“Everyone knows that Ricky Carmichael will be racing a selective schedule this year and he is going to be missed. I have been very fortunate to see a lot of races over the years and I even watched Ricky when he used to race 80cc’s at Mt. Morris when he was growing up. So this weekend I thought it would be appropriate to see what some of the industry’s fondest memories would be of Ricky Carmichael."

“It would have to be Pontiac in 2002 when he looped out on the first lap. He got back up with a broken visor and came all the way back to second. You can’t stop RC.”

“It was RC’s first undefeated season outdoors. There was so much pressure and no one had done it before. Just to see the look on his face, showed how much hard work he put into it.”

“It would have to be Las Vegas 2006. Everyone knew this would be his last full season racing supercross and he came through and won the championship. He will always be known as the G.O.A.T. because he always pulls through. He’s also one of those guys who will come up to you and say that it was nice working with you over the years. He’s just a good person overall.”

“Exactly, two years ago at the World SX round. I’m eating breakfast and he starts chewing me up and down because he was reading a magazine on the plane and there was a section where they ask people who was going to win the championship. And Chad was riding really well at the time because he had won 6 straight and the U.S. Open. I said, “it would be rude not to pick Chad because of the roll he’s been on.” I was looking at the statistics and RC’s not the kind of guy you tell statistics to. Ricky is Ricky. He calls me over to his table and asked me about what he had read. What do you think about this? All the yellow shirts got quiet. They look at me and say “well?”

“It would have to be this year in Vegas. James and Ricky cross the finish line and they both drop their bikes .RC goes over and takes James hand and raises it in the air with his. It just showed how much of a true champion he is.”

“It would have to be when he won his 100 th race. He was coming up through the mechanic’s area and he looked at me and stuck his arms straight up in the air. What a feeling that was and that was a really good experience for me too.”

“He’s such a nice person. I got hurt in 2003 and I was still coming to races with 2 broken heels. Every weekend he would come up to me and ask me how I was doing. That just shows you what kind of guy RC is.”

“When Ricky was about 8 or 9 years old and he was about 4 ft tall. He would come over to the Scott van and help me work. He was so small that he could stand up and walk inside of the van. So, he would get the tear-offs and goggles for me and we would build goggles together.”