'The Goat' Attempts To Run With The Herd
02-10-2009 3:51 pm

Can "The GOAT" hang with the big boys when he trades his two wheels for four this weekend at Daytona International Speedway?

Ricky Carmichael, five-time AMA Supercross champion known as the "Greatest of All Time," makes his NASCAR Camping World Truck Series debut Friday (8 p.m. ET on SPEED; NCWTS Setup with Krista Voda at 7:30 p.m. ET) at Daytona.

Although his 15 championships best any other rider in AMA history, Carmichael's foray into NASCAR's top divisions presents its own version of a Supercross whoop-de-doo, not the least of which is closing the chapter on his unprecedented two-wheel success and learning to accept anything less than perfection on an oval track.

"The biggest challenge for Carmichael will be learning how to fail," said Krista Voda, host of NCWTS Setup and former motocross reporter. "He has succeeded in every facet of motocross and supercross but the learning curve for NASCAR will be a steeper one. How Ricky handles wrecking, failing and losing will dictate how quickly he'll begin to finish, succeed and win."

The five-time AMA Rider of the Year recognizes the vast gulf between two and four wheels.

"Car racing challenges me much differently than a motorcycle race," Carmichael related. "Normally in moto, I would just have to concentrate on one thing and work on it to be better than my competitor during a race situation. In cars I have to deal with many things - lack of seat time, car set-up being so new to me. Every time I race or test, I learn something that betters me and that's what I like about it."

While Carmichael is the latest to emerge in a while, several bike riders paved the way to four-wheel stardom for him.

"Internationally, John Surtees won the world championship on both two and four wheels and Mike Hailwood appeared headed that direction when he died in a highway accident," said Dave Despain, host of Wind Tunnel and former motorcycle racer. "Joe Leonard was the American dirt track motorcycle champion before he became IndyCar champion and Joe Weatherly came from that same two-wheeled world to become a stock car star. There are also a number of recent NASCAR stars - Ricky Rudd, Joe Nemechek, Robby Gordon and Jimmie Johnson come to mind - who got their start in motocross, the same as Carmichael. You could argue that history is on Ricky's side."

While he made history in the stats columns, Carmichael's physical fitness and discipline were the stuff of legends and contributed to his 150 professional race wins.

"While competing in motocross, Carmichael dedicated himself to his training regiment the entire time and it was a regiment many humans couldn't handle," Voda said. "When I covered the U.S. Open in Vegas, I walked by the fitness center of the MGM Grand early one morning the day of the event. Ricky was going 'mach-7' on a stationary bike. In just a few hours, he'd go through practice, heats, semis and the main event. Yet, there he was, putting 110-percent into a 7 a.m. workout."

"My fitness preparation was very important for motorcycle racing," Carmichael stated. "It was probably more important than the riding the older I got. The last seven years of my career there I really worked on that and it made my life and racing much easier and gave me a huge advantage because although I was talented, there where many other riders that had much more talent but didn't have the fitness to get it done. I don't think that it's as important in car racing as motorcycle racing but I believe it still could have a pretty big effect and isn't going to hurt."

Carmichael, who raced the No. 4 his entire career until retiring from two wheels in 2007, says mental conditioning varies between the two series and staying in the seat is even stranger.

"Car racing is so new to me that when I am at a race or in the car, it has my attention all the time," Carmichael said. "When I was racing motocross I could move around a lot more. I'm not sure if it (NASCAR) takes so much more mental concentration because it's new or if that's just the character of racing cars because of the speeds and how close you are together."

"The GOAT," scheduled for 14 Truck races in the No. 4 Monster Energy KHI All-Stars Chevrolet, counts among his friends Clint Bowyer, to whom Carmichael points as one of the reasons he pursued the stock car world.

"I have known Clint (Bowyer) and his family for a very long time," Carmichael said. "I met him sometime in the mid to late '80s at an amateur national. Our families became really close friends from that point on. Clint decided to race cars instead of motocross and from that point on, I started to find a little interest in it (stock cars) just from watching him."

Carmichael, a husband and father, admits his age and safety were factors in his jump to NASCAR.

"It (NASCAR) is something you can do for a long time and I knew I was getting to the end of the road in motorcycle racing and this was the only other racing I wanted to do seriously if given the chance," he said. "Also, I really like what the sport is all about. I like the safety features and at the same time, the speeds, a lot better from where I came from when the protection was limited, unfortunately."

Only time will tell if Carmichael will become the greatest motocross racer ever to compete in NASCAR but he already has a leg-up on most rookies.

"As a bike guy, my heart wants to see him succeed, and he has a lot going for him - huge talent, racer sense, determination and drive," said Despain, veteran motorcycle journalist. "As the car guys get to know him they all seem to have the same reaction - the guy's a racer. He's very sponsor-friendly and brings Monster energy drink to the deal, which solves one of the problems a lot of newcomers face - trying to find funding. On the other hand, he's no kid but he's up against a bunch of kids, all of whom have a lot of four-wheeled experience. Will his advantages outweigh the disadvantages? It remains to be seen but he's as good a bet as I've seen in a long time to make the switch from two wheels to four."

SPEED, now in more than 78 million homes in North America, is the exclusive home of the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race, Gatorade Duel at Daytona, NASCAR Sprint Pit Crew Challenge and the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. The only network delivering live, at-track programming all season long, SPEED offers the definitive pre- and post-race NASCAR Sprint Cup Series programs - NASCAR RaceDay and NASCAR Victory Lane, as well as other popular NASCAR programs including Trackside Live, NASCAR Performance, NASCAR Live!, This Week in NASCAR, NCWTS Setup, NASCAR in a Hurry and NASCAR Smarts.