Martin's hiatus matches Carmichael's stock debut (cont'd)

Patrick Conrad, a Florida teenager to whom Martin himself once lent a Legends Car to begin his stock-car racing career and who's gone on to win Super Late Model races in Florida, also ran laps in the 16.90-second range in his first time back in a car in six months, after arm surgery.

But for Carmichael, for whom the stock-car tracks he's tested can be counted on one hand and whose laps in stock cars remain only in the dozens, it was an eye opener.

And amazingly, to anyone who's a longtime onlooker to stock-car racing -- for the 10 years Carmichael has raced professionally in motocross and supercross shows they've been one-day events in which the athletes showed up, raced the track and left.

He said he'd have a lot to think about on his two-hour commute each way between home and Columbia, Friday and Saturday.

"You know, I've never been to a track and come back the next day and drove it again," Carmichael said. "So I think I can improve. I drove pretty good [Friday] -- hell, I was only a tenth [of a second] off the track champion.

"So I want to go back and see where I can be better. I'll think about what I did wrong, same as I would at a supercross, where you'd practice, think about what you did wrong and then be better."

And on a day when the temperatures got up to a track-greasing, mid-80s level, he was unfazed by sitting in the car for long periods between chassis changes, helmet on and uniform fastened around him in sauna-like conditions.

"Cardio [fitness] is the thing when you're riding [motorcycles]," Carmichael said. "This, if you get it made up in your mind that you're just hot, it's OK. And when you're driving, I'm worried about what's in front of me, how the car's doing and where I can be better, so I don't worry about the heat.

"But when you stop, you can heat up."

Carmichael made seven runs in the car, each time doing from half-dozen to a dozen laps. The hit-your-marks mentality he developed in a 10-year professional motocross career and a record-setting number of victories continues to serve him well.

"It's very similar," Carmichael said. "And that's very important to me. I need the seat time, because every time I drive I learn something new and it helps me. So [testing] is very important."

In only his fourth time out in the car, he ran 10 consecutive laps covered by .25 seconds, between 17.10 and 17.35. His best lap for the afternoon was a 17-flat.

"Everything is a compromise, as you know," Carmichael said. "If you get the front working good, the back don't work good, so I think you have to adjust for what the conditions are, and minimize your shortcomings as much as you can do."

Fritts and Carmichael agreed Columbia -- as most do tracks -- had its idiosyncrasies.

"This is a pretty tricky track, for sure," Carmichael said. "Every track is different and has its own things about it -- but that's what's fun. Every track has its things that add to its character."

Carmichael proved he's got something of a character in him, as well -- as does his father. (Continued)