Carmichael switches gears for Daytona race

Ricky Carmichael, Jason Pridmore and Scott Russell share a remarkable record of success in motorcycle racing — Carmichael in Supercross and motocross and Pridmore and Russell in road racing — with much of it coming at Daytona.

So what were the trio doing on Monday at the big track? Testing a sports car.

What’s up with that?

The trio plan to run a Porsche-powered Daytona Prototype for Holly Hill-based Spirit of Daytona Racing in the Jan. 24 and 25 Rolex 24 at Daytona, along with veteran road racer Guy Cosmo. Competing in the grinding, twice-around-the-clock race is not something to be taken lightly, even for experienced hands, so Carmichael, Pridmore and Russell need as much seat time as possible, even with two more Grand-Am tests remaining — Nov. 11 and 12 and Jan. 2 and 4.

Tallahassee’s Carmichael has experience on four wheels, having competed in stock cars, but there’s very little in common between the school-bus like stockers and the sleek prototypes.

“These things are so much lower to the ground and there’s so much more feel in these cars,” he said.

And he takes comfort in that he’s not alone in experiencing a learning curve.

“We’re all about even in this Prototype car,” Carmichael said. “We can learn together.”

Carmichael’s race with Spirit of Daytona is a one-off deal as he prepares to race in what will be known next season as the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series for Kevin Harvick Inc. His Trucks debut could come on Feb. 13 at Daytona three weeks after the 24-hour race. He’ll then return to once again design the track for the March 7 Daytona Supercross by Honda, a race he won five times.

Russell also is a five-time winner at Daytona, with a quintet of triumphs in the Daytona 200 — North America’s premier motorcycle race — to his credit.

The self-described “redneck boy from Georgia” who said he never envisioned himself having the success he did on two wheels now pursues excellence on four, but from a neophyte’s standpoint.

“It’s a great challenge to come in cold like that with no real car experience,” said Russell, who was critically injured in the 2001 Daytona 200. “I don’t think any of us have much car experience. You got a lot of great drivers in this series and I look forward to chasing them around and trying to see if I can get my times down to where they are. It’s such a new challenge for me. It’s great.

“This is one of my favorite races to come watch. For years, I just thought how cool it would be to be out there. To have the opportunity is just amazing for me. I pinched myself every day to make sure this is real.”

It is and to that end, the focus is on learning.

“There’s zero ego involved here I think between all three of us,” said Pridmore who has two 750 Supersport victories at Daytona. “We just want to learn and we got a great guy — Guy Cosmo has helped us so much. You’ve got to give full credit to him. The whole team has been very accommodating. They’re all a bunch of motorcycle heads anyway. They all knew who we were when we came, which is nice. It’s made it very comfortable.”

But that comfort only goes so far.

“It’s exciting because we’re all nervous,” Pridmore said. “We’re all scared. I don’t think any of us will lie to you. We’re all a little bit nervous for what we’re getting ourselves into. There’s a lot of respect for the guys that do this full-time.”

And the hope is the respect will flow both ways.

“We haven’t really been on the track with these guys much,” Russell said. “I’m sure the word will be out and they’ll be looking out for us and watching and making sure we’ve made the right moves when they come up on us or vice versa. Just keep it clean, that’s what I plan on doing and running hard.

“I believe that we’ll be OK.”