VOL. 50 ISSUE 44 NOVEMBER 5, 2013
P65
One of the most
popular portions of the
RCU is the Q&A session
with Carmichael and his
fellow instructors.
cool thing. And to be able to see all my sponsors
here participating, that's what it's all about. So that's
what makes me feel good. And honestly, today, with
the section that I had, I love watching the riders improve. I really do. Even if it's just a little bit. And if
they're not improving, I just sit there and try to explain to them how I can improve them."
And the funny thing is that, since Carmichael
hasn't raced since 2007, he's already running into
kids who don't remember his racing days – or
weren't even alive yet.
"I notice that now [that some kids weren't even
born yet when RC was racing]," Carmichael says.
"Or if they were alive, they were three. I mean,
'07 was my last year and it's '13 now. If they were
three or four, it would be hard to remember. It's
kind of crazy. Like damn, I'm getting old. I'm like,
'Dude, you didn't even see me race!' Or somebody
will come and have me sign a picture I took with
them and it would have been like the season of '07
and they're little in the picture, and now they're all
grown up. I'm like, 'Wow.' That's like reality there."
COMING TO A TRACK NEAR YOU? >>
The Ricky Carmichael University is limited to 100
students, and it's not cheap. It's not supposed to
be. RCU has no problem filling the 100 spots, but
there could come a time when the RCU overreaches its demand.
"Ricky and I have talked about this," Stanton
says. "I don't think schools can handle four or five
a year in the USA. I think you have to keep with
supply and demand. If you keep the number low,
you keep the demand high. One, maybe two a
year in the states is all financially the sport could
handle, I think. If you go and do one a month, it
would burn out."
This is why students were traveling from all over
the USA to attend this school – well, that, and the
fact that it took place at one of the most legendary
tracks in American Motocross.
Q&A WITH THE CHAMPS >>
In the middle of the day, the students get lunch,
and they get an opportunity to ask questions of the
racers. The questions vary from actual riding and
racing questions, to questions about Carmichael's
favorite person he raced over the years, or who he
had the biggest battles with, etc.
Questions ranged from real riding or racing
questions such as what to do when someone is
right on your tail and you're also trying to make a
pass on someone in front of you at the same time,
to a parent asking what advice Carmichael would
give to parents in motocross racing, to which Carmichael responded: "You've got to let the kids do
what they want to do. If they don't want to race,
they don't want to race. Basically what you can't
have is the parents wanting to win worse than the
kids do. When that happens, forget about it. You
can't have it. You can't have the parents wanting to
win more than the kids. That's the wrong formula
and a recipe for disaster."
Great advice from the champ.
