Ryan Hampton

Ryan Hampton
Nationality	American
Born	(1974-04-07)April 7, 1974 Duarte, California
Indy Lights
Years active	2002, 2004
Teams	Ryan Hampton Racing Brian Stewart Racing
Starts	6
Wins	1
Poles	1
Best finish	9th in 2002
Previous series
2002, 2004 2000-2002 1996-1999 1996 1994-1995 1992-1993	Indy Lights Rolex Sports Car Series USF2000 Formula Continental SCCA ITB Karting

Ryan Hampton (born 17 April 1974 in Duarte, California) is a former American Indy Lights 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.^[1] After racing touring cars in 1994 and 1995, Hampton made his openwheel debut in 1996. The racing driver from California competed a Van Diemen in the SCCA Formula Contintental class.^[2] The young driver also made his debut in the USF2000 in 1996. After failing to qualify at Walt Disney World Speedway his first start was at Phoenix International Raceway. At the Arizona track Hampton failed to finish. Hampton started three more USF2000 races with a best finish of tenth at Watkins Glen International.

Ryan Hampton scored his first USF2000 win in 1997. At Charlotte Motor Speedway, North Carolina 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.^[3] 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 Watkins Glen International and two at Charlotte Motor Speedway. 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.^[4] 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, attended the Indy Racing League rookie test at Texas Motor Speedway. Hampton passed the rookie test in a Dallara IR9, previously raced by Billy Boat.^[5]

Grand-Am

In 1998 Hampton made is debut in the 24 Hours of Daytona. Hampton joined Kryderacing which entered a Nissan 240SX in the GT3 class. The car failed to finish due to a failed engine. The following year Hampton joined Dan Pettit's Pettit Racing in a Mazda RX-8. The car finished in 30th place overall.

For 2000 Hampton joined Archangel Motorsport Services for the full season in the Rolex Sports Car Series SRPII class. Hampton, and teammate Larry Oberto, first raced a Chevrolet powered Magnum SC205 the team switched to the populair Lola B2K/40. The team scored five class wins and Hampton and Oberto were crowne SRPII class champions. Winning the championship earned him a U.S. F2000 Hall of Fame nomination.^[6] The following year Hampton joined Team Spencer Motorsports, again in the SRPII class. Racing a Kudzu Hampton was joined by Rich Grupp and Barry Waddell to score a class win at Watkins Glen International. The Californian remained at Team Spencer Motorsports for 2002 again running a partial schedule.^[7]

Indy Lights

Willing to return to open wheel racing, Hampton founded Ryan Hampton Racing for the Indy Lights. Hampton made his debut at Michigan International Speedway finishing seventh.^[8] At Gateway International Raceway the young driver won his first Indy Lights race. Hampton beat Arie Luyendyk Jr. and Ed Carpenter. The California driver lead each lap of the 30 lap race.^[9] 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 for their second Formula D season. Besides Formula D, Hampton als competed the Falken Tire 1969 Chevrolet Camaro in D1GP.

Personal

Hampton currently lives in San Antonio, Texas. In his early career Hampton was an instructor at Willow Springs International Motorsports Park, Panoz Racing School and the Bob Bondurant School of High Performance Driving. Hampton is currently employed by Cooper Tire & Rubber Company. The American racing driver is a Citrus College graduate.^[10]

Complete motorsports results

American Open-Wheel racing results

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

Complete USF2000 National Championship results

Year	Entrant	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	Pos	Points
1996		WDW DNQ	STP	PIR	DSC1 51	MOS	IRP	RIR	WGI1 10	WGI2 28	MID 18	NHS	LVS DNQ			N.C.	N.C.
1997	Archangel Motorsport Services	WDW	STP	PIR 15	DSC1 5	DSC2 3	SAV 10	PPI 16	CHA1 1	CHA2 2	MID 9	WGI 34	WGI 28			6th	133
1998	Tatuus	WDW 11	PIR 4	HMS1 2	HMS2 3	WGI 4	WGI 1	MID1 5	MIN 2	CHA1 1	CHA2 1	MID2 36	ATL 7	PPI1 28	PPI2 DSQ	2nd	275
1999	Archangel Motorsport Services	PIR 12	CHA1 32	CHA2 30	MOS	MOS	MID	ATL	ROA1	ROA2	CTR	MID	PPI 18	SEB1	SEB2	30th	10

Indy Lights

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Rank	Points
2002	Ryan Hampton Racing	KAN	NSH	MIS 7	KTY 12	STL 1	CHI 14	TXS 3						9th	147
2004	Brian Stewart Racing	HMS	PHX	INDY	KAN	NSH	MIL	MIS	KTY	PPIR	CHI	FON	TXS 14	27th	16

Sports Car racing

Rolex Sports Car Series results

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

American Le Mans Series results

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

References