Throughout Ricky Carmichael’s house are pictures of himself hoisting championship trophies and whipping his bike out so far you think the pictures are upside down. As we walk through the game room, RC, the 2001 EA/AMA Supercross champ, points to various pictures and tells a story with each one.

There’s one from the podium at Binghamton in 2000, when he won his first 250 pro Motocross national championship. He’s especially fond of an early magazine cover with the headline screaming "RC Pins It!" We leave the game room and are heading down the stairs when an old framed picture captures his eyes. The picture is of 9-year-old RC hopping up and down on a parked Kawasaki. His feet barely touch the pegs, and he looks more like a kid on a coin-operated horse outside a grocery store than a mini-motocross champion.

"Guess whose bike that is," Ricky says.

I don’t have a clue.

"It’s Jeremy’s," he says proudly. "Jeremy" is seven-time Supercross champ Jeremy McGrath, the legend who lost his Supercross crown to Carmichael in 2001. Only back in 1989, McGrath was a 19-year-old first-year pro who hadn’t won anything yet. McGrath sits off to the side in the photo, disguised by an 80s mullet hairdo. He took an interest in RC back when Ricky was winning 80cc titles.

RC stares at the picture for a moment, then says, "I wonder what Jeremy would say if he knew I had this picture? I bet he would have a lot of respect for me."

And it would have nothing to do with winning championships.

Chris Palmer is a senior reporter for ESPN The Magazine. Email him at christopher.palmer@espnmag.com.