Ryan Hampton (born 17 April 1974 in

Duarte, California Duarte () is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 21,727. It is bounded to the north by the San Gabriel Mountains, to the north and west by the cities of Bradbury and Monrovia ...

) is a former American

Indy Lights Indy NXT, previously Indy Lights, is an American developmental automobile racing series sanctioned by IndyCar, currently known as Firestone Indy NXT Series for sponsorship reasons. Indy Lights is the highest step on the Road to Indy, a program ...

driver. Besides racing cars in races he also competed in drift competitions.

Career

Hampton started his karting career in 1992 with the

International Kart Federation The International Kart Federation was the first kart racing organization in the United States, founded and still based in California in 1957. In 1971 it was joined by the World Karting Association, which originally focused more on the Eastern and ...

. After racing touring cars in 1994 and 1995, Hampton made his open-wheel debut in 1996. The racing driver from California competed a

Van Diemen Van Diemen International, Ltd. was a British race car manufacturer based in Snetterton, Norfolk, United Kingdom. The company had a reputation for high-volume production runs of its cars, the most well-known of which is its series of Formula For ...

in the

SCCA The Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) is a non-profit American automobile club and sanctioning body supporting road racing, rallying, and autocross in the United States. Formed in 1944, it runs many programs for both amateur and professional r ...

Formula Contintental class. The young driver also made his debut in the

USF2000 The USF2000 Championship Presented by Cooper Tires is an American racing series using the American variation of the Formula Ford formula, "F2000", that resumed operation for the 2010 season. As of 2022, it is sanctioned by the United States Auto ...

in 1996. After failing to qualify at

Walt Disney World Speedway Walt Disney World Speedway was a racing facility located on the grounds of the Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Florida, near Orlando. It was built in 1995 by IMS Events, Inc., a subsidiary of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Corporation, an ...

his first start was at

Phoenix International Raceway Phoenix Raceway is a 1-mile, low-banked tri-oval race track located in Avondale, Arizona, near Phoenix. The motorsport track opened in 1964 and currently hosts two NASCAR race weekends annually including the final championship race since 2020. P ...

. At the Arizona track Hampton failed to finish. Hampton started three more USF2000 races with a best finish of tenth at

Watkins Glen International Watkins Glen International, nicknamed "The Glen", is an automobile race track located in the town of Dix just southwest of the village of Watkins Glen, New York, at the southern tip of Seneca Lake. It was long known around the world as the hom ...

. Ryan Hampton scored his first USF2000 win in 1997. At

Charlotte Motor Speedway Charlotte Motor Speedway (previously known as Lowe's Motor Speedway from 1999 to 2009) is a motorsport complex located in Concord, North Carolina, outside Charlotte. The complex features a quad oval track that hosts NASCAR racing including th ...

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

a fierce battle for the win occurred between Hampton and Matt Sielsky. Hampton made a decisive pass for the win in lap 26 out of 30. Despite missing the first two races of the season, Hampton ended up sixth in the season standings. For 1998 Hampton was a championship contender in USF2000. Hampton won three races, one at

and two at

. However a devastating final race weekend obliterated his championship hopes. In the first race Hampton suffered car troubles. In the second race Hampton was disqualified as there was a foreign substance discovered on the cars tires in post-race technical inspection. Hampton finished second in the standings. For 1999 Hampton raced a partial season in USF2000. At the end of the season Hampton, and

Larry Foyt Lawrence Joseph Roberds Foyt (born February 22, 1977) is an American former NASCAR and IndyCar driver. He is the biological grandson and adopted son of A. J. Foyt, and a biological cousin (and uncle by adoption) of A. J. Foyt IV. His biological ...

, attended the

Indy Racing League The IndyCar Series, currently known as the NTT IndyCar Series under sponsorship, is the highest class of regional North American open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars in the United States, which has been conducted under the auspices of ...

rookie test at

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 24° ...

. Hampton passed the rookie test in a

Dallara Dallara is an Italian race car manufacturer, founded by its current President, Gian Paolo Dallara. After working for Ferrari, Maserati, Lamborghini and De Tomaso, in 1972 in his native village of Varano de' Melegari (Parma), Italy he created "D ...

IR9, previously raced by

Billy Boat William Leonard Boat (born February 2, 1966) is an American former open-wheel driver who raced in the Indy Racing League. Racing career Boat began his career in USAC where he won 11 straight Western Series races on his way to the 1995 champion ...

Grand-Am

In 1998 Hampton made his debut in the

24 Hours of Daytona The 24 Hours of Daytona, also known as the Rolex 24 At Daytona for sponsorship reasons, is a 24-hour sports car endurance race held annually at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. It is run on the Sports Car Course layou ...

. Hampton joined Kryderacing which entered a

Nissan 240SX The Nissan 240SX is a sports compact car that was introduced to the North American market by Nissan in 1989 for the 1990 model year. It replaced the outgoing 200SX (S12) model. Most of the 240SXs were equipped with the 2.4-liter inline 4 engi ...

in the GT3 class. The car failed to finish due to a failed engine. The following year Hampton joined Pettit Racing in a

Mazda RX-7 The Mazda RX-7 is a front-engine, rear-wheel-drive, rotary engine-powered sports car that was manufactured and marketed by Mazda from 1978 until 2002 across three generations, all of which made use of a compact, lightweight Wankel rotary engine. ...

. The car finished in 30th place overall. For 2000 Hampton joined Archangel Motorsport Services for the full season in the

Rolex Sports Car Series The Rolex Sports Car Series was the premier series run by the Grand American Road Racing Association. It was a North American-based sports car series founded in 2000 under the name Grand American Road Racing Championship to replace the failed ...

SRPII class. Hampton, and teammate

Larry Oberto Larry is a masculine given name in English, derived from Lawrence or Laurence. It can be a shortened form of those names. Larry may refer to the following: People Arts and entertainment * Larry D. Alexander, American artist/writer *Larry Boone ...

, first raced a

Chevrolet Chevrolet ( ), colloquially referred to as Chevy and formally the Chevrolet Motor Division of General Motors Company, is an American automobile division of the American manufacturer General Motors (GM). Louis Chevrolet (1878–1941) and ous ...

powered Magnum SC205 the team switched to the popular

Lola B2K/40 The Lola B2K/40 was a Le Mans Prototype developed in 2000 by Lola Cars International as a cheaper, smaller, and lighter alternative to the similar Lola B2K/10. Although specifically designed to compete in the SR2 class of the Sports Racing Worl ...

. The team scored five class wins and Hampton and Oberto were crowned SRPII class champions. Winning the championship earned him a U.S. F2000 Hall of Fame nomination. The following year Hampton joined Team Spencer Motorsports, again in the SRPII class. Racing a

Kudzu Kudzu (; also called Japanese arrowroot or Chinese arrowroot) is a group of climbing, coiling, and trailing deciduous perennial vines native to much of East Asia, Southeast Asia, and some Pacific islands, but invasive species, invasive in many ...

Hampton was joined by Rich Grupp and

Barry Waddell Barry Waddell (born 21 October 1936, Western Australia) is one of Australia's best-known cyclists of the 1960s (he was a professional rider from 1963 to 1970). Waddell won a record 5 straight Herald Sun Tours from 1964 to 1968. Although best k ...

to score a class win at

. The Californian remained at Team Spencer Motorsports for 2002 again running a partial schedule.

Indy Lights

Willing to return to open wheel racing, Hampton founded Ryan Hampton Racing for the

. Hampton made his debut at

Michigan International Speedway Michigan International Speedway (MIS) is a moderate-banked D-shaped speedway located off U.S. Highway 12 on more than approximately south of the village of Brooklyn, in the scenic Irish Hills area of southeastern Michigan. The track is ...

finishing seventh. At

Gateway International Raceway World Wide Technology Raceway (formerly Gateway International Raceway and Gateway Motorsports Park) is a motorsport racing facility in Madison, Illinois, just east of St. Louis, Missouri, United States, close to the Gateway Arch. It features a o ...

the young driver won his first Indy Lights race. Hampton beat

Arie Luyendyk Jr. Arie Luyendyk Jr. (; ; born September 18, 1981) is a Dutch-American auto racing driver, television personality, and son of two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Arie Luyendyk. He has competed mostly in North America where his father lives and made ...

and Ed Carpenter. The California driver lead each lap of the 30 lap race. Hampton made a final appearance in the series in 2004. With sponsorship by Bush-Cheney '04 Hampton started tenth but crashed out of the race.

Drifting

In 2005 Hampton joined

Falken Tire Falken Tire is a brand of passenger car, light truck, and medium truck tires owned by the Japanese company Sumitomo Rubber Industries (SRI). It was launched in its native country of Japan in 1983, and was introduced to the North American market ...

for their second

Formula D Formula Drift (also known as Formula D) is a United States-based motorsport drifting series. Formula Drift, Inc. was co-founded by Jim Liaw and Ryan Sage in 2003 as a sister company to Slipstream Global Marketing, the same partnership that int ...

season. Besides Formula D, Hampton also competed in the Falken Tire 1969

Chevrolet Camaro The Chevrolet Camaro is a mid-size American automobile manufactured by Chevrolet, classified as a pony car. It first went on sale on September 29, 1966, for the 1967 model year and was designed to compete with the Ford Mustang. The Camaro share ...

in D1GP.

Personal

Hampton currently lives in

San Antonio, Texas ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , subdivision_t ...

. In his early career Hampton was an instructor at

Willow Springs International Motorsports Park Willow Springs International Motorsports Park (commonly referred to as Willow Springs) is located in Willow Springs near Rosamond, California, about north of Los Angeles. It is the oldest permanent road course in the United States. Construct ...

, Panoz Racing School and the

Bob Bondurant School of High Performance Driving The Bob Bondurant School of High Performance Driving was an American performance driving school, specializing in instruction for high performance driving, teen defensive driving, law enforcement and special forces driving, open wheel race car tr ...

. Hampton is currently employed by

Cooper Tire & Rubber Company Cooper Tire & Rubber Company is an American company that specializes in the design, manufacture, marketing, and sales of replacement automobile and truck tires, and has subsidiaries that specialize in medium truck, motorcycle, and racing tires. W ...

. The American racing driver is a

Citrus College Citrus College is a public community college in Glendora, California. The Citrus Community College District, which supports the institution, includes the communities of Azusa, Claremont, Duarte, Glendora and Monrovia. Founded in 1915 by educato ...

graduate.

Complete motorsports results

American Open-Wheel racing results

(

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 (map ...

) (Races in bold indicate pole position, races in ''italics'' indicate fastest race lap)

Complete USF2000 National Championship results

Indy Lights

Sports Car racing

Rolex Sports Car Series results

(

) (Races in bold indicate pole position, Results are overall/class)

American Le Mans Series results

(

) (Races in bold indicate pole position, Results are overall/class)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hampton, Ryan Living people 1974 births 24 Hours of Daytona drivers American Le Mans Series drivers Rolex Sports Car Series drivers Indy Lights drivers Racing drivers from California Citrus College people U.S. F2000 National Championship drivers Formula D drivers