Ricky Carmichael conducts motocross skills competition at Texas Motor Speedway
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series rookie Ricky Carmichael took on the law - and won Tuesday at Texas Motor Speedway.
Carmichael, known for his 15 motocross championships, returned to his roots as he hopped on a motocross bike to challenge the Fort Worth Police Department Motorcycle Unit on a skills competition course at Texas Motor Speedway.
Carmichael, who was at TMS to promote the June 5 WinStar World Casino 400 Truck series race, competed against officer Mike Richey in a motorcycle-skills course on pit road that involved the same drills given to those training to become a motorcycle officer. The course consisted of three drills – intersection, offset cone weave, and in-and-out box – built into one course. Carmichael, using a Suzuki RM-Z450 provided by Action Suzuki/Kawasaki of Mesquite, ran the course in 49.733 seconds compared to 52.971 seconds of Richey, who was riding a 2009 Harley-Davidson Electra Glide.
“This is a pretty neat deal,” Carmichael, 29, said of his experience. “I got a lot of respect for them after watching them go on these things on street bikes as big and heavy as those things are. There is no way I could have done it on one of those bikes. They about outran me, and I'm a professional, but they’re professionals too.”
Carmichael also took a rare spin around the 1.5-mile speedway on a motocross bike as he led the pack of 25 officers around the track for a few laps. He aksi threw in a few wheelies on the frontstretch.
The FWPD awarded him with a plaque with the title of “Honorary Fort Worth Police Motor Officer.” In return, Carmichael presented the group with an autographed WinStar World Casino racing helmet.
“He had great control of the motorcycle; it did what he wanted it to do,” Richey said in a news release. “He lived up to his namesake of GOAT (Greatest Of All Time). You can practice all you want to and devote as many hours as you can or desire to, and he still comes out on top. Hopefully, it will transition on the track for him.”
Carmichael earned AMA Supercross victories at Texas Stadium in 2001 and ‘02. Carmichael, who is driving the Kevin Harvick Inc. No. 4 Chevy in the Truck series, has five starts with one top-10 finish this season.
“I’m going to try to do the best I can when I come here to Texas. I’ve had some success here in the past, so we’ll see what happens,” Carmichael said. “It’s going be so neat to be here and race in the Truck series on June 5, so hopefully a lot of my fans from supercross and motocross will come out here and check it out.”
