‘The G.O.A.T.’ Motocross Legend Ricky Carmichael

A league of his own, no one has done it better than Ricky Carmichael.

Carmichael is an icon on two wheels: five-time Supercross champion and a seven-time Motocross champion. He is also the only rider to ever have an undefeated season in Motocross, even furthering his own legend by doing so on three occasions (2002, 2004 and 2005).

The man simply known as “The G.O.A.T.” (The Greatest Of All Time) has remained a fixture within the sport, but now is part of the broadcast team as an analyst with NBC Sports, which will showcase the final seven races as Monster Energy Supercross restarts its season on Sunday (3 p.m. ET on NBCSN).

Supercross will run its remaining rounds at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City, with coverage that will extend to NBC, NBCSN and NBC Sports Gold, along with NBCSports.com and the NBC Sports app. Although the grandstands will be empty, fans have an opportunity to make their presence felt by creating a poster and having it placed in a stadium seat as part of a unique opportunity put together by the folks at Monster Energy Supercross and Feld Entertainment, the owners of Supercross.

As it stands, Eli Tomac leads the 450SX class by a narrow three points (226-223) over rival Ken Roczen, with reigning champion Cooper Webb in third (197). This will mark the first event back for Supercross since March 7 at Daytona International Speedway, where Tomac took victory.

Carmichael shares his insight on restarting the season, how the break could favor a dark horse and more in this Autoweek exclusive.

Autoweek: We’re finally at a point where we can restart the season, so what do you anticipate as things begin again on Sunday?

Ricky Carmichael: Yeah, I’m certainly excited. I think it’s a fantastic opportunity for Monster Energy Supercross the series, and so far, the season we’ve had this year, despite the 12 week break that we’ve had because of the pandemic, I think it comes at a good time. I think it’s from our TV coverage that we’re going to have on NBCSN, some on NBC, it’s a great opportunity for Supercross, dirt bikes and the sport in general, to get some new eyeballs and perhaps some people that haven’t seen it. Other than NASCAR, we’re basically the only live motorsports that has happened. So, it’s a great opportunity for us. I’m certainly excited. Everyone that I’ve talked to, for the most part, are really excited to get back to it and are looking forward to the opportunity.

AW: Is there going to be anything different from a broadcast standpoint, given the uniqueness of the situation?

RC: As far as the show goes, it’s still going to be a three-hour show. They have a really strict protocol of how many people, as far as work people within the industry, that can be inside of the stadium. So, obviously, we’re running on a much-reduced scale of folks, but at the same time, enough to get the job done and get this championship back going. We have seven rounds to go, everyone is chomping at the bit just to get…