CONCORD, N.C. – Now that he’s had a few weeks to let it sink in, Ricky Weiss has done a bit of reflecting back on the remarkable first season he completed aboard the World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Model Series.

At this point, the rookie denotation he wore throughout the 41 contested races might have been the most unfitting word to describe his first year on a national tour.

With 13 podium finishes, 17 top-fives, 30 top-10s and an average finish of 7.6, this was far more than just a rookie season. Weiss, who claimed the Rookie of the Year Award, took the title to unprecedented heights this year while most of his competition just took notes.

“It felt pretty good hearing everyone’s speeches at the banquet, commenting on our team and how they don’t really consider us a rookie,” Weiss said. “That was definitely pretty humbling.”

“We kinda had our hearts set on [the Rookie of the Year title] when we rolled into Volusia, and that was a goal that was not going to be taken away from us no matter how hard we tried,” said Shawn Gage, Weiss’ crew chief. “We just had to envision that was going to be the first goal we achieved.”

His large northern fanbase from years of racing around the upper Midwest and his home in Headingley, Manitoba, followed him throughout the year and grew exponentially from beginning to end. A solid runner-up finish in the tour’s annual stop at River Cities Speedway in North Dakota brought the local crowd flocking to the pit area after the race to see the former track regular and add to his ever-counting merchandise sales. There he stood, in a sea of black-and-orange t-shirts, signing autographs for a line of fans longer than the one he waited in to get his pit pass earlier that day.

Even those that didn’t follow him in his pre-Outlaw days were quite familiar with the nickname Manitoba Missile by season’s end after watching each race live on DIRTVision. It’s the fans, he said, and their constant support both at the track and online, that make he and the team’s daily grind more worthwhile.

“With social media nowadays, we’re trying to get our team more known and progressively better, and trying to help get our sponsors seen,” Weiss said. “It’s a pretty proud moment to say that we sold the most t-shirts and have fans stick up for you on the Internet. When something happens on the track, I try not to get into it too much, but when you scroll through the comments and see 90 percent in my favor, it makes us proud to know that we’ve got the backing of the fans.”

That constant support helped carry Weiss and the team through the toughest of times this year, more specifically his two DNFs late in the season that sent him back from second in points to fifth — a hole which he climbed out of by the Can-Am World Finals conclusion to finish third and become the highest-finishing rookie in Series history.

Even in what might have been Weiss’ darkest hour, his fans stuck with him. While leading with only six laps remaining in Lernerville Speedway’s Firecracker 100 in late June, Weiss cut a right-rear tire, dashing his chances for $30,000 and the first World of Outlaws win of his career.

“I wish one of my highlights could have been the Firecracker, that was close,” Weiss said. “Not to say we won’t get that again. But we know we can unload there and be quick.”

He stood beside his car after the race, completely dejected, with the glummest face anyone had seen him wear all season. But the car got loaded up, the tire got changed, and the team showed up the following week for the next race in Terre Haute, Ind. Back to work he went, just as the veterans of the sport do.

Weiss was ultimately unable to get that elusive first Outlaw victory by season’s end, despite posting the second-most podium finishes. He had the equipment, he had the knowledge and determination, he certainly had the skill and the experience. But there was just one touch of something else missing that he said would have made a difference in getting to Outlaw victory lane, even just once.

“With a great racer comes great luck. If you’re not lucky, you’re not going to be a good racer. That all plays a factor,” Weiss said.

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