be a team owner of a Honda team is kind of shocking…

Yeah, a lot of the factors came into making this decision. Two years ago, this choice wouldn’t have been right. Experiencing different roles in the last couple of years and not having anything click ultimately led to this choice. 

Now, have you had other offers like this?

Yeah, there have been offers. I can’t say a lot in the industry, but there have been offers similar. Another thing, you have to be careful when making a choice like this, you can have something that consumes all of your time but you need to be able to balance everything. 

Another shocker a few years ago was you becoming part-owner of Intense Cycles, was that sort of the first step towards this?

I’ve known Jeff Majkrzak since I was 14 or 15 years old and we’d run into each other here and there throughout the years. But yeah, I had another opportunity with Intense and working with them has been awesome. Shortly after that, we started discussing where he is at and that business. I think everything just fell into place and even apart from talking to Jeff, talking to Ziggy (Team co-owner Rick Zeilfelder) too. As more time went on I realized how much it made sense to take this on. I’d have to say when it comes to making a decision, I don’t make it in a week, I tend to sit on it for a while. 

As a team owner, how involved will you be with the riders? Are you going to come to all the races?

I really feel that throughout the week I want to see the guys testing and watch the crew develop the bike setup. I always like to watch, so I’ll be doing as much of that as I can. I would like to go to a good bit of races, hopefully 12-15. I don’t want to put a number on it, but just guessing that’ll be roughly the number. I don’t want to do anything halfway, so being able to split the time between us owners while communicating is key. I feel like my goal is to make sure we can do everything we can for these guys on and off the track, as a team. 

Out of curiosity, did you call Roger and KTM to inform them about this?

I did, and it was important to me because I’ve known Roger for some time and he gave me the opportunity of a lifetime, I’ll never forget that. I have the upmost respect for all the people at KTM, so I made sure that I let them know my plans. This was by no means a slap to anyones face, this is just what made sense for me. They were calm and respected my decision, which was nice because I don’t ever want to ruin those relationships. 

When are we going to see you on a number-five Honda CRF450R?

I’m not sure (laughs). I’d love to give the bikes a go here soon, right now I’ve just been so focused on getting the team logistics set. Now that it is, maybe next time out I can spin a few laps.

Congratulations Ryan.

I appreciate it, Donn. 

Jade Dungey spun the wrenches on the machine that Chase Sexton won the 2019 East Coast 250 Supercross Championship on. When we joked with Jade about his newfound job security, he replied, “Well now I know who to talk to about a pay raise!”

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Donn Maeda

Donn Maeda is a 30-year veteran in moto-journalism, having worked at Cycle News and Dirt Rider before launching MXracer Magazine and TransWorld Motocross Magazine. Maeda is the Editor-In-Chief at Swapmoto Live and you can catch him on a dirt bike or in the saddle of a mountain bike on most days.

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