CARMICHAEL HAS A FAN & FRIEND IN KAHNE

One of the earliest mentions of NASCAR drivers as fans of Ricky Carmichael, considered the “Greatest Of All Time” AMA championship motorcycle racer, came in 2002. That’s when Clint Bowyer, a dirt track racing regional champion in NASCAR’s Whelen All American Series, cited Carmichael as one of his heroes.

It turns out the down-to-earth Carmichael has many other fans who compete in NASCAR racing, including NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Kasey Kahne.

“I would never have expected to be racing against Ricky,” Kahne said. “Now that he’s doing some stuff on four wheels – and I liked watching him race on two wheels – it’s great that he’s retired from that and started racing in NASCAR.”

Kahne, in his fifth season racing in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, has been friends with Carmichael for a number of years.

“Ricky’s a great guy,” Kahne said. “I met him in 2004 at the Daytona 500 when I as a rookie. It was my first Cup race. Ricky and his wife were walking around and I ran into them. We started talking and we’ve been friends ever since. We stayed in touch. We’ve gotten together a few times since and hung out. He’s just a really good guy and a really good person.”

Kahne qualified fourth in the US Cellular 200 Sunday, May 18 at Iowa Speedway and led 32 laps before finishing second to Brian Ickler. It was Kahne’s first NASCAR Camping World Series start and came less than 24 hours after he won the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Challenge in Charlotte.

Kahne met with the Iowa media following his Sunday morning practice. He was asked to compare the race cars he’s used to driving with the NASCAR Camping World Series cars.

“There’s not a whole lot of difference,” he said. “They’re more like a NASCAR Nationwide Series car. The tires are what changed the whole thing for me. I’ve never raced on a tire like this, a bias ply tire. It was really different in practice. It just took a few laps to figure out where the edge is and how far you can take the car. You have to get loose. You have to push the front end. You just have to mess with it and figure out where those lines are.”

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