May 23, 2009
By Nick Blake
You may have heard of him, you may not. If you haven’t, I must tell you about this impressive 23 year old from Poway, California.
A protégé of Kyle “Rowdy” Busch, Brian Ickler started racing in his early teen years, not in a kart, Bandelaro, or Legends car, but off-roading. Ickler is the youngest winner of the Baja 1000 (his respective class, not the overall winner), which is sort of like the Daytona 500 for off-road racing in California. No doubt at that age he was impressive, fellow stock car drivers to win the SCORE (Southern California Off Road Enthusiasts) rookie of the year includes Robby Gordon and Jimmie Johnson. Gordon went on to become a three time winner in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, Johnson of course, is a three time champion.
Surely Brian had those same aspirations, but not getting too far ahead of himself, he attended Buck Baker’s driving school in an attempt to grasp stock car racing. After running a couple years in the Busch West Series, Ickler’s accolades were finishing 5th in the 2006 Toyota All-Star Showdown, and he finished second at Infineon Raceway, second to Sprint Cup driver Brian Vickers. In 2007, he finished fourth in the points standings and earned three wins.
Moving quickly, it was time to takeover the east coast.
Ickler moved to the hub of NASCAR, (depending on who you ask...) Mooresville, North Carolina. He began his own race team, Ickler Motorsports, snatched the #15, and away he went. In his first full season in the Camping World East Series, he finished a dismal 10th in the final standings, but what was impressive was his two poles, three wins, five top fives, but his 10th place standing results from four DNF’s, the most of any full time driver that season.
The major highlight of the season without a doubt was his upset victory in the Iowa Speedway’s East/West challenge. Brian Ickler outraced Kasey Kahne, who less than 24 hours earlier had won the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race, to win the event. It was his first career win and the second year in a row that a Camping World Series regular defeated the winner of the Sprint Cup All-Star Race. (Joey Logano won over second place Kevin Harvick in 2007. However, Kyle Busch bucked the trend, winning this years event over guess who? Brian Ickler.)
Ickler caught the eye of fellow off-road racer turned NASCAR driver Robby Gordon, who fielded his #55 Robby Gordon Motorsports Dodge for Ickler in a Nationwide race last fall at Phoenix International Raceway. Starting 34th, that’s also where he finished, backing the car into the fence midway through the race and limping the rest of the way. It’s not a smashing debut in NASCAR by far, but Ickler got a do-over.
More on that later.
There are many promising young stars that are coming through the stock car ranks, many younger than Ickler, but he has an advantage that many youngsters in the Nationwide Series don’t have. He’s a racers racer. What I mean by that is that he is ready to jump in any car, truck, etc, and drive it wide open. His Savvy off road skills at such a young age made for an even smoother transition to stock cars than Robby Gordon or Jimmie Johnson had.
A clean racer that’s got some bite to him, He was very angry with Ron Hornaday Jr. after Ron wrecked him at the 2009 Toyota All-Star Showdown, while Ickler was leading the race. In a brief interview, Ickler said that he had lost a lot of respect for Ron Hornaday. Ouch, usually it’s the veterans losing respect for the youngsters.
Potentially knowing that Brian could be a big deal, Kyle Busch took interest, and with the help of Billy Ballew, signed Ickler to run 10 races in the Camping World Truck Series, with some races in the #15, but mostly in the #51 as a sub for Kyle Busch.
Believe the hype, this season Brian won the season opening race for the Camping World East Series at Greensville-Pickens Speedway, but it was his fourth place finish in his Truck Series debut at Kansas Speedway that turned heads. The career best result keeps Billy Ballew Motorsports on top of the owner points standings heading into Dover on June 29th.
In an economy where sponsorship over talent can land you a ride, it’s unknown how far Brian can go in NASCAR in the immediate future, but this young man isn’t far off from being the perfect pet prospect with a top Sprint Cup team, though Kyle Busch would like to keep him under his wing.
Jimmie Johnson went from racing in the desert, to eating dessert at the head table of the NASCAR awards banquet. For now, Brian Ickler is on that same path.
The thoughts and ideas expressed by this writer or any other writer on Insider Racing News, are not necessarily the views of the staff and/or management of IRN.
Comments or suggestions are encouraged. Please contact Nick Blake at 
