Ryan Newman : Engineering Speed

by Williams, Deb

• ISBN13: 9781582617831
• ISBN10: 158261783X
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2004-04-01
• Publisher: Ingram Pub Services

Summary

When one hears the word "protege," one's first thoughts often center on a person gifted in the performing arts. That, however, is not where Ryan Newman's gift rests. Instead, the Indiana native is a racing protege, a person who can take a machine, massage it into a finely tuned race car, and then methodically direct it to victory lane. His destiny was established from the time he was born when his father looked at his mother and proudly proclaimed, "We've got us a race car driver." By the time he was four years old, Newman had already exchanged his childhood toys for a steering wheel. First it was Quarter-Midgets, then Midgets, Sprint Cars, and eventually stock cars. Before he even received his engineering degree from Purdue University, Newman was in the Quarter-Midget Hall of Fame, and his list of open-wheel honors increased with each step he took on his racing career ladder. Rookie of the Year honors were collected in Sprint Cars (1999), USAC Silver Crown (1996), and USAC National Midgets (1995). He also walked off with the USAC Coors Light Silver Bullet Series national championship in 1999. In 2002, Newman added Raybestos Rookie of the Year in NASCAR's Winston Cup Series to his resume, joining a select list that includes such drivers as Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt, Jeff Gordon, David Pearson, Tony Stewart, Rusty Wallace, Ricky Rudd, Davey Allison, and Alan Kulwicki. En route to defeating Jimmie Johnson for the honor, Newman set an all-time record for poles by a Rookie of the Year candidate with six. That broke Allison's record of five, set in 1987.

Author Biography

Deb Williams has won numerous awards, including the National Motorsports Press Association's Writer of the Year twice, the Russ Catlin Award twice, and the Henry T. McLemore Award for continued outstanding motorsports journalism

Table of Contents

Foreword	p. 4
Acknowledgments	p. 7
Sophomore Jinx-Not!	p. 8
No Toys, Just a Race Car, Please	p. 26
Sprints and Midgets on My Mind	p. 40
"Keep the Faith"	p. 74
A-B-C, Easy as 1-2-3	p. 106
Year of the Rookie	p. 138
Classic Cars, Street Rods, and Baiting Hooks	p. 164
Career Statistics	p. 184
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