| Birthdate |
Birthplace |
Residence |
Education |
| December 8, 1977 |
South Bend, Ind. |
Statesville, N.C. |
Purdue University – Class of 2001 (A.B. – Vehicle Structure Engineering) |
Ryan Newman, winner of the 2008 Daytona 500, is not your ordinary NASCAR driver. A graduate of Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind., Newman not only has immense talent behind the wheel, but he also has an in-depth understanding of what a car is designed and built to do on the racetrack. It is that combination that has made Newman one of the most successful and respected figures in modern motorsports.
Beginning in 1982 with his first Quarter Midget race in New Carlisle, Ind., Newman wasted no time making his presence known on the racetrack. He was tallying race wins at just five years of age. By 1986, a nine-year-old Newman had amassed more than 20 wins.
Throughout the next few years, Newman scored more than 100 feature wins, earned six regional Quarter Midget championships and won another Grand National Quarter Midget Championship.
In May 1993, Newman made his move to the full-size Midget car and the All-American Midget Series. He scored one feature win and became the first driver to win both rookie of the year honors and the series championship in the same season.
Newman moved up to the United States Auto Club (USAC) National Midget division in 1995 and scored nine top-10 finishes in 18 starts en route to rookie of the year honors. He followed that with a rookie of the year title in the USAC Silver Crown division in 1996.
His first major USAC win came in May 1997 when he drove the No. 39 midget car to victory in the 52nd “Night Before the 500” race at O’Reilly Raceway Park near Indianapolis on the Saturday night prior to the famous Indianapolis 500. It was the biggest win of Newman’s young career, and one that he credits with putting him on the map.
For Newman, the wins continued to accumulate in the USAC ranks. He won two more Midget races and one Sprint Car race in 1998. The following season, Newman tackled all three of the USAC’s national series — Midget, Silver Crown and Sprint Car, earning one win and seven top-10 finishes in 15 races in the Sprint Car division where he was named rookie of the year.
Newman’s successes in the USAC ranks caught the eye of Roger Penske and led him to join forces with Penske Racing in 2000. The following season, Newman competed in an unprecedented A-B-C schedule, which consisted of running two races in the ARCA Series, 15 races in the NASCAR Busch Series (now Nationwide Series) and seven point races in Sprint Cup.
By 2002, NASCAR observers were expecting big things from Newman and he did not disappoint. He set rookie records for the most top-10 finishes (22) and the most poles (six) in one season. He also became only the second rookie to win the series’ non-points All-Star race at Charlotte.
Newman’s sophomore campaign was just as impressive as his first season. He once again led the series in poles (11) and he also led the series in victories (eight). Newman again finished sixth in the points standings.
In 2004, Newman made the inaugural Chase for the Championship and ended up finishing seventh in the point standings. The following season in 2005, Newman earned his second Chase berth and led the series in poles (eight) for the fourth consecutive time, and scored one win.
Newman earned seven more poles during the 2006 and 2007 seasons and scored runner-up finishes in four races, but he and his team failed to win a race or make the Chase. In 2008, Newman returned to the winner’s circle after an 81-race absence with his win in the 50th Daytona 500.
Contending for race wins every week and challenging for the Sprint Cup championship was what Newman desired, so in August 2008 he announced his move to Stewart-Haas Racing where he joined two-time Sprint Cup champ Stewart.
“I told Tony when I joined his team that the bottom line was that I wanted to have fun racing, and I know that Tony wants the same thing,” Newman said. “He is a hard-nose racer and a good friend. We have a lot in common with our love of the outdoors and our desire to win races.”
“Our main goal is that we both can achieve our goals at Stewart-Haas — and that’s for both of us to make the Chase and for our team to win championships. We can do that.”
Newman’s 2009 season proves that he and his SHR team are certainly headed in the right direction. Newman scored two poles, five top-five and 15 top-10 finishes en route to a ninth-place points finish.
“We had a really good year, and we had a lot of success,” Newman said. “We’ve got a good group of guys. We’ve created lot of good chemistry. We’re going to build on our successes, review our positive notes, sharpen our pencils and that will hopefully bring us more success. We’re just focused on what we can to better and how we can work together better in 2010. I absolutely think we can come out of the box really strong and stay strong all year.”
When not racing, Newman enjoys fishing and restoring his classic cars. The avid outdoorsman, along with his wife Krissie, play an active role in the Ryan Newman Foundation 501(c)(3), which they founded in 2005. The mission of the Ryan Newman Foundation is three-fold: to educate and encourage people to spay/neuter their pets and to adopt dogs and cats from animal shelters; to educate children and adults about the importance of conservation so the beauty of the great outdoors can be appreciated by future generations; and to provide college scholarship funding through the Rich Vogler Scholarship program, of which Newman himself was a recipient, to students interested in auto racing careers.
The Newmans reside in Statesville, N.C., with their six rescue dogs: Digger, Mopar, Harley, Socks, Fred and Dunkin.