Rising Star
RISING STAR
RACE WATCH
Ricky Carmichael has arrived
DAVEY COOMBS
THE RICKY CARMICHAEL ERA OF MOTOCROSS WAS supposed to begin September 1, 1996, in Delmont, Pennsylvania. Instead, the highly touted Amateur legend crashed repeatedly and struggled to a respectable. but unspectacular, eighth overall in the 125cc class.
Cut to March 2, 1997: Gainesville, Florida, the site of Carmichael’s second AMA national. This time, 2-1 moto finishes earned the teenager his first Pro win. But skeptics felt C armichael’s hometrack advantage-he grew up in nearby Tallahassee-played a huge part in his victory.
So, to appease even the most jaded non-believer, official kickoff for the RC Era will forever be May 4, 1997, at the Hangtown Classic in Sacramento, California. It was there that the youngster completely devastated the field on his way to a clean sweep of both motos. The day marked the first time Carmichael had ever raced at Hangtown-and the last time he will enter an AMA national as an underdog.
“I would have to say that’s the best 1 ever rode in my life,” said the befreckled Carmichael after the Hangtown blow-out. “But I know 1 can go faster.”
This is not good news for America’s best motocrossers.
A champion since age 7, Carmichael has been a presence on the factories’ radar screens for years. At 11, he was considered the best 60cc rider ever. By 13, he was touted as the fastest minibike rider on the planet. By the time he was 16, the family trophy case was overflowing, including an alltime record nine AMA Amateur National Championships.
The reward for all those titles was a semi-factory ride with Mitch Payton’s Splitfire/Kawasaki Pro Circuit team. “This is the life I always wanted,” says Carmichael. “I would always listen to the bikes at the Pro nationals and think, ‘Man, I want to ride one of them!’ Now, I get to every day.” Well, every day for at least the next two years-Carmichael has a contract with Kawasaki (via Pro Circuit) through ’98, with an option year to follow.
Initially, the team settled on a parttime Pro gig for Carmichael in ’97, one in which he would race the first few supercrosses and outdoor nationals and then concentrate on major Amateur events. That plan, however, faded quickly. “I won my first supercross in Atlanta, and then came Gainesville and it was like, ‘Whoa, Ricky, you might not get to ride Amateur anymore.’ Then, I won some more and they said, ‘Forget about the Amateur races.’ ”
“Quite honestly, I’m surprised,” says Pro Circuit’s Payton. “I thought it was possible that he could win, but we didn’t want to put any pressure on him, so we never talked about it. We didn’t push him. Our goal was not to push him so hard that he crashed, but he just goes for it on his own.”
“I’m surprised about how well he’s doing outdoors,” says 250cc National Champion Jeff Emig. “I kind of figured he would be a decent stadium rider from the start. He’s extremely talented, and he looks like he’s having a lot of fun-like he can’t get enough of it. He’s got a lot of youth and energy. Makes us old guys think, ‘Hmmm, we need to get some spark back.’ ”
“I think he reminds me of...well, me,” says four-time SX champ Jeremy McGrath. “I see some of the style in him that I had when I was younger. He’s real aggressive on the bike. He moves around on it more than just about anyone I’ve ever seen. He once spent a week with me when he was still riding minibikes, and he was doing all the jumps I was doing on a 250. At that point I was a little hesitant to call him out as the next big thing, because he was wild and took too many chances. As he got older and a little more experienced, he’s smoothed out a little.”
Like almost everyone else, McGrath is also impressed by Carmichael’s ability to pull outrageous tricks. “Ricky is definitely sick in the air! That’s what I used to do when I was his age.” High praise from a guy they call “Showtime.”
“I haven’t seen anyone whip it that hard in a long time,” adds Emig. “Ricky’s really fun to watch because he’s so fast and you never know when he’s going to toss it away.”
Carmichael’s last-lap antics are quickly earning him a following in the grandstands and among television viewers, but mechanic Chad Watts has repeatedly warned his young rider to curb the risky celebrations. At Gainesville, Watts went so far as to write, “No showing off” on his signal board in the closing moments of the second moto. But the kid in Carmichael prevails. “I just like to show people drainplug,” jokes RC.
That is, of course, if Carmichael makes it to the last lap upright. Crashes at Indy, Daytona, Pontiac and St. Louis cost Carmichael the I25cc East Region title this year. Even though he won more events than anyone in the series, he finished a distant third in the points.
“The fans just love that go-forbroke attitude the kid has,” says exMXer David Bailey, who now commentates for ESPN. “Carmichael will quit crashing before he quits winning. Until he gets to that point, he just needs to stay healthy so he doesn’t turn out to be another Robbie Reynard.”
Comparisons to Reynard are plentiful. Both were highly regarded Amateur talents who burst onto the Professional circuit with big credentials and even bigger expectations. Both were named the AMA’s Rookie of the Year at age 16. Both grew up outside the SoCal racing scene in strong, close-knit racing families. Reynard, now 20, is still plagued by injuries and inconsistency. Carmichael, on the other hand, has shown few growing pains, with the possible exception of some spectacular get-offs.
“I’ve always known that I wanted to be a professional motocrosser,” says Carmichael, who participated in few other sports growing up. “I’ve watched the Pros all my life and hung out in the pits with them. I used to study the way my favorite riders like Jeremy and Johnny O’Mara would act and hang out when they weren’t racing, and then try to behave like that myself. I guess I was always preparing to be a Pro.”
One of the problems that teenage phenoms face is how and when to separate from their parents. In most cases, dad acts as mechanic and mom plays team manager until the factory takes over. Other times, as in the cases of Reynard and Mike LaRocco, the parents stay with the rider throughout his career. Carmichael’s parents, Rick Sr. and Jeannie, started letting go as soon as Ricky exited minibikes, but they plan on staying close to their only child.
“My parents still go to all the races,” says Carmichael. “They still enjoy going to the track, hanging out in the pits and being there for me.” For now, they have to be there; Carmichael won’t turn 18 until November, so he must have parental consent to race, and he’s too young to rent a car. As a result, it’s written into Carmichael’s Kawasaki contract that at least one parent must accompany him to every event until he turns 18. “But they’ve definitely taken a step back,” he adds.
That wasn’t always the case. At the Amateur level, Ricky’s mom, who works for the Tallahassee school district, pushed her son to succeed, not in a stage-mother way, but more along the lines of a coach.
“I guarantee you there’s more than one stopwatch lying around the Carmichael house,” jokes AXO’s Scott Taylor, a long-time family friend and RC’s current clothing sponsor. “Every lap, every day, Jeannie was out there making sure he’d be working hard and not slacking off a bit.”
“My mom was pretty hardcore when it came to training and practicing,” remembers Carmichael. “I might not have always understood that, but I really appreciate it now. She made sure I worked out just about every day. She also tried to teach me some better eating habits-I would rather eat like crap and then train my butt off. But since I started hanging out with Johnny O, I’ve been eating a little better.”
Carmichael’s relationship with O’Mara, a former 125cc national and 250cc SX champion, has been extremely beneficial. O’Mara works for Oakley, another of Carmichael’s sponsors. He’s acted as adviser, as well as a riding and training partner.
“Johnny took me under his wing last year when I moved up to 125s,” says Carmichael. “He really helped me learn the ropes and showed me how to train and prepare for my first year as a Pro. I can ask him questions about anything involving the sport. I’m also in the best shape of my life.”
“I’m really close to Ricky and his family,” says O’Mara. “His work ethic and how they look at the sport is just perfect, and that’s a big reason why he’s doing as well as he is. What he could do in the sport in the next few years is very scary to think about.”
Taylor agrees, saying, “He sets his goals to the moon, not just to be a Jeff Ward or a Jeremy McGrath or anybody else. It’s just like this first year as a Pro: Nobody ever told him he wasn’t supposed to win. He’s just programmed to do it. I don’t think there’s anyone in our sport right now that you can compare him to. I honestly believe he’s going to be bigger than Damon Bradshaw or Jeff Stanton or any of those guys. I think he’s going to be our Tiger Woods.”
