Happy fathers Day Dad...Love Ryan
“I think everyone has heard the story, now, that when I was born my dad looked at me and said ‘We have ourselves a racecar driver. My dad got me my first Quarter Midget, and I started racing at 4½. But this wasn’t something he pushed me to do. My dad had wanted to be a racecar driver, but he couldn’t. Then, when I came along, he let me race. My dad actually tried to take racing away at one point to see if that’s what I really wanted to do, and it was. I think the easiest way to say it is that I wouldn’t be here racing today without my dad and everything he did to further my racing career. My dad, my mom, my sister - they all made sacrifices and everyone chipped in so that I could race.”
As family and friends will once again gather on Sunday to celebrate a day that has been set aside to honor that one special man in each one of our lives, stories like this one will be a very popular topic, especially when you look back to all those special memories that most of us have stored up in our hearts. Ryan Newman knew just how important it was to keep those special memories close to him, because after all it was his father who chose to get him behind the wheel of a race car at a very young age. “He’s been with me for every step of my career since I was 4½ and just starting to race Quarter Midgets. He showed me how to hit my marks when I was just a kid by sticking his foot out in the middle of the corner and telling me to turn there.”
Greg Newman has also been very instrumental in helping his son Ryan reach his goal of becoming a Sprint cup driver; while at the same time teaching the younger Newman how to respect a sport that would later make him famous. Experiences are all part of the package, when you begin to think about all the time that they get to spend together during the racing season. “We’ve also had some pretty incredible experiences together. From Quarter Midgets to full-size Midgets to Sprint Cars and, now, stock cars, Dad has served as mechanic, crew chief, pit crew member and spotter. Having him at the racetrack is something that is very special to me. In reality, it just makes sense to have him as my spotter because he knows me and my racing style better than anyone else.”
As Ryan would continue to grow, learning how to love and cherish all the good times that they would have together. Take a moment to stop and think what it would be like to have your dad talking to you during an entire race, telling you which part of the track to race on, and at the same time acting as your second set of eyes. I know some of us are probably thinking just how well would that work out? Were there ever times when they didn’t see eye to eye and maybe they got upset with one other? “I tell everyone that it has been a series of high-fives and arguments ever since he started spotting for me. We’ve gotten into it on the radio a few times. I will give it to him, but he’ll turn around and give it right back to me. My dad understands how I drive and what I need to help me get better on the track. He knows what I need to hear. It’s a very special relationship, and I’m glad that he is able to be at the racetrack with me each weekend.”
So Ryan and his dad are just as human as the rest of us, but with only one exception and that is that Ryan is a professional race car driver. But that doesn’t mean that they don’t share the same memories as maybe you and I would with our dads. There are no set standards, nor is one memory greater than the other just because you happen to be famous. Memories don’t have a mind of their own, and they don’t play with feelings, but instead they are as real as life itself. So when you think about that one special time in your life that you can honestly tell yourself, “This one I will never forget,” well there was one time in Ryan’s life that he and his dad would never forget, and that was the day that Ryan won his first Daytona 500 just last year. “Having him spot for me when I won the Daytona 500 last season, hearing the excitement in his voice, listening to him get choked up and then hugging him in victory lane. That was something not many people have. That was our dream coming full circle.”
Ryan’s best finish so far at Infineon is a 2nd, and that was in a race where he led 11 of the 110 laps that were run back in 2006. Road courses are not of his biggest strengths, but his desire to the best has always overshadowed his less then stellar performances that he has had this track. “This past weekend, we weren’t good at all, but we didn’t give up. We made a lot of changes to the car during the race, and we put ourselves back in the position where we could be in good shape. If another caution would have fallen, we would have gotten back on the lead lap. At the end, we had a fast car, so I think we could have gotten a better finish than where we ended up. It wasn’t a great finish for us, but we still finished in front of a few others and ended up not losing as many points as we could have. The key was we didn’t give up and that was something I was proud of,” said Newman after ending his streak of consecutive top 10’s at six, with his 23rd place finish at Michigan just this past weekend.
So as we begin to ponder some of the great lessons that have been taught to us by these great men that have not only watched us grow, but have also taken time out of their busy schedules to make sure that we as children, grew up learning the many lessons that life would want to teach us. For some it was worth its weight in gold, as well as a lesson that we can still carry on to this day. Ryan was one those sons who not only listened to what his dad had to say, but he also took it to heart which is what some of us fail to do as the years go on. This is just one example of how much Ryan valued what his dad had to say. Now before turning off the light each night, Greg would tell Ryan: “Don’t forget to kiss your racecar good night.” So don’t be surprised to see Ryan “kiss” his No. 39 Chevrolet before he leaves the track on Saturday night. It was a figure of speech, of course. Ryan didn’t really kiss his racecar good night, but it was a lesson that he still carries with him today.
It’s a pretty awesome sight to see father and son working so close together in this high energy sport where tempers are known to flare up, and the drivers as well as the teams come to the track with huge amounts of pressure on them. Pressure, doesn’t seem to be a word in Ryan’s vocabulary, and the proof is that he is sitting fifth in points, with five top 5’s, and eight top 10 finishes in only the first 14 races of the season. Can this be attributed to the way his dad calls the race from high above the grandstand, or does this happen to be a stroke of good luck? “Everything I am experiencing now and have experienced in this sport is thanks to him. It would be awesome for me to be able to get a win for him on Father’s Day. I know that it would be a big deal for Ryan and his dad, Greg. And it would mean just as much to me if that is something we could get done this weekend.” I would like to be able to give him another great memory this weekend.” He wants to give his dad the perfect gift at Sunday’s Toyota/SaveMart 350k race, which just happens to be Father’s Day. There’s no better way for Ryan to thank his dad for guiding him through life - and traffic. Im Out
As family and friends will once again gather on Sunday to celebrate a day that has been set aside to honor that one special man in each one of our lives, stories like this one will be a very popular topic, especially when you look back to all those special memories that most of us have stored up in our hearts. Ryan Newman knew just how important it was to keep those special memories close to him, because after all it was his father who chose to get him behind the wheel of a race car at a very young age. “He’s been with me for every step of my career since I was 4½ and just starting to race Quarter Midgets. He showed me how to hit my marks when I was just a kid by sticking his foot out in the middle of the corner and telling me to turn there.”
Greg Newman has also been very instrumental in helping his son Ryan reach his goal of becoming a Sprint cup driver; while at the same time teaching the younger Newman how to respect a sport that would later make him famous. Experiences are all part of the package, when you begin to think about all the time that they get to spend together during the racing season. “We’ve also had some pretty incredible experiences together. From Quarter Midgets to full-size Midgets to Sprint Cars and, now, stock cars, Dad has served as mechanic, crew chief, pit crew member and spotter. Having him at the racetrack is something that is very special to me. In reality, it just makes sense to have him as my spotter because he knows me and my racing style better than anyone else.”
As Ryan would continue to grow, learning how to love and cherish all the good times that they would have together. Take a moment to stop and think what it would be like to have your dad talking to you during an entire race, telling you which part of the track to race on, and at the same time acting as your second set of eyes. I know some of us are probably thinking just how well would that work out? Were there ever times when they didn’t see eye to eye and maybe they got upset with one other? “I tell everyone that it has been a series of high-fives and arguments ever since he started spotting for me. We’ve gotten into it on the radio a few times. I will give it to him, but he’ll turn around and give it right back to me. My dad understands how I drive and what I need to help me get better on the track. He knows what I need to hear. It’s a very special relationship, and I’m glad that he is able to be at the racetrack with me each weekend.”
So Ryan and his dad are just as human as the rest of us, but with only one exception and that is that Ryan is a professional race car driver. But that doesn’t mean that they don’t share the same memories as maybe you and I would with our dads. There are no set standards, nor is one memory greater than the other just because you happen to be famous. Memories don’t have a mind of their own, and they don’t play with feelings, but instead they are as real as life itself. So when you think about that one special time in your life that you can honestly tell yourself, “This one I will never forget,” well there was one time in Ryan’s life that he and his dad would never forget, and that was the day that Ryan won his first Daytona 500 just last year. “Having him spot for me when I won the Daytona 500 last season, hearing the excitement in his voice, listening to him get choked up and then hugging him in victory lane. That was something not many people have. That was our dream coming full circle.”
Ryan’s best finish so far at Infineon is a 2nd, and that was in a race where he led 11 of the 110 laps that were run back in 2006. Road courses are not of his biggest strengths, but his desire to the best has always overshadowed his less then stellar performances that he has had this track. “This past weekend, we weren’t good at all, but we didn’t give up. We made a lot of changes to the car during the race, and we put ourselves back in the position where we could be in good shape. If another caution would have fallen, we would have gotten back on the lead lap. At the end, we had a fast car, so I think we could have gotten a better finish than where we ended up. It wasn’t a great finish for us, but we still finished in front of a few others and ended up not losing as many points as we could have. The key was we didn’t give up and that was something I was proud of,” said Newman after ending his streak of consecutive top 10’s at six, with his 23rd place finish at Michigan just this past weekend.
So as we begin to ponder some of the great lessons that have been taught to us by these great men that have not only watched us grow, but have also taken time out of their busy schedules to make sure that we as children, grew up learning the many lessons that life would want to teach us. For some it was worth its weight in gold, as well as a lesson that we can still carry on to this day. Ryan was one those sons who not only listened to what his dad had to say, but he also took it to heart which is what some of us fail to do as the years go on. This is just one example of how much Ryan valued what his dad had to say. Now before turning off the light each night, Greg would tell Ryan: “Don’t forget to kiss your racecar good night.” So don’t be surprised to see Ryan “kiss” his No. 39 Chevrolet before he leaves the track on Saturday night. It was a figure of speech, of course. Ryan didn’t really kiss his racecar good night, but it was a lesson that he still carries with him today.
It’s a pretty awesome sight to see father and son working so close together in this high energy sport where tempers are known to flare up, and the drivers as well as the teams come to the track with huge amounts of pressure on them. Pressure, doesn’t seem to be a word in Ryan’s vocabulary, and the proof is that he is sitting fifth in points, with five top 5’s, and eight top 10 finishes in only the first 14 races of the season. Can this be attributed to the way his dad calls the race from high above the grandstand, or does this happen to be a stroke of good luck? “Everything I am experiencing now and have experienced in this sport is thanks to him. It would be awesome for me to be able to get a win for him on Father’s Day. I know that it would be a big deal for Ryan and his dad, Greg. And it would mean just as much to me if that is something we could get done this weekend.” I would like to be able to give him another great memory this weekend.” He wants to give his dad the perfect gift at Sunday’s Toyota/SaveMart 350k race, which just happens to be Father’s Day. There’s no better way for Ryan to thank his dad for guiding him through life - and traffic. Im Out
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it's thursday and it's ickky outside! cold and windy and rainy! i hate it! glad i have no more classes today and only one tommorow morning so i'll prolly be spending the majority of my time INSIDE! haha
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