By Sarah Handy, Staff Writer
Sarah Handy spoke to NASCAR driver and Go Fas Racing PR, Ryan Ellis during All Star Weekend from Charlotte Motor Speedway last month. Here is what Ellis had to say about getting back behind the wheel this season, working for a smaller team, Hockey and more.
You’re going to be back behind the wheel for two Xfinity races, Iowa and Road America. How excited are you for the opportunity again.
Ellis: I’m really excited. It’s weird because I use to run 20, 30 races a year, I was excited and it’s not that I ever took it for granted but I definitely wasn’t this excited. I used to just look at it as another week. I think yesterday was a month out and I’m already counting down the days for that. I’m definitely a lot more excited than I use to be, just relishing in the moment. You never know the last time you’re going to drive a race car. Every time I get out now, especially doing this job, I never know if I’m getting back in, so I just soak it all up and take it all in before I get out.
It’s actually off weekends for Cup, that’s how it worked out?
Ellis: Yeah, (laughs) it’s a tough schedule.
If you had another opportunity arise to do this again, would you take it? Obviously, it would have to work around the Cup schedule.
Ellis: Yeah, absolutely. I’ve looked at the Cup schedule and I think there’s only two other races I might be able to run. The Bristol truck race, I think, doesn’t conflict and Eldora. I haven’t asked about those two.
Eldora would be pretty cool.
Ellis: Yes, it would be. I’d have to ask for a Wednesday off but that’d be a lot easier than a weekend off. I know every driver gets offered opportunities, I’ve had to turn down a lot. Not necessarily great opportunities, but probably 10 to 15 races a year I could do, without having to find a sponsor. I just couldn’t do it, I’ve asked a few times and it’s hard to get permission from Go Fas Racing to get a weekend off, it’s a small team but believe me if I could run any day for sure I would.
You know yourself all about racing for the underfunded teams, but you manage to make the most of any opportunity you’re given. Would you change anything if you could or do you think it’s helped shape you and your career to where you are now?
Ellis: I think it’s similar to Matt (DiBenedetto). It was a lot of fun working with him, not that it isn’t with Corey. I was just really close with Matt. I think we both see it the same way where obviously he got to run those Gibbs races. I never had an opportunity like that, but I think it makes you appreciate it and if you ever get that shot, which I don’t know if it’ll ever happen for me.
I don’t necessarily look at it as a career path anymore. I look at it as I really want to go out and win a race. I don’t know if it’ll lead to anything even if I won 10 races in a year. I think it makes me appreciate the whole sport differently and now that I’m on this side I have so much respect for the guys that work for the small teams. Obviously, I’ve driven for the small teams, these guys work their butts and I know the guys on the big teams do too but there’s 10-15 people at Go Fas. When we right side a car it’s a long week for us.
A top-10 at Road America wouldn’t be impossible? You did finish 17th there last season.
Ellis: Yeah, I think if it rains, I’d be disappointed with anything outside of a top-10. Speaking with B.J. McLeod, I think we have a better car then last year, we have a full pit crew which we haven’t had in the past since we have a little bit more funding. I think in the dry my goal is a top-15. I screwed a top-15 last year with 2 to go and a top 7 or 8 if it rains because I think we can really finish up there.
Every time at Mid-Ohio or Road America when it rains, we move up quickly. Top-20 at Iowa would be a good day, but I haven’t run there in something like four years, so I don’t know what to expect there.
That was actually my next question, you ran there (Iowa) in 2014 and 2015 and you had an ignition issue in one race and an electrical issue in the other race. You get another opportunity there now.
Ellis: No full race opportunities then unfortunately. I think I learned a lot in those two races. I look at those start and parks a little bit differently to try and learn the tracks and gain experience for the future. It’ll be a little different this year, I think B.J. has a top-10 there with one of his cars in the past. I know a top-20 is attainable but it just depends how the field is and how we’re running that weekend.
I know with a smaller team this is one of those out of the ballpark questions, but if Go Fas came to you tomorrow and said “Ryan, we found sponsorship, we’re going to run a second car and we want to put you in the car.” What do you think you’d say?
Ellis: I’d be like yeah! In all seriousness we’ve actually had that talk a few times.
About going to two cars.
Ellis: Yeah, about killing Matt off, or killing Corey off (laughs).
I thought Matt was going to break his arm a few years ago, we we’re driving on a golf cart and he had his backpack hung up on a post as we were driving about 20 miles an hour and about ripped his arm off about an hour before the race. I thought that was pretty close just have to go a little bit faster next time, I might be driving.
Archie, Mason and I talked a little bit about running a second road car at a road course. It didn’t really go too far because it all came down to sponsorship obviously. If the sponsorship was there, I know they would do it. It’s about making the money work. I know if I found the money, they’d probably place it with Corey, so it would have to be something where somebody would come and say I want to run two cars this weekend. We were almost in that spot and I was really looking forward to it but I hope it works because I think they see me as a PR person and strictly that, but I’d like to prove I have a lot of experience on the other side as well.
I was going to say; you’ve never run the full schedule would you like too? You seem happy with what you’re doing.
Ellis: Yeah, I would not hesitate to run the full schedule. Obviously, I’m doing 38 weeks in a row on the year this year, maybe 39 or 40 when you count the All-Star and Daytona. Travel doesn’t add up too much, but it would be really cool to be on the other side of it.
There’s a few tracks I’ve never raced, and I think the experience you gain from running the full schedule, and that’s everyone’s dream. I was talking to Cody Ware about that yesterday is just to run full time in Xfinity, Truck, Cup it would be really exciting. I hope one day it happens, I’m not sure if it’s in the plans but I hope it is.
You’ve seen the driver’s aspect of the smaller teams, and the PR side. What would you say is the biggest misconception that the fans have of the smaller teams?
Ellis: That’s a good question. I don’t know that they truly see the difference in budget. They’re like okay, that’s a few million dollars but we’re on about a 4, 5, 6-million-dollar budget and a lot of those big teams are on 20, 25 million and that’s everything. That’s people, that’s cars, that’s our shop. Our shop is tiny, anything we go to get approved we’re just taking off one car and putting it on the other and they don’t see all the engineering. We have one engineer on our team. It’s tough, it’s tough on travel, it’s tough on family and not seeing a lot of people too often because you don’t get weekends off.
You’re fighting for every inch so a top-20 for us really is a win. We don’t get those very often but guys like Corey and Matt have done a great job for Go Fas. I wish they (the fans) got to come by our shop and then swing by Penske within’ an hour. They’d be like oh my god, I don’t know how you guys even run the same racetrack. It’s unbelievable.
You see a lot of things posted social media, and of course people always have something to say but they’ll be like “Oh, just run better.”
Ellis: Yeah, or just get more money or why don’t you just spend more money. These team owners are people they can’t just go 15 million dollars or 20 million dollars in debt just because they want to run better one year. How are they going to answer that, they’re people. They’re not some massive organization running some of these teams.
Even with the sponsors who have returned for a smaller team that has to be big. For example, Old Spice at the beginning of the year.
Ellis: Oh yeah, that was huge for us. It’s crazy to think for us, I think if we could get 4 million dollars more in budget and we still wouldn’t touch the car in front of us in budget. They’re on 8, 10 million dollars, so in order for us to really make that next jump it’s an 8 to 10-million-dollar budget upgrade just alone. For us to go ask for a 10-million-dollar sponsorship that’s not an easy ask. It’s not like it’s another 500 or 200,000 dollars there. You need 8 to 10 million to really make that next move.
My last two questions have to do with Hockey.
Ellis: Oh, there we go!
Washington Capitals, correct?
Ellis: Yep, unfortunately.
I’m a Bruins fans
Ellis: I was rooting for the Bruins last night.
Now you had a racing helmet, (that was Washington Capitals themed) do you still have it?
Ellis: Yep, I might be wearing it this year. I might have a sponsor helmet, but yeah, I play hockey every Monday in a little beer league down here and try to go out more than that. Hockey is my side passion. I look at racing, I’m so passionate about it and it’s definitely my first love. If I could choose either or, obviously I wasn’t good enough to play in the NHL. I would definitely rather be in racing, but I think NHL is my getaway from this. I get way too passionate; I need to stay off Twitter next year.
I feel like you and Michael Annett are probably two of the biggest involved in NASCAR that like Hockey.
Ellis: We were supposed to play in a tournament together at Michigan Speedway in January, but it fell through because it was too warm. He was in the USHL, he was really good. I just played college and so did our team manager he played college goalie as well.
Say the Washington Capitals were like “Hey Ryan, we want to be on your race car.” I don’t know how a Hockey team sponsoring in NASCAR would work though.
Ellis: I’ve tried, a lot. Ironically, I actually had a Washington Capitals sponsored race car back in 2011, I believe in the Volkswagen TDI Cup Series. We won two races with it, the first two races of the year. That was just a deal with Volkswagen and the Capitals organization since they’re based out that way. Ironically, I just got assigned to that car and obviously it was like a dream come true.
Out of 25, 30 people I got assigned that car, but I won two races and then they took that car away from me, so I got to enjoy it and got to put the Capitals car in victory lane. I’ve asked didn’t get very far along the lines but hopefully they’ll do it one day. I think I’m way too critical of them to ever sponsor me because I hate them as much as I love them. They probably won’t pull that plug. You can’t hate a sponsor.
Ellis’s will run two races in the No. 99 for B.J. McLeod Motorsports this season in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. Ellis will be back behind the wheel beginning this weekend in the CircuitCity.com 250 at Iowa Speedway and in August when the series heads to Road America.
Ellis took to his Twitter account at the beginning of June to show everyone what his No. 99 Wes Cook Band Toyota Supra will look like for those two races.
Excited to show you guys the @wescookband @TeamBJMcLeod No.99 I’ll be running at @iowaspeedway and @roadamerica this year!
— Ryan Ellis (@ryanellisracing) June 3, 2019
Grateful to have them, @ENLISTEDNINE, @AVSpecialists_, @pitstopsforhope and many others on board for these two races! First race, next week! 🏁 pic.twitter.com/L8qG7cDiv3
It was also announced yesterday that thirty-thirty Coffee Company would sponsor Ellis for both Iowa and Road America as well.