Impact drivers: Carrick brothers climb national sprint car rankings

Navigating what became an unorthodox schedule paved the way toward national recognition for racing brothers Tanner and Blake Carrick. The Carricks, who reside in Lincoln and compete for family-owned Carrick Motorsports, just completed their most successful season to date. While COVID-19 made it challenging to find races locally in the first half of the year, Tanner and Blake looked elsewhere. "We committed that we were gonna travel and go where these races are," said the boys' father, David Carrick. "Wherever the races were, we went." Wherever the races were, the brothers were usually in the thick of the action. Tanner Carrick, 18, drives for Toyota in winged 360 sprint cars, midgets and outlaw karts. He started racing when he was 6 years old. Blake Carrick, 16, drives everything his brother does and mixes in micro sprint cars. He started even younger as a 4-year-old. "I couldn't even see over the steering wheel and I ran into a pole," Blake Carrick said of his first time driving an outlaw kart in his grandfather's backyard. The brothers each picked up three wins through a season of myriad cancellations and rainouts. Blake Carrick earned local series wins at Watsonville on June 20 and Marysville on Aug. 12 and at the Forni Classic in Placerville on July 25. Tanner Carrick, meanwhile, won twice at Marysville on July 8 and 22, and at Placerville on Sept. 19. On six occasions, the brothers placed in the top-five of the same race, including Sept. 19 at Marysville, when Tanner Carrick took first and Blake Carrick took second. "We've got something pretty good going for next year," Tanner Carrick said. "We made some really big gains from last year to this year. We've been on the podium quite a few times this year." In the Dec. 17 Sprint Car Mania power rankings, Blake Carrick ranked sixth nationally while Tanner Carrick was not far behind in ninth, the highest that either had ever ranked by far. "It definitely gives us more confidence," Blake Carrick said. "Next year, I'm sure we'll be better. We just have to go into it with the same mindset and not try to be cocky." Ever since Carrick Motorsports took off 11 years ago, the brothers have a healthy, competitive sibling rivalry each time they take the wheel. "We're both so competitive," Blake Carrick said. "It pushes me harder. We get into it sometimes but it's just love. I feel like I race a lot harder when I'm around him." Between the competition among each other and the rest of the national field, the Carricks are driven to improve each day. "There's a lot of people we race against across the country," Tanner Carrick said. "There weren't as many races as normal but the races we did have were tougher than normal because everyone in California was at those races. The car count was a lot higher at those races and it was a lot tougher competition." The national ranking serves as validation to the family who started off racing outlaw karts in the backyard as something fun to do. "Just to have one of them would be amazing," David Carrick said. "To have both boys in the top 10 makes me and my wife feel that everything we're doing is really paying off."