By Ken Keating
There is a valid reason why this driver is called "Flyin" Ryan Wade. Out of the last two seasons and eighteen races, Ryan has compiled an impressive twelve victories driving in one of the most competitive series racing at Victoria's Western Speedway. In 2010, he drove to five Feature event wins in a row to end the season and then put together six more consecutive wins in 2011. This amazing consecutive streak of eleven victories in twelve races, with him behind the wheel, was interrupted during the last race of 2011 when mechanical problems with the rear end finally done him in as Ryan was driving toward the front of the pack and running in third position. In 2010, nine races were run with Ryan winning a total of six and 2011 saw him or his car win eight of ten races. That is some kind of driving.
Ryan got hooked several years ago when his brother was racing and he, his dad, along with his brothers used to go to races quite often that included trips to the Daytona 500. Racing is something he always wanted to do but playing hockey took precedent as he could not take the chance on getting hurt running fast cars and his summers were taken up for training. He raced Claimers for a bit and had his first win there and then bought a Stock Car and has raced in that Series for the last seven years. His first season he placed third in points and then sixth in his second year and since then has put together five Championship seasons in a row. No one had done this in one Series alone. Tim Christy had three consecutive Championship in Thunder Cars between 1996 and 1998 and then followed with three straight Championships in a Late Model Series, or Sportsmen as they were called at the time, between 1999 and 2001.
When Ryan was growing up he used to love to get involved in fixing his car or working on it. He syas; "Now days, if something breaks kids just throw it away and get something else. They don't get so involved with cars as they are all computerized and you take them to a shop to be fixed." There is so much more for kids to be involved with that there is only a few coming up that really get involved with fixing cars but its not like it used to be. We were "Chomping at the bit" to get into a Claimer or race car and fix it and then drive it.
Ryan points out that his winning is a group thing with Steve Green, Danny Thomas, Matt & Rick Stidston, along with his family maintaining the car to a high standard and gives him a great car to drive. "This is a great testament to the crew guys to go so many races with no mechanical problems until that last race." he says. When Ryan was with the hockey team, he placed Robbie Haslam, his brother Lance, and Kirk Rompain behind the wheel and those drivers done a great job in getting points and keeping his car in contention for his return. Lance, incidently, won a Late Model Championship, Kirk is a long time Late Model competitor, and Robbie; a former Demo Car Champion, has raced everything from Demo Cars to the WilRoc Lite Series in his resume as well. His main challenge for the Championship came from Aaron Wilkie in last year's campaign as these two drivers battled every week and every race running bumper to bumper and side by side. The Championship came down to the last race of the season with Ryan holding a very slim lead over his rival. Ryan won that event with Wilkie finishing second and only forty-one points behind. This season, Wilkie again proved to be fast and they put on quite a show when both were racing but the Championship points race was not nearly as close as Wilkie did not make each event.
In 2010, Ryan tried his hand with a WilRoc Lite car and drove in a couple of races and set fast time in his second attempt. On July 2nd, 2011, Ryan must have stopped at a local Tim Horton's for a large double double as he drove to a victory in the Stock Car and then turned the same trick in the Lite Series on the same night, a night he says is the highlite of his career. He says, "I didn't know if we had it in the Lite car but I knew we had a good car and it was fast and it was a lot of fun to win with the Stock Car and then again in the Lites Car on the same night." Ryan also made his mark on other tracks as he raced in Port Angeles last season and placed third, raced at Saratoga in a points race and won that, then this season went to Penticton and crashed the first night and placed second on the second night with twenty-eight cars on the track. These are just a few other highlites racing with other good Stock Cars on other tracks but the double win really stands out.
Commenting on the Lites car, Ryan thinks they are a finicky car and if you drive them in too fast they will swap ends pretty quick and you use a lot of throttle and have to baby them a bit and they are a driver's type of car. They are definately not a learners class as you have to be into other cars before and so much different to what the Stock Cars are but a lot of fun. You have to use some caution as you can't touch wheels like you do in a Stock Car and you can't see them so it makes it interesting and takes some adjustment to run Lites.