Brian Rickman has had a familiar mantra toward the end of each Mississippi State Championship Challenge Series season: avoid bad luck.
In recent seasons, one bad finish, whether caused by mechanical failure or a driver error on the track, has wiped out his chances to clinch the points title and join brother Rick and father Eddie as State Series champions.
Brian had finished third in the standings in three of the last four State Series seasons prior to 2016. His best season came in 2012, when he finished third, 40 points from winner Scott Dedwylder.
This season, Brian finished 95 points ahead of brother, Rick, and 125 points ahead of Meridian’s Chad Thrash to claim his first State Series title. Brian’s 10th place finish in the Gumbo Nationals at Greenville on Oct. 1 earned him enough points to clinch the title.
“It’s a compliment to the teamwork,” Brian said. “I couldn’t have done it without the help of my family. That’s pretty cool. We had a couple of DNFs with things you just can’t help, but we had a good team behind me, too — good chief, good equipment.
“We’ve been right there every year — two thirds, a second, and a win now. I’ve been right there the last four years, week in and week out. What killed me most years is I didn’t get many wins. You get someone like Bub (McCool), who comes in and wins four to five in a row, and it makes it hard to catch up.”
McCool’s dominance — he won nine of 14 races last season — looked to be the prevailing narrative of the season, as the Vicksburg native won three of the first six races. But McCool didn’t participate in enough remaining races for his early lead to carry him. McCool finished fourth, 230 points out of the lead.
The absence of McCool left an opening for both Rickmans and Thrash. A pair of runner-ups and a pair of third-place finishes midway through the year were enough to help Brian, who didn’t win a State Series race this year, overcome late-season form that saw him finish outside the top four in the last five races.
The late-season run wasn’t surprising, Brian said. He excels at tracks like Whynot and Greenville, where he can stay on the throttle a bit more. Conversely, he hasn’t been as successful at tracks like Magnolia Motor Speedway and Talladega, where the surface is slicker. He said losing Columbus Speedway, which played host to three State Series races last season, from the 2016 slate was a challenge, points wise.
“At Whynot and Greenville, we’ll be one-two,” Brian said. “We ran second a couple of times at Greenville this year. That’s probably our best race tracks we go to which suits my driving style. We really do miss Columbus.
“Magnolia is fast when it’s fast, but when it’s slick … we’ve tried everything to get it dialed in when it’s slick. We can get around it when its got moisture, but when it slicks off we go backwards. But I like a cushion, hammer down. I like the speed, the hammer, the cushion rough. I was raised up on that more.”
Rickman’s team played a pivotal role, but there was a key contribution from an unlikely source that helped him seal the win at one of those “slick” tracks. Rickman broke an oil pump belt in a heat race Aug. 27 at Magnolia and made the feature field through a points provisional. But his car couldn’t be repaired in time. He’d planned to drive nephew Trey Rickman’s Crate Late Model car for the State Series feature, but he drove Billy Franklin’s No. 17 Super Late Model car and finished ninth.
The agreement was brokered by fellow State Series competitor and friend, David Breazeale.
“What’ll stick out more than anything is how much that helped me get this championship,” Brian said. “If it wasn’t for them, I wouldn’t have won it. That’ll always stick in my head.
“But the performances overall, week in and week out had the greatest impact on us this year. That’s because of all the help I had from everyone this year.”
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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