"I absolutely hated Ricky Carmichael." -Travis Pastrana

TripleFive
Edited Date/Time 9/23/2013 9:29pm
Did a search and couldn't find this interview mentioned here previously. If this is a repost please forgive me, I believe I did my due diligence.

Travis Pastrana recently was interviewed by Jeff Gluck of USA TODAY in a segment called "12 Questions."


I thought this part was crazy interesting, wasn't familiar with this conflict at all!!

Q: Is there anyone you used to clash with in racing and then you ended up smoothing things over and reaching an understanding?

A: Ricky Carmichael. Absolutely hated him. Wouldn't talk to him. When we were on the Suzuki test track, he threw me out and said, "You can't ride when I ride." And he was better, so of course everyone was like, "Yep, OK, you can't ride when he rides." I was like, "Damn it!" So I went and rode with the Yamaha test track with Chad Reed – who was also a complete (jerk), but we were good friends.
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gnarwhip
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gnarwhip 9/20/2013 11:21pm
9/20/2013 11:21pm
I would pay money to see RC attempt to blitz a set of huge sx whoops 10 times in a row...both in his prime and today. I laugh when people still refer to him as the goat. He had 40 something sx wins and MC had 72. Goat? wtf?
mynewcr250
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mynewcr250 9/20/2013 11:26pm
9/20/2013 11:26pm Edited Date/Time 9/20/2013 11:38pm
gnarwhip wrote:
I would pay money to see RC attempt to blitz a set of huge sx whoops 10 times in a row...both in his prime and today...
I would pay money to see RC attempt to blitz a set of huge sx whoops 10 times in a row...both in his prime and today. I laugh when people still refer to him as the goat. He had 40 something sx wins and MC had 72. Goat? wtf?
supercross wins:
mcgrath had 72
carmichael had 48

motocross wins:
mcgrath had 17
carmichael had 102

hmmmmmmmmmmm, let us do some quick math here
nytsmaC
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nytsmaC 9/20/2013 11:36pm
9/20/2013 11:36pm
If McGrath had retired at the age when Ricky did, how many fewer wins would he have? Just curious.

The Shop

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jeffro503
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jeffro503 9/20/2013 11:38pm
9/20/2013 11:38pm
gnarwhip wrote:
I would pay money to see RC attempt to blitz a set of huge sx whoops 10 times in a row...both in his prime and today...
I would pay money to see RC attempt to blitz a set of huge sx whoops 10 times in a row...both in his prime and today. I laugh when people still refer to him as the goat. He had 40 something sx wins and MC had 72. Goat? wtf?
This makes entirely no sense. Look at the stats that MyNewcr250 put up......then re-read what you wrote.

Goat....means greatest of all time. With SX and MX together......who had the most wins and championships....ever?

FWIW.....they do call MC "The king".......and rightfully so. He was the best SX rider to ever throw a leg over a bike. All around SX and MX.......he's not even on the same planet as RC. Nobody is......and I don't think anyone ever will be again in our life time.
jeffro503
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jeffro503 9/20/2013 11:38pm
9/20/2013 11:38pm
nytsmaC wrote:
If McGrath had retired at the age when Ricky did, how many fewer wins would he have? Just curious.
Hey Cam!!
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hvaughn88 9/21/2013 4:05am
9/21/2013 4:05am
gnarwhip wrote:
I would pay money to see RC attempt to blitz a set of huge sx whoops 10 times in a row...both in his prime and today...
I would pay money to see RC attempt to blitz a set of huge sx whoops 10 times in a row...both in his prime and today. I laugh when people still refer to him as the goat. He had 40 something sx wins and MC had 72. Goat? wtf?
mynewcr250 wrote:
supercross wins:
mcgrath had 72
carmichael had 48

motocross wins:
mcgrath had 17
carmichael had 102

hmmmmmmmmmmm, let us do some quick math here
I see where you're coming from. And for the record, I don't think MC could have beat RC outdoors. But I also think you have to factor in the years MC was supercross only, which skews the numbers a bit. I also don't think you can compare different eras, either. Yes, I consider them to have competed in different eras, even though they did overlap. For me, I consider MC the greatest because I take into account MC's personality and contributions to the fans. If you want to look at numbers only than it's a land slide for RC. Anyhoo, just my $.02 and by no means do I expect others to agree with me.
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RACERX69 9/21/2013 5:05am
9/21/2013 5:05am
nytsmaC wrote:
If McGrath had retired at the age when Ricky did, how many fewer wins would he have? Just curious.
Also must consider Jeremy didn't start racing till he was 14, I believe. Carmichael was probably 5.
resetjet
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resetjet 9/21/2013 5:40am
9/21/2013 5:40am
The most important thing is who they were racing against........Today, you are racing against multiple champions......Big difference.
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bobby397 9/21/2013 5:51am
9/21/2013 5:51am
resetjet wrote:
The most important thing is who they were racing against........Today, you are racing against multiple champions......Big difference.
Really? Henry, emig, albertyn, lamson, Huffman, Stanton,RC , windham, lusk, larocco, mxkeid, Bradshaw, weren't champions at one point? Mc handled them all and more
ToolMaker
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ToolMaker 9/21/2013 6:33am
9/21/2013 6:33am
Also, if you look at how RC's SX season went, I believe when he had a comfortable lead he didn't push as hard at the end of the season as not to risk the championship. Didn't RC also take a whole SX season off due to leg injury? Going by his average, that's good for another 10+ SX wins. Could have put him over 60.
While he was no MC, he was no slouch either.
Also MC was a huge personality. He loved the press and the fans loved him. During the race he would pass his competitors, slow down to let them catch up and even let them pass him back and then run away again. In interviews he said he did this to demoralize them, play with their heads. What this also accomplished was it got him way more air time as the cameras stayed on him. RC just ran away and sometimes they hardly even showed him televised as it was just him riding around the track by himself.
TM
Motocross83 9/21/2013 6:48am
9/21/2013 6:48am Edited Date/Time 9/21/2013 6:50am
ToolMaker wrote:
Also, if you look at how RC's SX season went, I believe when he had a comfortable lead he didn't push as hard at the end...
Also, if you look at how RC's SX season went, I believe when he had a comfortable lead he didn't push as hard at the end of the season as not to risk the championship. Didn't RC also take a whole SX season off due to leg injury? Going by his average, that's good for another 10+ SX wins. Could have put him over 60.
While he was no MC, he was no slouch either.
Also MC was a huge personality. He loved the press and the fans loved him. During the race he would pass his competitors, slow down to let them catch up and even let them pass him back and then run away again. In interviews he said he did this to demoralize them, play with their heads. What this also accomplished was it got him way more air time as the cameras stayed on him. RC just ran away and sometimes they hardly even showed him televised as it was just him riding around the track by himself.
TM
Didn't RC also take a whole SX season off due to leg injury?

Yes he did - 2004. Though I have to say, imo I don't think Ricky would've gotten the better of Chad that year. As soon as CR was forced off the steel framed YZs he was rarely the same rider again until his short time at Suzuki in 09.

Interesting comment there from Travis. By no means an RC hater or anything but I can't say I'm desperately surprised.
burn1986
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burn1986 9/21/2013 6:53am
9/21/2013 6:53am Edited Date/Time 9/21/2013 7:53am
Champions are usually a little jerky - RJ, Hannah, RC, RV, Bradshaw, Herlings. Of course McGrath, Albertyn, Henry, Glover, Bailey were the exceptions.
TripleFive 9/21/2013 7:43am
9/21/2013 7:43am
I'd like to hear the other side of this from RC. It would be cool to hear his justification for kicking TP off the track.
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Lefty Right 9/21/2013 7:48am
9/21/2013 7:48am
resetjet wrote:
The most important thing is who they were racing against........Today, you are racing against multiple champions......Big difference.
bobby397 wrote:
Really? Henry, emig, albertyn, lamson, Huffman, Stanton,RC , windham, lusk, larocco, mxkeid, Bradshaw, weren't champions at one point? Mc handled them all and more
if you're counting 125 champion's Bradshaw, Lamson, Huffman Windham,Ferry Swinks Lusk Dowd ,
Pichon RC

I'f you're counting 250 Champion's Stanton Emig ,Henry, Albertyn, Larocco, Mxkeid, and RC hadn't been a champion yet on the 250's

Supercross Champion's Stanton Emig,
jeff.cohen.923 9/21/2013 7:57am
9/21/2013 7:57am
this is all fine and good but i personally think rv2 would beat them both in there primes we can sit here all day but nobody rides like rv2. rc is the man but i think 7 out of 10 times rv2 will find a way to win not many people put it out there like him but also have control to.
Landonious217 9/21/2013 7:58am
9/21/2013 7:58am
jeff.cohen.923 wrote:
this is all fine and good but i personally think rv2 would beat them both in there primes we can sit here all day but nobody...
this is all fine and good but i personally think rv2 would beat them both in there primes we can sit here all day but nobody rides like rv2. rc is the man but i think 7 out of 10 times rv2 will find a way to win not many people put it out there like him but also have control to.
Smh
burn1986
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burn1986 9/21/2013 8:00am
9/21/2013 8:00am
Man, there is no way to tell who would beat who. It's completely pointless to say if RJ would beat Carmichael, or if Mark Barnett would have beaten Henry. Uuuuugh, tiresome.

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TripleFive 9/21/2013 8:00am
9/21/2013 8:00am
jeff.cohen.923 wrote:
this is all fine and good but i personally think rv2 would beat them both in there primes we can sit here all day but nobody...
this is all fine and good but i personally think rv2 would beat them both in there primes we can sit here all day but nobody rides like rv2. rc is the man but i think 7 out of 10 times rv2 will find a way to win not many people put it out there like him but also have control to.
https://youtu.be/oAXxyBUL-KE
Cook441
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Cook441 9/21/2013 8:01am
9/21/2013 8:01am
I suspect RC was all Biz and Pastrana... well he's Pastrana. Also Pastana blatantly tried to knock RC down in SX and after the race admitted it calling RC a "weeble wobble" if memoy serves me. RC was wringing the shit outta red bikes at the time-
jeff.cohen.923 9/21/2013 8:03am
9/21/2013 8:03am
just for all those who think they never raced mxon 2007 on a 250 rv2 beat rc heads up
Cook441
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Cook441 9/21/2013 8:16am
9/21/2013 8:16am
Carmichael and Pastrana raced MXDN together too these guys have been around one another for a long time thanks to Fox and many other sponsors...Heres one of the get togethers

https://youtu.be/x1SMdDluiNI
TripleFive 9/21/2013 8:22am
9/21/2013 8:22am
jeff.cohen.923 wrote:
just for all those who think they never raced mxon 2007 on a 250 rv2 beat rc heads up
RC was 65 years old!
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BKoonts 9/21/2013 8:26am
9/21/2013 8:26am
jeff.cohen.923 wrote:
just for all those who think they never raced mxon 2007 on a 250 rv2 beat rc heads up
To be fair, RC was collected in a first turn crash and remounted in 39th place. He rode back to 3rd. I wouldn't say that RV beat him straight up. It is funny how even with RCs track record of rising to the occasion and finding another gear when the competition got tough, people still want to discount his accomplishments.
burn1986
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burn1986 9/21/2013 8:35am
9/21/2013 8:35am
Cook441 wrote:
Carmichael and Pastrana raced MXDN together too these guys have been around one another for a long time thanks to Fox and many other sponsors...Heres one...
Carmichael and Pastrana raced MXDN together too these guys have been around one another for a long time thanks to Fox and many other sponsors...Heres one of the get togethers

https://youtu.be/x1SMdDluiNI
Good one. Racing isn't supposed to be friendly. All that matters is: Who crosses the line first. Good find.
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Matt Fisher 9/21/2013 9:34am
9/21/2013 9:34am
jeff.cohen.923 wrote:
just for all those who think they never raced mxon 2007 on a 250 rv2 beat rc heads up
BKoonts wrote:
To be fair, RC was collected in a first turn crash and remounted in 39th place. He rode back to 3rd. I wouldn't say that RV...
To be fair, RC was collected in a first turn crash and remounted in 39th place. He rode back to 3rd. I wouldn't say that RV beat him straight up. It is funny how even with RCs track record of rising to the occasion and finding another gear when the competition got tough, people still want to discount his accomplishments.
Ricky was also sick that day. That said, they lined up together, and therefore RV beat him.
I really think that was RV's day to shine, and even if RC had been 100% it would have been a great battle.
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Outsider 9/21/2013 9:50am
9/21/2013 9:50am
I wonder if MC wishes now that he raced more motocross... he could be the KING and the GOAT
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GoonSquad250x 9/21/2013 9:53am
9/21/2013 9:53am
Yea, I don't think you can say RV beat RC straight up that MXoN at all. RC retired mid season right? So he wasn't racing up to the MXoN like RV was, he was sick, they gave RV the best gate pick because he was on a 250 & RC was caught in a 1st turn pile up which put him in 39th place. And he still clawed his way all the way up to 3rd through the best in the world. RV had the holeshot too... RV was just up & coming, and RC was on his way out.
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Outsider 9/21/2013 9:58am
9/21/2013 9:58am Edited Date/Time 9/21/2013 9:59am
GoonSquad250x wrote:
Yea, I don't think you can say RV beat RC straight up that MXoN at all. RC retired mid season right? So he wasn't racing up...
Yea, I don't think you can say RV beat RC straight up that MXoN at all. RC retired mid season right? So he wasn't racing up to the MXoN like RV was, he was sick, they gave RV the best gate pick because he was on a 250 & RC was caught in a 1st turn pile up which put him in 39th place. And he still clawed his way all the way up to 3rd through the best in the world. RV had the holeshot too... RV was just up & coming, and RC was on his way out.
RC was on a 450, had years of top dawg experience, and he was R freaking C... bro

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