Ryan Mathews (born July 1, 1978) is an American stock car racing driver from

Lake Geneva, Wisconsin Lake Geneva is a city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located in Walworth County and situated on Geneva Lake, it is home to an estimated 8,105 people as of 2019, up from 7,651 at the 2010 census. It is located about 40 miles southwest of Mil ...

. He was a part-time driver of the No. 75 Ray Hackett Racing Ford in the

NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series is a pickup truck racing series owned and operated by the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, and is the only series in NASCAR to race production pickup truck based stock cars. The series is one of th ...

in 2009.Biography at nascar.com
Retrieved September 7, 2007 His career also went through ASA, ARCA, and the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East.

Background

His education background is in engineering from

Kettering University Kettering University is a private university in Flint, Michigan. It offers Bachelor of Science, bachelor of science and master's degree, master’s degrees in Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, STEM (science, technology, engineeri ...

in Flint, Michigan. During his time there he also served as a contributing member of the Kappa Sigma chapter of the

Theta Xi Theta Xi () is a North American Greek-letter social college fraternity. It was founded at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) on April 29, 1864. Of all the social fraternities today, Theta Xi was the only one founded during the Civil War. Its ...

fraternity. He began racing in a

kart Kart racing or karting is a road racing variant of motorsport with open-wheel, four-wheeled vehicles known as go-karts or shifter karts. They are usually raced on scaled-down circuits, although some professional kart races are also held on fu ...

at age 15. He moved to a mini-

sprint Sprint may refer to: Aerospace *Spring WS202 Sprint, a Canadian aircraft design *Sprint (missile), an anti-ballistic missile Automotive and motorcycle * Alfa Romeo Sprint, automobile produced by Alfa Romeo between 1976 and 1989 * Chevrolet Sprin ...

car at Wilmot Speedway in

Wilmot, Wisconsin Wilmot (also Gilead) is a residential and business community in the village of Salem Lakes in southwestern Kenosha County, Wisconsin, United States. As of the 2010 census, prior to the incorporation into Salem Lakes, Wilmot was a census-designate ...

, and was the track rookie of the year and fourth overall. He finished second in mini-sprint points at Wilmot in 1996, and fourth overall in the Wisconsin Mini-sprint Association (which included races at the Calumet County Racing Association). He had five wins on the season, and recorded three wins at Wilmot in 1997. Late in 1997 he raced the one mile dirt track at

Springfield, Illinois Springfield is the capital of the U.S. state of Illinois and the county seat and largest city of Sangamon County. The city's population was 114,394 at the 2020 census, which makes it the state's seventh most-populous city, the second largest ...

in an ARCA series event. Matthews moved to the Mid-American SuperTruck Series on asphalt in 1998. He had three Top 5 finishes as a rookie, and two features wins and a pole position in 1999 and 2000. He then moved to the Super Late Models at

Slinger Super Speedway The Slinger Speedway (also known as Slinger Super Speedway) is a quarter mile paved oval automobile race track with 33-degree banked corners located in Slinger, Wisconsin. The track is billed as the "World's Fastest Quarter Mile Oval." The curre ...

in 2001, and was the series Rookie of the Year. In 2003 he quit his job as an

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...

Harley Davidson Harley may refer to: People * Harley (given name) * Harley (surname) Places * Harley, Ontario, a township in Canada * Harley, Brant County, Ontario, Canada * Harley, Shropshire, England * Harley, South Yorkshire, England * Harley Street, in ...

to race full-time. He competed in the Midwest All-Star Racing Series (MARS), and he won his fiftieth race on a short track that season. He competed in the Slinger Nationals, and finished fifth against nationally known drivers. Another season highlight was finishing third at

Madison International Speedway The Madison International Speedway (MIS) is a half-mile paved oval racetrack in the Town of Rutland near Oregon, Wisconsin, United States. With 18-degree banked turns, the track is billed as "The Track of Champions" and "Wisconsin's Fastest H ...

ahead of

Kurt Busch Kurt Thomas Busch (born August 4, 1978) is an American professional auto racing driver. He last competed full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 45 Toyota Camry TRD for 23XI Racing. He is the 2004 NASCAR Cup Series champion and the ...

and

Matt Kenseth Matthew Roy Kenseth (born March 10, 1972) is an American former professional stock car racing driver. He drives the No. 8 car in the Superstar Racing Experience. (SRX) Kenseth started racing on several short tracks in Wisconsin and won track cham ...

. He moved to the

American Speed Association The American Speed Association (ASA) is a sanctioning body of motorsports in the United States formed in 1968. The Association was based in Pendleton, Indiana, and later in Daytona Beach, Florida. The ASA sanctioned asphalt and dirt tracks in t ...

National Series in 2004 as well as selected Super Late Model events. In 2005 he competed in six different Super Late Model series from

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the List of U.S. states and territories by population, 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minne ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, a ...

. He earned 34 top-10s, 17 top-5s, and one win during the 2005 season. He also finished top 5 in points in three major touring series that same year. In 2006 he competed in the ARCA series with Eddie Sharp Racing where his best finish was 2nd at Michigan Speedway.

NASCAR career

Mathews started racing in the Craftsman Truck Series at the seventh race of 2007 for

Bill Davis Racing Bill Davis Racing was a racing team that participated in all three of NASCAR's top divisions until 2009. The team had run Toyota-branded stock cars and trucks in the Camping World Truck Series (Toyota Tundra) since 2004 and Sprint Cup Series (To ...

2007 NASCAR driving statistics at racing-reference.info
Retrieved September 7, 2007 after Tyler Walker was suspended for violating NASCAR's substance abuse policy, and the team had lost its sponsor. He earned his first

pole position In a motorsports race, the pole position is usually the best and "statistically the most advantageous" starting position on the track. The pole position is usually earned by the driver with the best qualifying times in the trials before the ra ...

on July 13, 2007 at Kentucky Speedway, and finished fourth in the race. His other Top 10 finish in 2007 was a sixth-place finish at

Memphis Motorsports Park Memphis International Raceway (formerly known as Memphis Motorsports Park) was an auto racing park located near the Loosahatchie River in Shelby County, Tennessee, United States, just approximately ten miles south of Millington, and a few mile ...

. Mathews competed in one NASCAR event in 2008 for the newly formed CHS Motorsports. The one event was the

Chevy Silverado 350K The Vankor 350 was a NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series race at Texas Motor Speedway. The 1999 race was 300 kilometers and the 2000 race was 400 kilometers, and became 350 kilometers in 2001. The race moved to the spring for the 2019 season ...

Texas Motor Speedway Texas Motor Speedway is a speedway located in the northernmost portion of the U.S. city of Fort Worth, Texas – the portion located in Denton County, Texas. The reconfigured track measures with banked 20° in turns 1 and 2 and banked 2 ...

. He would start the race in 34th and finish 33rd. For the 2009 season, Mathews signed on to drive in select races for Ray Hackett Racing in the No. 75

Ford F-150 The Ford F-Series is a series of light-duty trucks marketed and manufactured by Ford since the 1948 model year. Slotted above the Ford Ranger in the Ford truck model range, the F-Series is marketed as a range of full-sized pickup trucks ...

, starting with the WinStar World Casino 400 at

. He would also drive select races for CHS Motorsports.

Motorsports career results

NASCAR

(

key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (ma ...

) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. ''Italics'' – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Camping World Truck Series

K&N Pro Series East

ARCA Re/Max Series

(

) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. ''Italics'' – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mathews, Ryan 1978 births American Speed Association drivers Living people NASCAR drivers ARCA Menards Series drivers People from Lake Geneva, Wisconsin Kettering University alumni Racing drivers from Wisconsin