He loves cars and loves to race them. Tyler Hicks has been around racing for as long as he can remember. He’s going after another track championship at Orange Show Speedway and looks to capture one at Irwindale Speedway this season. Hicks doesn’t have a pre-race ritual, but has a unique genre of music he listens to that doesn’t sound like anything that has come out of SoCal.
Hometown: Leucadia, CA
Division: Pro
Car Number: 6
Team: Tyler Hicks Racing
Favorite Vacation Spot:
Favorite Color: Red
Favorite Movie: Austin Power Saga
Favorite Food: Pizza
1. What sparked your interest in Racing?
My family has owned an automotive shop in Southern California and since I was born, my first memories were being at the race track. My family sponsored a couple different race cars and teams at the time for street stocks, super late models at our local track, Cajon Speedway. I loved race cars right off the bat being at the race track every weekend.
2. What all types of racing have you competed in?
I’ve done a lot of go-kart racing, Legend Cars, and I’ve done a little bit of ASA Speed Truck. Spec truck is what they’d call it now. Other than that, nothing too crazy.
3. What is your favorite racing memory?
The favorite memory that I have ever is when one of our sponsors that we had for the longest time with my family was Ron Nava. We fought for this ASA Speed Truck for years. We used to race against Kurt Busch and American Race Trucks back in the day. When I finally got to race his truck (Nava) at Irwindale Speedway and drive and do some test sessions with him. It was a lot of fun.
4. Who is someone you turn to when the day at the track didn’t go to plan?
Before my grandma passed away, she was my biggest inspiration. Any time I had a bad day at the race track or a good day at the race track, she was always the one talking my ear off trying to see what was going on with the car. How are we going to do better? It was never a complete race day without her two cents being put into that.
5. How would you describe driving a race car to someone who never has driven one?
The biggest adrenaline rush you could ever get. As far as a race day aspect, it is the highest of the highs and the lowest of the lows in one day. It’s a feeling like no other being on edge and in control at the same time.
6. Outside of racing, what other hobbies or activities are you involved in?
We do a lot of car shows. I run my own business; my grandfather’s family business (Scott’s Automotive in Encinitas, CA). Fishing and we can go to the beach because we’re right here in Southern California. We love going to the beach, hanging out by the water, and just relax and have a good time.
7. Where is someplace everyone should go to when they visit San Diego?
There’re a couple places you could go. There’s the horse track up in Del Mar. Because it’s right next to the beach, [there are] plenty of restaurants to go and have a fun time. If you want to see the sights and sounds of old San Diego, you go down to Old Town and see the San Diego Bay, with the Mexican restaurants and all the cool little shops that they have down there. But there’s so many cool spots you can’t go wrong. You can even go surfing and snowboarding on the same day if it’s the right time of [year].
8. Anywhere special you want to race at in 2023?
There are a couple cool tracks that I’d like to do. There is an old, new track that just opened back up – Blythe Speedway. It shutdown about eight years ago, about when I first started racing in the Legend division. It was a very fun track that used to do a Thanksgiving race back in the day. Where they would have a turkey dinner Friday night and it’d be a whole weekend thing.
9. Who is your favorite race car driver?
Out of everyone, the one I follow the most is Kurt Busch. Just following him through his career is awesome.
10. Do you have any pre-race rituals or something you must do on race day?
To be honest not really. A lot of times the team hates when I drive the motor home or the hauler up to the track when I start putting opera or classical music on because they don’t really like to listen to that stuff. But I love it. It really [makes them mad] but I like it so I really don’t care. I don’t know what it is but it brings me to a level where I’m being calm, but I’m excited with my heart rate down.
11. What is the story behind your two different paint schemes?
The red, white, and black one is my main car that we normally run and that was one of the newer cars that I’ve bought. The super colorful black, pink, yellow, blue, and green car we got wrapped by Trust Me Vodka a few years ago. They wanted to sponsor us for a year and decided to throw a wrap on the car. They made it look really good. It looks like one of their bottles from one of their artists that they had for a series they were doing. That’s pretty much the only difference. They’re both pretty much identical cars underneath.
12. What are the differences between racing on an oval compared to a road course?
Etiquette. When you think of short track racing and oval racing what do you think of? Rubbin’ is racin’. That’s that old school if worse comes to worse I’m going to push you out of the way. You get three bumpers then after three you’re out of the way. With road course racing, I would call it more of a gentleman racing. It’s a different etiquette. You have more time to make up your mind on passes so you’re more of a calculated passer. You don’t have to do the rubbing and the bumping as you do on oval racing.
13. If you could appear on any TV Show, what show would it be?
Probably like a MavTV program or maybe like Hoonigan show. I like to do a lot of Hoonigan, burning tires and stuff like that.
14. What is your dream street car?
I’m a big European Porsche fan. I don’t like to work on them because I’m an automotive guy, I’m a mechanic as a trade. I don’t like to work on the Porsche but they’re so much fun to drive. The sounds they make are crazy. My dream car would be like at 911 GT3. It’s a sound like none other.
15. What is one random fact about you that others may be surprised to learn?
I do like to do a lot of cooking which is weird for me because I’m not a very clean person.
16. How would you describe your style of racing?
I like to say I’m very patient at some points, but I can be very aggressive at other times when it counts. I want to say ‘calculated aggressive’ but I know that’s not really a thing. With oval racing it takes a lot of patience to set up a pass correctly and not sacrifice [your] drive off and not being able to complete a pass at the end of it.
17. If you could go back and tell your rookie self one piece of advice, what would it be?
Don’t get over your head, don’t blow your head up too much. You’re not going to win every race and don’t get down on [yourself] on any bad finish that you have because anytime you are at the race track, good or bad, it’s a learning experience. If you can learn and take something away from every trip to the race track that’s bettering yourself forward as a racer.
18. What is your ultimate racing dream?
Like anybody else, getting paid for what they love to do. I’d love to get paid to race and be able to do whatever I want to do on my time off. To be honest, to be able to travel and do road course racing for living would be awesome.
19. What is the biggest challenge you’ve had to overcome in the racing world?
For me with a full-time job is finding time to be able to have enough time to devote to the race car to make it on point all the time. And two, find the people that want to help support you, be at the track with you, a crew, because that is 90% of it. If the crew isn’t there helping you out, even just one back at the shop helping you set up the car, it’s hard to find help like that anymore.
20. What are your 2023 racing goals and what do you hope to achieve?
We’re in contention for two different track championships this year at two of our local tracks; Irwindale Speedway and Orange Show Speedway. I hope to get the [INEX] state championship in Pro. We have a couple heavy hitters here on the west coast. Jake Bollman is a pretty good driver. To be able to secure at least one of those championships this year would be great. Last year we had a championship at Orange Show. To be able to go back-to-back would be great.