Ryan Dungey started racing dirt bikes at young age

Racing dirt bikes always has been a family affair for Ryan Dungey, whose older brother Jade is a factory mechanic for his Red Bull/KTM team and whose younger brother Blake is expected to make his pro motocross debut next year.

“Growing up as kids, we all had dirt bikes and raced on the weekend,” said Dungey, who competed in the Monster Energy Cup on Saturday night at Sam Boyd Stadium. “Mom and dad supported us. It was very much a family thing. We’d get out of school, load the bikes up in our motor home and go racing on the weekends.

“It was like our camping. We’d spend a lot of time together. Even today, mom and dad are still heavily involved.”

Dungey’s grandmother, Barb, also was heavily involved in his life before she succumbed to a long battle with cancer in 2005. Her death at age 65 made a major impact on Dungey, who was 14 at the time.

“We saw each other every day,” he said. “It was definitely hard for me. It was the first time I’d ever experienced anything like that. For me, it was a big turning point.

“At a young age, you want to be a kid and have fun, but after that, it was time to grow up and chase my dreams.”

A former spokesperson for Nike’s LIVESTRONG campaign for cancer awareness, Dungey, 24, has helped raise funds for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in recent years and races in his grandmother’s memory.

She certainly would be proud of what he has accomplished. He won American Motorcyclist Association 450 Motocross and Supercross titles in his rookie year of 2010, when he was an ESPY nominee for best male action sports athlete.

Dungey finished second in the supercross standings this season, which ended in May, and has earned millions of dollars. He placed second in each of the first three Monster Energy Cups before finishing fourth Saturday in the one-off event that offers a $1 million prize to any rider who can win all three 10-lap main events.

Ryan Villopoto hit the Monster $1 million jackpot in Las Vegas in 2011, the first year the event was in Southern Nevada, but nobody has swept the board since. Trey Canard came close Saturday, when he became the first racer since Villopoto to win the first two main events, but he fell short in the finale, crashing twice to settle for eighth place.

Canard was running a close second to Davi Millsaps in the final race when he crashed on the fourth lap. He still had a shot to win the event — worth $100,000 to the winner — but crashed again on lap seven and settled for third place overall.

Millsaps, who placed third in the first main and fourth in the second, was crowned MEC champion.

Dungey placed in the top three in eight of nine races in the first three years of the MEC, only missing the podium in last year’s first main, when he forgot to take the mandatory slower Joker Lane.

“It was embarrassing, but it didn’t feel so bad after Villopoto missed it in the second main event,” he said.

Dungey hit the Joker Lane early in Saturday’s first main, in which he finished eighth. He was fifth in the second main and third in the finale to place fourth.

“This is more of kind of a fun race,” he had said before the sold-out event. “You go out to win, but at the same time, it’s not make or break. This isn’t the main goal. It’s January in Anaheim (Calif.).”

Before the Supercross season opener Jan. 3 at Angels Stadium, Dungey will focus on another important date: Nov. 1, his wedding date. Dungey will marry his girlfriend, Lindsay, in their native Minnesota — not far from where his grandmother used to babysit him and his brothers.

Contact reporter Todd Dewey at tdewey@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0354. Follow him on Twitter: @tdewey33.