Ryan Newman and crew chief Matt Borland. Credit: Autostock
By Lee Montgomery, Turner Sports Interactive
February 25, 2003
12:59 PM EST (1759 GMT)
ROCKINGHAM, N.C. -- At the start of any NASCAR Winston Cup season, the list of championship contenders is usually pretty large. After a few weeks, however, the list shrinks, as pretenders are weeded out.
Ryan Newman certainly began the 2003 season as a contender. The '02 rookie of the year was one of the hottest drivers the second half of the season, scoring his first career victory at New Hampshire. He also had one stretch where he had nine top-five finishes in 12 races.
 | RYAN NEWMAN | | | | | | |
|
|
Newman had a good off-season, too, posting one of the top testing speeds at Daytona.
Then came the Daytona 500 and Newman's spectacular crash in the tri-oval. What's most amazing about the flip was that Newman was essentially unhurt, save for some soreness the following week.
Newman recently sat spoke with NASCAR.com's Lee Montgomery about the Daytona wreck -- and several other topics.
You're an Indiana guy, born and raised. Do you know the words to "Back Home Again in Indiana"?
Newman: "I know Gomer Pyle sang it. I know some of it, but I don't know all of it. I don't care."
Amazingly, I somehow know the words to that song. I don't think I'll sing it for you. What about the Purdue fight song?
"Don't know it."
What the heck's a Boilermaker?
"A pressure vessel."
Can you fix a boilermaker?
"Yeah. If it leaks, you just weld it up."
The stereotypical engineer -- everybody thinks of an engineer as someone kind of stiff, boring, maybe a little nerdy. Do you consider yourself any of those things? Or anything like the stereotypical engineer?
| |
 |
| Credit: Autostock |
"Yes and no. I think everybody is a little bit nerdy, everybody is a little bit bright. It's just all a combination of what you are, when and how. Some people are downright goofy. They don't do certain things because they're superstitious. Everybody's different. Being an engineer helps a lot. It helps communicate. That's one of the biggest things I learned out of college was communication."
You can't be too nerdy driving a race car 190 mph though.
"You can be."
Really?
"Oh, yeah."
Are there some nerds in the garage area?
"I'm sure there are. A nerd is an independent person's opinion of what a nerd is. There's really no such thing as a nerd, until you watch 'Revenge of the Nerds.'"
A lot has been made about your engineering background. People have talked about how you have changed some of the landscape here, as far as data and all that. Are you a trailblazer at all?
"We are what we do. What everybody else does is up to them. We're here for our own reasons, our own goals. That's what we focus on. What everybody else thinks is the right thing or the wrong thing to do is up to them. But, yes, I will agree with you that there have been people who have changed their way of doing things."
Speaking of engineering, have you seen your Daytona wreck on TV?
"Yeah, briefly. I didn't watch it a whole lot."
What did you think?
"Just hang on and do what happened. Just lucky. And thank God for being able to walk away from it."
Have you talked to NASCAR or seen any of the data and what kind of forces came from that?
 | Video Clips |  | Ryan Newman flips in the Daytona infield
Play video |
| | | | | |
|
|
"I've heard some numbers, but I don't know for sure. You'd think they'd come over and tell me that so I had an idea. But I guess they're too busy.
Some drivers in wrecks like that, it starts happening, and they say it gets really quiet and almost slows down. Did you have any of those feelings?
"Yeah. It didn't slow down, I can guarantee you that. But the quietness, when it got airborne, that was the biggest thing."
Was that a little scary?
"Nah. You just hang on and ride it out. There's nothing you can do about it. It's not like I'm going to stick my hand out the window, and it'll slow the car down. It's going to do what it wants to do."
Did you ever catch yourself, after it hit the wall and started sliding, going, 'Oh, blank, this is going to be bad'?
"When I was airborne, I thought it was going to be bad. When I sat down, I thought it was going to be good, and that's when it turned bad because the right-rear tire was gone, and the wheel dug into the ground. I didn't expect that. Like I said, it is the way it is.
Have you changed anything inside the car? Are you satisfied with all the safety stuff?
"Not a thing. Everything was awesome. They said the seat moved an inch, at the most two inches in some spots. As far as my hips, my shoulders and stuff like that, everything was awesome. You couldn't complain. The seat belts were awesome. I don't think there could be any improvements to speak of.
What seat do you use?
"ButlerBuilt."
| |
 |
| Credit: Autostock |
The one with the big shoulder support?
"Shoulders and head rest."
Have you got the one with the rib supports?
"Oh, yeah."
Speaking of cars, I understand you've got a pretty impressive collection building.
"I'm working on it."
Does this wrecked car go into that?
"No, it's already cleaned up and cut up back at the shop. It'll probably get sent to the crusher."
Were they able to save anything from it?
"They took some parts off of it, but typically in a situation like that, everything gets pitched."
What about some of your cars? Why did you start collecting cars?
"I'm a car buff. I like cars. Nothing against manufacturers today, but cars in the 50s and 60s were 100 percent better than cars today. I guess that's my opinion, but I just enjoy them I've got a '57 T-Bird, a '28 Ford Roadster hot rod, a '53 Plymouth, a '74 Triumph TR-6. A little difference in all of them, but all fun to drive, all fun to work on."
Do you get to work on them much?
"Yeah."
During the week when you're home?
"Oh, yeah."
Your girlfriend helps you out?
"Oh, yeah. She helps a lot."
What does she do?
"She just helps me work on them. Usually when a job takes more than one person, and she's the one there, she doesn't mind coming out and helping.
So she doesn't mind getting grease under her fingernails?
"Oh, no. Well, I should rephrase that. She minds, but she does it because she knows I like it."
That's cool. A crash like that, especially at the first of the year at Daytona, does that set you guys back at all?
"No. 1, it mellows you out. You go into the year with a lot of confidence, and something like that happens. At the same time, part of the reason Stewart won the championship last year is that it makes you fight back that much harder and that much stronger all the way through. It takes you a long time to catch back up. It's just a matter of working on it and doing what you've got to do. It'll be the same for our team.
Have you seen that yet? Have you seen fight in these guys this weekend at all?
"Yes and no. I've seen some of that fight, but I haven't seen it when it counts yet. When it comes to race time, we'll see."
Tony, last year, being able to rally, does that give you some confidence that you're still a championship team and it can be done?
"I know it can be done. Tony did it with six DNFs last year. It can be done pretty easily. It's just a matter of putting everything else together."
|
