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Friday, 13th October 2006

15 times AMA Supercross/Motocross champion Ricky Carmichael surprised the motorsport world on Thursday by announcing that he will start a new career in NASCAR from next season.

Q:
Jay, can you tell us a little bit about how this came about. Did Ricky approach you? Did you seek him out? What happened?

Jay Frye:
Well, it was odd. One of Ricky's - the people that Ricky deals with and Bobby Ginn are friends. Again, we heard rumblings about Ricky for the last year or so. We heard he was going to do some different things.

Between those two, a meeting was arranged. We all got together. I'm just speaking for myself, Bobby and our group. At the end of the meeting, this felt like one of the most right things we'd ever done or wanted to do. At that point it was just putting it together. Once we all decided to put it together, it happened very quickly.

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Q:
And in that process you had obviously other drivers that you could have sought out, people who actually are in the Busch or Cup Series, but you decided to go with Ricky. Why was that?

Jay Frye:
Absolutely. Again, everything he does. When I said at the opening the Michael Jordan of Motocross, we believe that. Obviously his record speaks for itself. There are racers who are winners and Ricky is a winner. Again, it's going to be a tough transition into stock cars, into NASCAR. But if there's anybody that can do it, he can do it. We think he can do it. We think he's going to be great.

Again, we want to make sure we do the process right. We're going to take our time. We're going to do it right. This could be a two, three, four, five year plan. Whatever it takes. But the ability is there, the attitude is there, the determination is there. And that's half the battle.

Q:
Ricky, do you have any race car experience at all?

Ricky Carmichael:
Yeah, I do. I have a little bit of race car experience with testing and this and that. I can tell you that I've driven enough that those guys are amazing. It's definitely a challenge. There's a lot going on.

But, yeah, I have some experience.

Q:
In your motorcycle schedule for next year, do you plan to try to defend your Supercross title at Daytona?

Ricky Carmichael:
Yeah. Actually, you know, that's probably one of my favorite races that I do all year. Definitely looking forward to it. Yeah, I got that penciled in on my Supercross schedule. I'm looking forward to it. Man, I love that race. Yeah, that's my favorite race.

Q:
I know you really like Daytona. Have you ever sat back to see the auto racing course, think someday you want to be out there on the big course?

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