There's no disguising how much love former Supercross and motocross hero Ricky Carmichael has for the sport that financially fixed his destiny for life.

But there's also no question that Carmichael, 29, who plans to race more than half of the 2009 Camping World Truck Series schedule for Kevin Harvick Inc., has no desire to revisit the atmosphere he thrived in for more than a decade.

“

Practicing Supercross and stuff like that, it's hit and miss -- some days I ride twice a week and then I won't ride for three weeks. When I used to [race] it was minimum three times a week, practicing, and sometimes four. So it's a huge, substantial step down.

”

-- RICKY CARMICHAEL

That is, except when he can pick his spots, like designing the odd Supercross track or doing color commentary for a race broadcast. Last weekend he did both at Daytona.

The mood in the NASCAR garage versus what he found for a decade in motocross paddocks across the country convinced him he'd made the better choice, when he explained that he'd had virtually no feedback from the motorcycle community on what he'd accomplished in the last two years on four wheels.

"I don't know what they think," Carmichael said. "Motocross is so competitive -- you know, stock car racing is, too; it's all competitive. But it just seemed that in motocross and Supercross that the other rider has so much input that the problem was [laughing], we didn't talk too much, all of us racers.

"Some of us are friends, but your arch-rivals; really it's kind of a hate relationship, because it's so competitive and if you're going faster, some guys are really jealous of it and can't get past the fact that the other guy works harder. They just think he's cocky or whatever. So I don't know how they feel.

"I think that some of the old racers are pulling for me, for sure, and I'm sure that I have some that are hoping that I fail [laughing]. It's a pretty brutal sport, in that aspect and that's the only thing that I don't miss about it. The lack of respect is just terrible.

"And that's the cool thing about what I'm learning in this [NASCAR] deal. It's awesome that a Johnny Benson or a Ron Hornaday will come and swap notes with you, or give you advice. You would never, ever find that unless a guy was five seconds slower than you in motocross. There ain't no way I'd go to the guy that's getting third place and tell him about my bike and the lines I'm taking and this and that -- there just ain't no way."

Carmichael, who won a whopping 15 championships and 150 races in a variety of indoor and outdoor motocross disciplines, exactly two years ago branched into four-wheeled motorsport as a Ginn Racing development driver, wheeling a late model car prepared by Mark Martin Performance.

From there the natural progression was the 2008 Camping World East Series, where Carmichael finished sixth with a pole position, three top-five and eight top-10 finishes in 13 races driving for Ken Schrader Racing. Then Harvick, with one eye on Carmichael's obvious talent for race craft and the other on his Monster Energy sponsorship, signed Carmichael as a teammate to three-time Truck Series champion Hornaday.

So last weekend, Carmichael straddled both his present and his past in one hectic day; compressing what he's done for the last year into one day of private jets, race driving and race commentating.

Last weekend, after racing his No. 4 Chevrolet truck at Atlanta Motor Speedway he jumped in fellow NASCAR racer Jimmie Johnson's private jet and flew to Daytona Beach, Fla. Overlooking a track he designed, in a location he once dominated, with a record five career victories Carmichael's color commentary on the live SPEED broadcast, in concert with play-by-play man Ralph Sheheen and former Supercross foe Jeff Emig; emanated both with his love of the game and his affinity for the players.

“

That's the cool thing about what I'm learning in this [NASCAR] deal. It's awesome that a Johnny Benson or a Ron Hornaday will come and swap notes with you, or give you advice. You would never, ever find that unless a guy was five seconds slower than you in motocross. There just ain't no way.

”

-- RICKY CARMICHAEL

Like a broadcast pro, he cited no individual when asked for his current Supercross favorite, saying it was akin to how he felt about his four-wheel racing endeavors.

"That's a tough question, because I have so much respect for the top guys that are out there," Carmichael said. "I know how hard it is and I like a lot [of riders]. I mean, you couldn't ask me who my favorite NASCAR driver is. I respect so many of them and I'm such a huge fan that I don't [pick one] -- and it's the same for Supercross. I just love watching the talent."

Since early 2008 Carmichael didn't have to get his arm twisted much to dabble in Supercross track design. Daytona was the third track he'd designed, starting with last year's Daytona venue won in monsoon conditions by Kevin Windham. He also designed the 2009 Atlanta Supercross track, a venue where he also won five times in his career.

"I've done a lot of practice tracks, but only a few race tracks that they actually race on," Carmichael said. "I'd change my practice track [at home] every year, and then change it at least once during the 17-race [Supercross] season.

"It's pretty easy to think what you want, because you've raced so many tracks, so many different designs and you've been all around. But then it comes time to putting it on paper, and you need a ruler and a measurement tool, and it gets a little bit complicated [laughing]. But for the most part it's pretty easy to scheme up things that you think will be fun, things that you think will be challenging and at the same time will be good for the fans and safe.

"But it's fun."

Obviously, Carmichael said the last knowing he wouldn't have to ride what turned out to be a gnarly combination of the "World Center of Racing's" pristine tri-oval grass, Daytona's trademark rut-plagued sand and treacherous black marl.

It ended up a daunting, entertaining layout that pitched the previous Supercross Lites race winner, Austin Stroupe, into a spectacular race-ending crash. Its main event starting sequence caused pre-race favorite James "Bubba" Stewart to have an end-over-end crash at the field's front that involved half a dozen competitors and seemingly dazed Stewart enough that he tried to pick up and mount his teammate's bike before he recovered to finish seventh on his own Yamaha.

Even though Carmichael's been retired from full-time Supercross since the end of the 2006 season, and last competed at Daytona in 2007, when he finished second; his design effort left him with a powerful urge to race his creation. Carmichael did test-ride the 2008 Daytona track, but it left him wanting more.

"Oh, absolutely," Carmichael said. "Because when I'm designing it, for the most part I'm putting a design on there that I really love, so absolutely I'm like, 'Dang, I wish I could race this thing.'"

Carmichael will find time scarce to do so. Racing trucks at Fontana and Atlanta kept him from testing either this year's Atlanta or Daytona designs. His current racing schedule and the fact that he's totally accepted moving beyond the two-wheel scene will keep his longing to a minimum.

Not surprising, as is the case with many motorcycle racers, Carmichael's virtually never ridden street motorcycles; and these days even his dirt riding is sporadic.

Back in the day, Carmichael says he had "two complete race bikes, in case one of them broke, and tons of spare parts to build other ones, if I needed to. Now, I just have one factory bike, a [Suzuki] RM-Z450. It doesn't have the latest and greatest stuff -- obviously Chad Reed and a couple of other guys on the team have all that -- but I have a good enough bike to get me by, and I still enjoy it.

"Practicing Supercross and stuff like that, it's hit and miss -- some days I ride twice a week and then I won't ride for three weeks. When I used to [race] it was minimum three times a week, practicing, and sometimes four. So it's a huge, substantial step down -- but there's no need for me to, really.

"There's no need for me to take that risk. And it's so tough to go and ride Supercross when you don't do it all the time and you're not in top physical shape. You're just asking to be injured at that point."

In closing the book on his own motocross career, as well as having any thought that either of his young children would go that route, Carmichael takes a pragmatic view.

"If it's going to be in motorsports it's definitely going to be on four wheels," Carmichael said. "I just know motocross and I know the direction that it's going, which, I'm always going to support that sport because it's provided a great life for me.

"But at the same time, the bikes are getting faster, the tracks are so, so technical that if you don't do things you don't have much success and it kind of puts you in a tough position and a risky position and I don't know if I could handle my kids [twins, who turn two in mid-March] -- my little boy, I don't think my little girl will ever do anything like that, but I don't think I could ever see my little guy doing that.

"I seen my dad wreck one time and I couldn't imagine my own child [doing it], so I'm going to push him on the four-wheeled side of things, IF he wants to do that; and then just support him in whatever he wants to do, whether it be baseball or football. But I'd love to see him do baseball, because I really liked that as a kid."

In the spring of 2007 Carmichael found himself in the midst of a media circus when Martin stepped out of the Cup Series' points lead to come to Columbia Motorsports Park to oversee Carmichael's professional four-wheeled debut, rather than racing at Bristol. Carmichael himself had raced his final Supercross the weekend before in Orlando, Fla.

With what he's seen since, Carmichael said he couldn't give a blanket recommendation for any other motorcycle racer to try what he'd done.

"I don't know if I would recommend it or not," Carmichael said. "For me, I love it, so I would want someone to advise it. I think it would be cool for some people to make the switch, but the first thing I would advise them is to finish their business in motocross and Supercross and then move on.

"Until they do that, they need to focus on one thing and that's to accomplish their goals. That's the first thing. And after that, then go auto racing, whether it be in a stock car, or open wheel."