A veteran's perspective

July 3 – When it comes to spectators at the AMA Dirt Track Grand Championships, you won't find one more recognized than Chris Carr, the defending Grand National Dirt Track Champion.

As the 2002 honoree of the Amateur Championships, Carr is here for the week, offering advice to racers, watching the competition, giving a seminar for up-and-coming dirt-trackers and otherwise hanging out and enjoying himself. We caught up with him as he watched Tuesday's TT competition.

I'll bet this brings back a lot of memories for you.
It sure does. The thing that I'm really impressed with is the turnout. We haven't seen this deep a field for the amateur nationals since I was racing back in the late '70s. It's good to see that flat-track is on the rise again.

You're probably the king of the modern TT. Watching these racers, what advice would you offer?
These guys need to learn how to use that front brake a little better. They're having trouble with that right-hander. But at this level, that's not unusual. Everybody's at a different progression. You can certainly tell the guys who have a little more well-rounded background when you see a TT race than when you see a short track. You see riders with a bit more overall skill perform better at the TT.

So you're just taking it easy all week? It must be nice to watch some racing that you're not doing yourself.
It's nice, because it worked out to where I could be here the whole time. With our race at the end of the week I could come here early and watch these guys and hang out and see what the new talent is like. You know, I might be a team owner one day, and I might want to hire one of these guys. So I figure I might as well get a look at these guys when they're young.