Expectations continue to rise for Carmichael in '10 (cont'd)

Why not stay on two wheels?

"Man, I got tired of falling down and busting my butt," Bowyer said. "You hit a little bit harder here, but our eggs are scrambled anyway, we can do without the broken bones and the broken legs and stuff."

As could Johnson, who started his career as an off-road racer of 50cc motorcycles but then injured his knee in the course of his first 60cc class victory.

"I wanted to be a motocross racer growing up and I still to this day watch and love the sport," Johnson said. "I think I got discouraged when I changed age groups and was at the bottom side of the age bracket and was getting beat. When I went from winning all the time on 60s, moved up to 80s and started getting my butt kicked, I didn't like that much."

Johnson put bikes on hold and took a couple years off until he was ready to race again. He had endured a couple more injuries and his dad was more than happy to retire the bikes.

"My dad had this vision that if they could keep me off bikes and put me in something with a roll cage on the dirt then I would do just fine," said the four-time Cup champion. "We went to work and found me a ride in the Mickey Thompson Series and got my four-wheel career going."

And no more major injuries.

Expected to have more breaks and injuries without the protection of fenders and SAFER barriers, Carmichael, in 23 years of racing motorcycles, had broken three bones and underwent three ACL (knee) repairs, and that, he said was a fairly small amount for the average motocross rider.

Sure Cup Series drivers get hurt these days but more recently it's because of something they've done away from the track; basketball leagues, boating and even Frisbee. Recall Carl Edwards.

Nevertheless, Carmichael has managed to stay in excellent condition. He runs 5 miles and bikes up to 25 miles a day to stay in shape and is furthering his stock car transition with pointers from Bowyer and others in the Cup Series.

"I think it's still about balance, I think a lot of what we do in the Cup Series has to do with balance," Bowyer said. "You're balancing the car front to rear no different than you are the motorcycle with the throttle control and things like that.

"I think you get on bigger race tracks and you have to drive the car loose and you have to be able to balance the car front to rear and you're throttle control is a big part of doing that."

Something Carmichael is learning from Johnson is how to communicate with his Turner Motorsports crew chief Mike Fritts.

"If you listen to Johnson on the radio, he really, really breaks it down a lot more than other drivers. I think that helps," said Carmichael, who before leaving motocross won 15 championships. "When I was racing motocross, as I got towards the tail end of my career ... I could talk to my mechanic and say I need this and this on the suspension, as far as jetting on the carburetor, this on the engine, I could tell him exactly what I wanted, instead of saying, 'It's doing this, can you help me?' I'm getting past the stage of that on the car side of things. I still have a lot to learn."

Racing in the ARCA event this weekend in Texas, Carmichael is adding to his seat time putting him a little bit closer to his goal of racing in the Cup Series.

"I mean, I think in some ways for the little bit of seat time I've had, I've been somewhat successful. I've had some great qualifying runs and great finishes for the lack of seat time I have in four wheels just in general," he said.

Still it takes years of racing on a consistent basis, week in and week out, to make significant progress, he said.

"You can't do it part-time for three years. That's not going to cut it these days, especially when you got guys that are racing the Truck Series, then racing the Nationwide Series on the side, and then some Cup races, as well," Carmichael said. "Three years of full-time series racing will be key. I think by that point you know if things are clicking and if you're going to make it to the Cup level or not."

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer.