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Age: 24
Hometown: Fulton, NY
Occupation: High School Social Studies Teacher
Year Started Racing: 1996
Career Wins: 28
Current Divisions: DIRT Modified
Previous Divisions: Microds, Go-Karts, Four Cylinder Stocks, Dwarf Cars, Slingshots, DIRT Sportsman. 358 Modifieds
Home Track: Fulton Speedway
Favorite Pastimes: Home Improvements, Exercising, Golf and Video Games

Q: Tell us a little bit about yourself:
I have been around racing since I was a little kid. I used to help my dad when he raced and owned racing part business. When I was 13 I started moving up through all kinds of different divisions. Outside of racing I am a History teacher, wrestling and cross country coach.

Q: How did you get your start in auto racing?
Basically just helping out my dad and being around it. My whole family is in to racing. My cousin’s Jimmy Phelps and Mike Bowman both compete in the same division as I do so it is a lot of fun.

Q: What is your favorite DIRT track and why?
Weedsport. I like it because it is a track you can race in a whole bunch of different ways in one night. Sometimes you have to be a real hammer there and by the end of the race it turns into a slow finesse track. Its usually very racy, especially once it slicks off. The track also has so much history behind it that its hard not to love racing there.

Q: What is your most memorable moment in racing up to this point?
Running the entire Dirt Tour last year and getting to run competitively at tracks all over the Northeast.

Q: Where do you think you will be in 5 years in this sport?
Right where I am now, but hopefully winning a lot more

2009 – Ryan Phelps who is a history teacher at Newark, NY High School wrote some of his own history during the 2009 race season behind the wheel of the Big Red Towing No.99 Bicknell. First Ryan picked up his first ever win at the Brewerton Speedway where the field every Friday resembles a Modified Super DIRTcar Series event. Then in July the Cayuga County Fair Speedway hosted the first ever “All-Star Weekend” where Ryan won both nights that were his first ever series wins. The “All-Star 100” was worth $20,000 the Big Red Towing Team.

BREWERTON SPEEDWAY – Phelps in the past was always knocking at that door for that first ever Big Block Modified win at the “D-Shaped Dirt Demon” finally broke through on May 1st finding victory lane.

"It feels like a monkey is finally off our back," Phelps said about getting that first win. "This has to be probably one of the most frustrating places to race. It takes so much with tires, setup, and the lines you run to really bring it home in victory lane. We struggled for a lot of years, the last year and half we are finally starting to breakout a little bit. I just hope we can keep it rolling."

In the final point standings Phelps finished 5th with one win, 5 top fives and 12 top ten’s.

FULTON SPEEDWAY – Ryan once again ran towards the front all season long seeing a 4th place finish in the final point standings. Phelps was one of only two drivers who completed every feature lap run as a testament to his teams preparation in the shop.

CAYUGA COUNTY FAIR SPEEDWAY – Just like Brewerton and Fulton Speedway’s Phelps showed consistency running up front and breaking through with two series wins at the Weedsport, NY oval. That was good enough for a 5th place in the season long point’s battle.

MODIFIED SUPER DIRTcar SERIES - After his popular win at the “All-Star 100” Phelps said,
“This is great, just unbelievable,” remarked Phelps, 25, as he struggled to find the words to describe easily the biggest triumph of his budding career steering the Big Red Towing no. 99 Dave Miller Auto Body/Bicknell entry in DIRTcar Racing Northeast’s premier tour for Big-Blocks in the nation. “I’m really speechless.”

“Didn’t even think I’d ever win a series race let alone two in one weekend, and then one for 20-grand plus back-to-back. I just can’t thank everybody that helped out enough. We’ve really come a long way the last couple years,” beamed Phelps, an 11th grade history teacher at Newark (NY) High School where he’ll have a lot tell his students about what he did over the summer when classes resume in September.

Those two wins set the table for Ryan on one of the toughest traveling series in the country. When looking at the final run-down Phelps took home a 7th in the points standings.