Q: Tell us a little bit
about yourself:
I have been around racing since I
was a little kid. I used to help my dad when he raced and owned
racing part business. When I was 13 I started moving up through all
kinds of different divisions. Outside of racing I am a History
teacher, wrestling and cross country coach.
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Ryan and
his father have always had a special bond.
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Q: How did you get your
start in auto racing?
Basically just helping out my dad
and being around it. My whole family is in to racing. My cousin’s
Jimmy Phelps and Mike Bowman both compete in the same division as I
do so it is a lot of fun.
Q: What is your
favorite DIRT track and why?
Weedsport (Cayuga County). I like
it because it is a track you can race in a whole bunch of different
ways in one night. Sometimes you have to be a real hammer there and
by the end of the race it turns into a slow finesse track. Its
usually very racy, especially once it slicks off. The track also has
so much history behind it that its hard not to love racing there.
Q: What is your most memorable moment in racing up to this point?
Running the entire Dirt Tour in
2008 and getting to run competitively at tracks all over the
Northeast.
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Ryan poses
for the camera at an Autograph Session to benefit Cancer
Victims at the Tri-County Mall in Baldwinsville.
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Q: You come from a big
racing family ... how much help do you get from them?
Quite a bit, aside from my dad my
Uncle Doug Phelps works on my racecar and helps Fabricate things
through his business P & M Fabrication. My uncle Jim Bowman, (Mike's
Dad) is a really smart guy and helps us out a ton when we get into
binds at the race shop. My cousin Jim runs the same Bilstein shocks
I do, so he is really good to converse with about setups and such.
He was where I am in my career a couple of years ago so he gives me
something to work up to.
Q: Where do you think you
will be in 5 years in this sport?
Right where I am now, but
hopefully winning a lot more. We are looking at some asphalt stuff
for down the road in case the DIRT thing doesn't work out, but until
then I am hoping it does because this is the style of racing I have
grown up around and really enjoy. I want to be a top guy on Dirt.
Q: What do you do in your
time away from racing?
When I'm not at a race we are
usually preparing our equipment for the next race. Otherwise, I am
very busy keeping up with my house, teaching and coaching sports.
For fun I like to go out to dinner with friends and golf, even
though I'm not very good at it.
Q: What would you like to
say to your fans?
Thank you for all of your
support. Without fans this sport would simply not exist.So thank you
for the support and hopefully we can be making some trips to victory
lane this season.