Ricks travels and proves his point with IMCA North Central Region rookie prize

BOYDEN, Iowa (Nov. 30, 2023) – Dyllan Ricks’ goals at the start of the season were straight forward enough: Get as much experience racing and at as many different tracks as possible.

He succeed at both, crisscrossing the Razor Chassis North Central Region for five feature wins and rookie of the year honors, and making 58 weekly starts at 18 different speed plants in all during his first Friesen Performance IMCA Modified campaign.

“More seat time makes you a better driver,” reasoned Ricks, who made the move up after two seasons in a Friesen Performance IMCA Northern SportMod. “This was the most nights we’d run in a season and it was a lot, but we got to race at a lot of different tracks and on a lot of different surfaces.”

Nineteen years old and from Boyden, Iowa, Ricks traveled to Cocopah Speedway and Central Arizona Raceway, then to Abilene Speedway to start the year.

He snuck in a visit to Nebraska’s Beatrice Speedway before getting his career first win in the class April 23 at Interstate Speedway.

“We went to Cocopah for the IMCA.TV Winter Nationals to get more time in the car before we started racing closer to home and we learned a lot,” said Ricks, who piloted a 2021 Nordquist NF-1 ride. “We were really happy not just getting our first win but to get our second the next night out at Park Jefferson.”

“At Interstate I won from sixth and at Park Jefferson I started fourth and led every lap,” he continued. “There were some people who told us we should stay in a SportMod this year. It was nice to prove a point to them.”

Ricks would later add wins at Murray County Speedway, Worthington Speedway and Crawford County Speedway, totaling 20 top five finishes in 40 home region starts.

“Chris Abelson helped us a lot this year,” said Ricks giving a shout out to the former IMCA Modified and Northern SportMod national champ. “He said the more you raced the better driver you’d be. We learned about racing on a lot of different tracks and we got to race with a lot of different drivers.”

You’ll see Ricks in the race results from all over again in 2024.

“We wanted to step up to a new level of competition this season. We got to race against a lot of different competition and had the opportunity to race for more money at more specials,” he said. “We’ll definitely travel again next season.”

Wins                             5

Top Five Finishes          20

Starts                           58

HIS CREW: Father Dale, grandfather Jerry Mulder, Shelby Svoboda, Zack Mibbelink and Matt Lasage.

HIS SPONSORS: Ricks Custom Inc. and MJ’s Concrete, both of Boyden; Ricks Transportation of Hull; Sybesma Graphics of Sanborn; Dynamic Drivelines of Des Moines; Precision Performance Racing Suspensions of Oxford; OK 1Stop of Hospers; and Nordquist Fabrication of Beresford, S.D.