Thu, 20 Jul 2006, 09:27 PM At 17 He's King Of The Mountain

By Bob Frey Photo copyright 2006 Auto Imagery, Inc.

Ryan McClanahan

Anyone who has ever raced at Bandimere Speedway will tell you that it is a real experience and a definite challenge. The altitude alone makes it one of the toughest race tracks for any racer in any class, and it's especially rough on drivers who come there from out of the area. Over the course of the years many drivers have come to challenge the mountain and many have left frustrated, confused and vowing never to return. But, for some strange reason, they always seem to come back, determined that this special piece of asphalt will not get the best of them, and determined to conquer the mountain. There is one racer, though, who loves coming here and that's Ryan McClanahan, the Stock Eliminator champion from this year's Mopar Mile-High Nationals. "I came here six years ago and won the Jr. Dragster national championship," Ryan said after the race. "Ever since then it's been one of my favorite tracks. I had to come back."

McClanahan in his Stocker.

Like so many other young racers today Ryan did, indeed, begin his career in the popular Jr. Dragster ranks and he said that the years of racing in that class prepared him for his step up to the big cars. "I started going to the races with my dad when I was five years old so I've been around it for a while." He also said that his dad used to have a practice tree around the house that Ryan would use and by the time he got his first Jr. Dragster he was ready for the competition. "I was pretty familiar with the tree and the starting line stuff so I think I had a head start on some of the kids." He also says that years of racing the Jr. car helped prepare him for racing in Stock and Super Stock Eliminator. "It really taught me all about 'wheel-racing' and how to race the finish line. Yeah, the Jr. Dragster experience really helped get me ready for this car." The car that he spoke of is a 2002 Pontiac with a 346 cubic inch engine, and like many of the cars in Stock Eliminator these days it is fuel-injected. "These things are really tough to tune, especially up here," he said referring to the high altitude Denver track. "We're really good at carburetors but this fuel-injected stuff is really different. It took us a couple months just to figure it out." Well, apparently, they have it figured out now. Ryan said they picked the car up last year on Father's Day and then he went out and won the Division 6 race in Seattle, beating Donnie Elgin in the finals. Toss in a final round at the Phoenix divisional race last year in Super Stock and you have a young man who already had accomplished quite a lot in the sport.

At seventeen years old, and with a national event win already to his credit, you would think that Ryan would be planning on making drag racing his career, but that's not the way he sees it. "I'd like to finish my schooling and then maybe think about starting my own business," he said. That's quite a statement for a seventeen year old and it shows a maturity beyond his years. "This is only a dream right now and you don't know how long it can go on," he said referring to his early drag racing success. "I'd like to work and then own my own car and then maybe I could think about doing this full time." In the meantime he intends to finish his senior year of high school and then explore all of his options, one of which could be working with his dad. "Dad runs a tire recycling business and he's had it since he was eighteen. They pick up tires from all over and then shred them and sell them to a wide variety of businesses." While working for his dad is an option Ryan says that he would really like to open his own shop. "I have a lot of things to get situated but when I finish school I'll look at all the options."

McClanahan in his Super Stocker

Ryan lives in Alta Loma, California, and while racing in Denver it was just Ryan and his dad, Brian, and they make a pretty good team. "Dad does all the tuning and I pick the number (the index that they will run) and just drive it and I guess it worked out." I guess it did. Of course a lot of this could be genetic since Ryan's grandfather, Jerry, was a three-time NHRA World Champion in Stock Eliminator. "He did well, and dad did OK. Maybe the racing gene skipped a generation," he said with a grin. Nice, Ryan, and you may want to re-think that this weekend when your dad gets to tune your car again. "We'll run in Seattle and then dad will race in Sonoma and we plan on running the Division 7 race at Sonoma, too. And then we'll probably go to Las Vegas for the national and the divisional race and Pomona to finish the season. Along the way they should debut the new-look camouflage car. "Ryan came out with one of the first camo-cars a few years ago and all of his Jr. cars had that camouflaged look. We should have the new car, a Chevrolet Cobalt, ready for the Sonoma race. It looks great and it's got the 'Private Ryan' name on it. It should be a lot of fun."

Even though he has already won a national event, Ryan speaks very fondly of his days in the Jr. Dragster class and of his success on the mountain. "It was a lot of fun when we came here. I raced my best friend, Austin Frye, in the finals. It couldn't have worked out any better." And while he is competing on the national event level he says that Austin and a lot of the other former Jr. drivers have gone a different route. "A lot of them are racing but they've gone different ways. Austin is running a junior fuel car on the Good Guys circuit and a couple of the other kids are over there, too, but this is where I want to be." Ryan added that, in a perfect world, he would like to race in Competition Eliminator or, eventually, in Pro Stock. If he does make that jump the competitors better beware, because this in one seventeen year old who seems to succeed at anything he tries, whether it's on the mountain or at sea level. And whether you call him "Private Ryan" or "Flyin' Ryan," you will call him a winner.

Ryan would like to thank his family, his mom and dad, Phil Mandella and John Julius Engines for their help and support.