Fred Ryland: Three Feature Wins in One Weekend

Fred Ryland: Three Feature Wins in One Weekend

Fred Ryland opened the season locally by winning three features in one weekend. The victories occurred at a duo of California tracks — in a sport mod on Friday at Ocean Speedway in Watsonville and Saturday in a sport mod and stock car at Antioch Speedway.

“Weekends like this are few and far between,” Ryland, 56, of Brentwood, California, said. “Winning every race in a weekend is about as good as it gets. It’s humbling, and absolutely a great feeling to offset all those bad weekends we had over the years.”

Ryland actually bent his sport mod’s chassis in Friday night’s feature. He and his crew — Clayton Davis, Janet McGreer, and Brian Zachary — spent most of the day Saturday preparing it for another night of racing.

“We have a strong work ethic, and we worked on the sport mod right up until it was time to head to the track — we got there at the last minute,” said Ryland.

Fred Ryland ranks 15th nationally in all-time IMCA sport mod wins, with 72. However, he keeps only a few trophies for himself. Typically, after victory lane ceremonies finish, he gives his trophy to a kid at the fence.

“I got a personal message from a dad on Friday night at Ocean Speedway,” Ryland said. “He thanked me for making his son’s first time at the races a special night. It is important for drivers to give racing a good reputation. I started giving my trophies away four years or five ago. As long as there is a victory lane on the infield or at the start-finish line, I can get my trophy into the hands of a kid. Today, I’m a celebrity to those kids. Hopefully, someday, some of them will be out here racing with me and kids will see them as their heroes.”

Tyler Myers holds a feature trophy given to him by feature winner Fred Ryland.
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