Express Oil Change CEO espouses power of prayer at Hoover mayor's breakfast

The CEO of Express Oil Change & Tire Engineers this morning shared about the power of prayer with about 480 people at the Hoover Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast.

Ricky Brooks, the head of the Hoover-based business with about 800 locations across the country, told the crowd at the Hyatt Regency Birmingham — The Wynfrey Hotel that prayer has played a tremendous role in his life.

Many people say their faith walk is the result of the faithful prayers of parents or grandparents, and he is one of them, he said.

“My mother prayed with me every single day,” he said. “We prayed every night until I went to college at age 17.”

Then, he drifted away from prayer and got started in business with the misguided goal of wanting to be a millionaire by the time he was 30, he said. His first job was manager of a Bonanza Sirloin Pit and then he became the youngest franchisee for Sonic Drive-In restaurants in the 1970s.

He had success in business and a nice income but felt empty inside, he said. “No level of success we could experience will provide an answer to that loneliness other than a relationship with God,” Brooks said.

He had partners and business associates in his Sonic franchises who were Christians, and long talks with them and 18 months of studying Scripture finally led him to a place where he was ready to repent of the sin in his life and confess Jesus as his Lord and Saviour at the age of 27, he said.

He then went into the investments and insurance industry from 1980 and moved from Tuscaloosa to Birmingham. It was during that time that the Lord humbled him as he went through all his money and the equity in his house and developed a pile of debt, he said.

“That time was used to teach me to trust Him and to trust in the power of prayer,” he said.

Brooks and a partner, Joe Watson, opened their first Express Oil franchise in 1988 and by 1995 had expanded to 14 franchise stores, which were more stores than the founder of the company owned. They bought out the founder in 1996 and immediately had 25 of the 48 Express Oil Change stores under their control.

In 2013, Express Oil bought Tire Engineers and began merging the two business models to create one-stop auto service shops. Additional acquisitions of tire businesses grew the company to about 400 stores and increased sales revenues from $30 million in 1996 to more than $525 million in 2017.

The company has had 22 years of record sales and profits, 13 years of same-store sales growth except for one quarter, and average store sales that are 30 percent higher than their industry average, he said.

In March of this year, Express Oil & Tire Engineers merged with the New York-based Mavis Discount Tire, which had more than 400 stores, and this year, the combined company ‘s more than 800 stores will have sales of $1.3 billion, Brooks said.

All of that is a testament to answered prayer and the grace and blessing of God, Brooks said.

Throughout the years, he and other managers have tried to build their business on Christian principles of integrity, honesty, loyalty and treating others how you want to be treated, he said. God has blessed that effort, he said.

Personal blessings

God also has answered prayers in his personal life, he said. God led him to a wonderful wife 29 years ago and guided them through a son’s leukemia diagnosis four years ago, he said. Though their son at one time was given a 20 percent chance to live, he now is in full remission after going through chemotherapy, radiation and a stem cell transplant and is competing regionally in weightlifting and endurance competitions, he said.

Brooks said he, his family and business associates are grateful for the blessings that God has provided and encouraged the crowd to remember the power of prayer. He encouraged them to pray for the city, its leaders, employees, businesses and families.

Brooks joined three ministers in praying with the crowd this morning, including the Rev. Christopher DeGreen from Christ the King Lutheran Church, the Rev. Phil Reddick from Briarwood Presbyterian Church and the Rev. Nancy Harper from Riverchase United Methodist Church.

ABC 33/40 news anchor Christopher Sign served as master of ceremonies for the breakfast, which was organized by the Hoover Beautification Board. Hoover police Officer Steven Easterling sang the national anthem.