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Ryan how did you get your foot into racing?
How was doing IRL?
You're a "Pro" driver. What made you decide to get into drifting?
Matt.
How was doing IRL?
You're a "Pro" driver. What made you decide to get into drifting?
Matt.
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I actually got my foot into racing when I was 15. I started kart racing that year and attended Jim Hall's kart school in Ventura, CA. I won a championship 1992. In the meantime I was going and hanging out at a lot of SCCA events and meeting as many people as I could. I made sure that I was making it clear I was going to step into car racing as soon as I was 18 in 1994. When I turned 18 my parents helped fund me building a race car. It was a 1986 Nissan 200SX with independant rear susp. I choose that car cause it would run on the biggest tires and had good horsepower. I ended up winning 6 of the 8 races I entered and set three track records. When you do that, it creates alot of interest in your driving. Then in 1995 I drove many different types of cars in SCCA. People wanted me to drive their cars in races, so I ended up driving Spec Racer Fords and ITS cars. That year a new pro series was making waves in the racing world called US Pro Formula 2000. That was where all the pro drivers were coming from and going into indycar. So thats where I decided to focus my efforts for the following year. I didn't have alot of money in 1996 so I was driving a little bit and testing with different teams until I found one I liked and was reasonabley priced. So in 1997 I tried to run a full season of pro USF2000. I had to miss the first two races because of budget and there were only 12 in the year so I was fighting an uphill battle from the get go. In the first race I finished 10th at Phoenix international Raceway. In my opinion it wasn't bad, but it wasn't good either, since it was the first time working with the team. The next race proved to be succesful though we finished 5th and 3rd. which brings you a lot of press. I ended up finishing 6th in overall points and 4th in the oval crown championship which made me rookie of the year and won a race and finished 2nd another time. I probably would have been fifth in the Championship, but I had a brake failure that was stupid and cost me points, but that is how racing goes... That year in 1997 saw some of the most talented drivers progress into the racing world. The guys I was racing aginst that year were Buddy Rice (Winner of Indy this year), Andy Lally (Rolex 24 hour Daytona winner), Dave Besnard (Austrailain Touring Car Driver), Sam Hornish (2 Time Indycar Champion and Penske Driver). So it was a competitve field to say the least. In fact at the time it broke records for having the most different drivers win races in racing history. I was fortunate enough to be one of them. Since I had a successful year and did it with the least amount of money, a car manufacturer hired me to drive for their factory team. That was Tatuus race cars of Italy. 1998 proved to be what I needed. We went head to head with the other factory team (Van Diemen) for the entire year. Un fortuanatley, our car was in its first year of development and the Van Diemen had been at it for 10 years, hard to beat experience. So I ended up second in the Championship, but that was enough for A.J. Foyt to take notice. I met AJ, because his son was also running a Tatuus. So I enteracted with him quite a bit. (the bad thing about running a factory car is everyone who owns one has the right to take your setups "which is a closely guarded secret in racing"). The Tatuus was a very hard car to drive. This is where I really started drifting. The car was so twitchy that you had to be doing a braking drift to pass people in the corners. I gained the nickname asses and elbows that year, because my car was never straight and always sideways so it was alot more work to make the car go fast. In 1999 I had no budget to do anything so I sat on the sidelines and continued "profiling at the races". I also volunteered to be a spotter for AJ's son at the F2000 races. so that relationship was building. At the Atlanta Indycar race Larry (AJ's Son) was injured so I was instantly an indycar spotter (Not a job I would ever do again...way to stressful). That November I got an out of the blue call from A.J., he said "bring your stuff to Texas in two weeks, your driving an Indycar". To say the least it took about a week to sttle in. I went down to Texas andtested the car and I was 2 miles an hour faster than his driver that year. So he was very pleased. AJ was willing to put up the first 3 million to run me in 2000 and I had to find an addtional 1 million. Not easy by any means...I wasn't able to find any sponsorship so it was back to the waiting game. I then got a call from Mike Johnson (MTV Real World 1997) and he said he was putting together a team that would run in Grand-Am protoype class. I jumped at the opportunity and that proved to be a very sucessful year. I became the winningest driver in sports cars that year, and was the Champion. We won 6 of eight 8 races, three pole postions, and 4 track records. At the end of 2000 Rob Dyson wanted to test me in his LMP 900 car. That was the most fun I have ever had in a car. 780HP and 1400 lbs... Absoulutley nuts that car was simply the most amazing thing I had ever driven... The downside was Politics got in the way of that ride (welcome to the real world...) SO I was out of a ride again. In 2001 a Mazda Team hired me to drive for them in the long races of the season. We finninshed 2nd in the Daytona 24 hours, and won the Watkins Glen 6hour race. At Watkins we made history by bringing a lower class car to finish third overall which has never been done. In 2002 we tried Daytona agian but came up 3rd. Later that year I got a call from an engineer I used to race aginst in Formula 2000. He wanted me to drive for him for years, but never got the opportunity, this year was different. HE had 2 seperate people willing to invest in his team, and I was the driver he was going to use. That year we Made IRL history at Gateway in St. Louis. I lead the entire race from start to finish, never losing the lead. We also made history with the largest margin for Pole time .75 sec. Also we finished 3rd at Texas. We only had the budget to do 5 races so fairly successful. We also had the lowest horsepower for motors. In IRL you lease motors, so you get what they give you...We also went through 7 motors in 5 races which is absolutley stupid....but once Again Politics raised its ugly head. Which really means I didn't have the right last name...I.E. (Foyt, Fike, Carpenter...etc..) That when I realized the common man has no chance in racing...In 2003 I did the 24Hours of Daytona with the factory Ferrari Team driving a 360 GT we finished 5th that year and that was the last race I have done. Now on to drifitng I am really burned out on racing. I had banged my head aginst the wall for to many years, proved myself time and time again, and still nothing. So I needed to get back to having fun with cars. So I had been drifting when I was an instructor for three years. I didn't even know drifting was a sport until I had a Japanese student. He rode with me when I was screwing around and he asked what drift competitions I had done in Japan. I said what are you talking about? He then proceeded to give me an Option Video...... That was it I had found my home...I then met up with TY...AKA..White Bunny, and he gave me a full education on what drifting is the rules, and what the judges are looking for... SO I went to the first drivers search in June of 2003. Kiechii said I was leading going into the finals. but unfortunatley my car broke and had to sub into one i had never driven.. I don't think the judges knew it was me driving the car.. So I didn't make the first D1 ..but there is still time. In the meantime, I had renwed my relationship with Mazda and they have been a big help with my drifting since then. I have to thank all the people that I have been fortuate enough to be in contact with...Andy Yen, Alex P, Naoki, Moto, Tony Angelo, Chris Forsberg, Todd, Derek I, Glenn K, Tod, K Jim J, Taka, Ryan Sage, Jim Liau, Upgrade Motoring, Mazda and everyone who has helped me within the drift community. The are the best people I have met in the motorsports world and will never forget it. This is a special sport with some special people and if you are involved you know it. As for future racing plans, The IRL team I drove for is still searching for sponsorship and I may drive again one day, I would love to be the first "Drifter" in the Indy 500 that would be one of my dreams...among other things. P.S. One thing that did come out of racing that was the best thing that happend to me,.....My Wife...You will all get to meet her at Formula D...
I think I have rambled on for too long, and if you read this far I congradulate you for putting up with the most boring stuff one could read...Last edited by RyanHampton; 08-12-2005, 10:09 PM. -
Your wife is beautiful. Can I get a photo with you two Ryan? I'm going to be at Irwindale...
Ryan, any plans to do F1 or CART?
Matt.Comment
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Hey Ryan. I saw you talking with Alex after the drivers search in Fontana. You were sitting on the ground with him in the middle of the staging area, which I didn't expect, so that was kinda funny. I have great respect for anyone that can control a car better than I, and I'd just like to show my support for you guys.
- Joey (Datsun 280z)Comment
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hmm... i'm not old enough to drive
is carting any fun? i race dirt bikes but my dad gave me a choice just about a week ago... he said i could either get into karting or just keep racing my dirt bikes... what do you say?
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Hey guys thank you for all your support we appreciate it!... Yeah I know I should stand up all the time....sorry...No we're just regular old people and our joints hurt..
Yes, you can get a picture with us problem is she is taller than I am!! Shes 5'11 and I'm only 5'9...Marry a shorter woman than you that is my advice... Na' I wouldn't trade the world for her.
As far as Cart or F1 , I was working on a deal to run CART this year but as with anything you will hear we have big plans!! from people, but only 1 in 50 times works out, So I have about 50 more years to wait till I race again...F1, God better get involved cause I'm in hell and theres a snowballs chance...
As far as karts or bikes. Well there is two things to look at here. First, are you racing bikes competitively? If you are racing bikes are you winning? If you are winning and you enjoy it I would stick with it. But here some reality... If you stick with motorcross remember you won't have a long carreer. Most are done by 28 if even that late. Injuries stack up quickly. Now is karting fun, its absolutley a blast why do you think every indycar driver I know still drives a shifter kart weekly. They are very close to the performance of a Formula Atlantic Car which is just a step below an Indycar. Honestly, before you go out and just change your dreams, go and take one of the many karting schools out there first. They are all over the country, there's Jim Hall Karting School in Oxnard, CA and Bondurant in Phoenix, AZ. Those are the only two I know off the top of my head. Jim Hall is probably a more hard core down to business type course and Bondurant offers shifter karts which acclerate at 0-60 in 3.9 seconds. Each class is around $300 per day, but worth it. You are young enough to make a carreer in both, and both would be fun to get paid to do. I would try a karting school first to see if it is for you..Cause karting ain't cheap either.
Thanks guys!Last edited by RyanHampton; 08-16-2004, 08:22 PM.Comment
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1) Have you ever drifted on a touge?
2) What plans do you have for your FC?
3) Do you think Formula D or D1 will ever come down to PIR or any other track in AZ?Comment
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Hey Ryan is the girl in your avatar or picture thing your wife?
what do you think now that JGTC is going to be hitting US soil?
and who do you idolize?Comment
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Yea that's his wife...Originally posted by DrifterN
Hey Ryan is the girl in your avatar or picture thing your wife?
what do you think now that JGTC is going to be hitting US soil?
and who do you idolize?
She's gorgeous... Ryan is just lucky he married her first...
Matt.Comment
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Originally posted by Craftsman
Yea that's his wife... She's gorgeous... Ryan is just lucky he married her first...
Matt.
Damn........talk about gorgeous haha
whats her ethnicity? philipino?Comment
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wordOriginally posted by DrifterN
Damn........talk about gorgeous haha
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So which one do you find more interesting? CART/ IRL / F1 open wheel racing or road racing with production cars modified for racing?
And how do they differ?
And do you play video games? If so which one?
Matt.Comment
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hey Ryan, how's it going? I didn't even know there was an FC in Formula D right now, I thought I was going to be among the first out there next year. It's awesome to see people supporting the rotary world. I'm spending about $2k a month right now (basically everything I have, I'm even taking a cut in how much food I eat
) to get my car ready for Formula D '05. If you don't mind me asking, what modificiations do you have done to the FC, and why did you choose those particular modifications? I'm running an N/A FC, and have a lot of plans (i.e. race port and 8-point rollcage should be done early next month before Sevenstock), but there's not a lot I can do in the way of power, so most if it will be body and suspension work. Do you have any advice on N/A FC tuning? Thanks in advance, I look forward to driving with another FC owner next year!
-William Long (but everyone still calls me Case)Comment
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That girl in his Avatar is not his wife.
He's posted pictures of his wife before. She's a tall white girl. Very pretty!!!
Ryan, you are very fortunated!!! lol...Comment
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That's her... She's gorgeous. Anyways, I'll stop jocking his wife...Originally posted by '97 S14 SE Turb
That girl in his Avatar is not his wife.
He's posted pictures of his wife before. She's a tall white girl. Very pretty!!!
Ryan, you are very fortunated!!! lol...
Man, I need to go pro racer too to get a hot wife like her...
Matt.Comment
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