I saw a press release back in late October/early November where this guy who I wasn't overly familiar with was looking for somebody to go after the land speed record in a streamliner, and I called around to a few people and come to find out that he's a long time friend of Mike Shattuck's, formerly of Harley of Sacramento. So, I relied pretty heavily on Mike on helping me make the decision, as well as Kenny Tolbert. We took a visit out there in January, and I was the chosen one when it was all said and done, so it's, hopefully, a feather in our cap by the end of the summer. We're looking forward to going there right after the Labor Day Springfield Mile, pointing that thing down the salt, and seeing how fast she'll go.

You were voted AMA Sportsman of The Year in December.

That was quite an honor. You know, I've always tried to do everything as far as racing was concerned in an equal and professional manner. I've always been a sporting type. I get a lot of that from the game of golf that my grandmother introduced me to. I want everything to be a level playing field and let the racers decide the outcome more than anything. That was quite an honor for me. That meant more than winning the (Speed Channel) Athlete of the Year two years ago.

Talk briefly about your 2006 team.

Well, it's real brief. It's Kenny Tolbert, Bubba Bentley, and I'm the rider. As far as the personnel that's involved, I'm back to a one-rider deal. I felt like running a second rider was difficult for us, for Chris Carr Racing, anyhow, in the sense that we have high expectations for those the run our sponsors logos and stuff like that. I couldn't give our second rider everything that I felt he needed to make it work the way it should, to where they're getting up there in contention for being on the box every week. I felt that it was important that we kind of step back to the way we started and go from there, especially with there being two championships this year. That's a decision that Chris Carr made, not a decision by Ford or anything like that. I just felt like it was time to go back to the way it was and concentrate on our program and make one really good program.

You spoke of two championships. The AMA has made major changes in 2006, in a program that has long history of very little change. What's Chris Carr's opinion of the changes?

Well, I think they took a couple steps, but they need to take a couple more in order to do it right, in my opinion. I still believe in the idea of an overall Grand National Champion - I will until the day I'm done racing, or until the day I die. I think there needs to be the one guy that you point your finger at and say, 'that's the guy for the year.' However, with the change in the marketplace, I see that in order to get some OEMs involved, you need to have a class where they can get involved, and obviously they can with the 450 motocross bikes. They've turned out to be some pretty good multi-purpose motorcycles. I see a need for them to have a championship to race for on those bikes - kind of like the old 600 National days. Unfortunately, then all we had were framer Hondas and framer Rotaxes, and that was it. The Rotax was the dominant machine. That failed. Why it hasn't failed on the V-twin side is a mystery to me, but I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that there's a lot of great fans watching the V-twins on the Miles, and I think that's what's kept it going. So, it's good to see that the twins now - Harley's been involved with it for a long time - they're obviously going to have a chance to get a championship with a change in the marketplace and the equipment. They, as a company, they couldn't win the Grand National Championship wholly. I think that's good, but I still think you need to have an award for the rider - not just these manufacturers that are paying money to the AMA - I think the rider who can do it all needs to be rewarded. As of right now, it's just a financial deal with the point fund the way it is, and I felt that that should also carry a number one plate. I had said that from the very beginning, when they first started talking about this, and it still holds true. I haven't changed my mind on that.

Were you consulted for input on this decision?

Well, yeah. We were, as a member of the advisory committee, it was brought to our attention back in August, that this was a direction that they wanted to head. Basically, the proposal came from Harley-Davidson. They were the ones that outlined the whole plan - there being two championships - I just felt like they needed to go a step further. I see the need to let everybody go out there and race for a championship - you're going to have four or five different brands competing in the singles, and as of right now, three brands in the twins, with two factory teams and an Aprilia support team. That's a step in the right direction for the twins. The XR750 is still at a distinct advantage, despite the fact that it's giving up displacement, because everybody's been working on them for over thirty years. They know how to make them work. I admire Suzuki and Aprilia for running motorcycles where the engines at least are coming out of a streetbike. That's not the case with Harley-Davidson right now. I hope that they have something coming down the pipeline to make it more like the old Class C in the old days.

Rate your rivals for 2006, starting with Kenny Coolbeth.

I think as far as Kenny is concerned, that's a bit of a question mark, as far as how things will go. I'm sure it's a great opportunity for him, and I'm happy for him. He's a very deserving rider of a factory ride. But one of the intriguing things about flat track - it was proven with Rich King - just because you get a factory ride, it doesn't mean you're going to be a champion. You'll be competitive on the Miles, and I'm sure Kenny will be competitive on the Mile tracks, but like King, we'll see how he adapts on the half-miles to the factory equipment. With a fourteen-race twin series right now, eleven of them are half-miles. It seems to me that the factory mechanics have lacked a little bit of experience setting up half-mile equipment, and that ha shown in Rich King's results for the last seven years.

Joe Kopp.

I think Joe's going to go well. The switch to Honda will be interesting to see on the singles, and on the twins, he's got the same program, so I expect him to be tough, I expect him to be in the hunt at most races, and I don't see anything different out of him, he's stayed pretty pat, except the equipment change on the singles. He'll definitely be a huge threat on the twins, and very possibly the singles as well.

Rich King.

I don't know. It's hard to say about Rich. He's going to be tough on the Miles. He always has been. He was on the box on all the Mile races last year. He's always a threat to win. It seemed like I won three Miles last year, and I had to figure out a way to fend him off or beat him to the line. As far as the half-miles are concerned, that seems to be his weak point, although he did show some improvement in the latter part of the year in the half-miles.

Jared Mees.

Jared, he's the future of dirt track, in my opinion. The kid's an all-around good rider, he's aggressive, he's smart, and he appears to be patient at the moment. Those are some good qualities to have, because he's going to be around for a while, and I expect more good things out of him.

Others?

Remember, there's two championships now. If you look at the singles class, Henry Wiles scored more points on 450s than anybody. He's going to do well, I expect, as well as Jake Johnson, and (Johnny) Murphree - he goes pretty good. Jake did real well in the singles last year. The thing about the singles series, at least the races that they have right now is that it's the same races that we've had in the past, and I hear rumors of some additions and what not. It will be nice to see if they can get the series up to eight or nine races, because if they get it up to eight or nine races, it's a different story than in the past. It becomes a real championship then. In my eyes, having a four-race championship is kind of weak. If I'm to go out and win that championship, I think the players, on a weekly basis, will change. However, it's possible, with guys switching brands out there, that it might be the brand that they were looking for. We'll see some new guys up there in the singles races that we haven't seen in the past. I think that's more of a toss-up right now. I think there's a lot of good guys. I think a lot depends on not who wins the most races, but who doesn't make the big mistakes on a four race series, and it should be close when we get to the Springfield Short Track in September.

Do you want to win the singles championship and the twins championship equally badly, or is there one that you are going to focus more effort upon?

I would say, if I were to define my chances, I would say my chances are better on the twins. However, that doesn't mean that I don't have the desire to go out and win the singles title. I mean, last year, I was competitive in three of the four (singles) races, and one of them, I sucked, and that's a fact. But I've signed an agreement with KTM to have a support program with them, and it's my job to go out there and do the best I can to win the championship. The difference this year, when we go to a singles race, is that the guys that were in front of me in a few races in the past aren't necessarily guys that I had to beat for the Grand National Championship. So the players will possibly change, and my approach to those races will change. I'll be racing those guys harder now, trying to score those extra points that you need to score in order to win a championship, because it's on the line, whereas last year, if I'm running third at Peoria behind (J.R.) Schnabel and Wiles, I didn't have to break my neck to try and beat them, because they weren't in the title chase. I had the guys in the title chase behind me. Now, those guys will most likely be in the title chase, and I'll be a little bit more aggressive in going after them.

You're thirty-eight now. Some people might ask, 'Is Chris Carr getting too old for this?' How do you respond to those nay Sayers?

I think those who question my desire to win championships are mistaken, to be very honest with you. I mean this is what I do! (laughs) I've been racing motorcycles for thirty-three years, and I don't feel like I'm ready to quit yet. How somebody can sit there between the end of 2005 and the beginning of 2006 and question my desire, having not spoken to me, I have a problem with that, because it's uniformed. They're not around here...ask my wife. Ask my wife, that's all I can say.