Ryan Matthews

"She's gone. That's all I can say."

- Ryan Matthews, breaking the news of his wife's death on his Twitter feed

Ryan Thomas Matthews (born March 22, 1976 in Hartford, CT) is an American race car driver currently competing full-time in the FARC Elite Series for his own team, Matthews Motorsports, in the car his late wife Tiffany drove in 2012.

He is also contesting the Independent's Trophy in the TM Master Cup Series, driving the No. 06 Tilted Kilt Matthews Aspira.

Pre-stock car career
"They should be worried more about beating me than how I got here."

- Ryan Matthews, on being nicknamed "Lotto" early in his career

Matthews began his racing career relatively late in life, at age 25. He entered his first race in the Stafford Motor Speedway's late model division and finished third – in a car he rented at the track. He took the winnings from that race and signed a season-long lease for that same car. He would place second in the 2001 season's final points standings. But during the 2001 off-season, he literally hit the lottery: he won the Connecticut Lotto, claiming $10 million in the process. Flush with cash, he arranged to purchase the car he previously rented and formed Matthews Motorsports. Once the 2002 season started, Matthews picked up right where he left off, finishing in the top-5 four straight races. In an effort to get him off his game, the other drivers started calling Matthews "Lotto". It didn't faze him at first, but when he went on to win the track championship, a lot of the ribbing ended.

Matthews announced he would join the Can-Am Series in 2003. After deciding the best way to prepare for the rigors of a regional tour was to upgrade his equipment, Matthews initially approached Saar: his family had always owned Saar street cars; he even drove a Saar Carolina to the track. But when the manufacturer came back with a quote that was well higher than what he expected, he solicited a bid from Lenard. Lenard's offer was more in line with what he wanted to spend, and so he signed with them. In his first season in the Can-Am Series, he routinely finished mid-pack – but consistently was selected for post-race tech inspection. Convinced that someone in the Saar camp was carrying a grudge and making false cheating allegations (though no evidence of it ever was found), he swore that he would never again support Saar (or its subsidiaries), and, in the 2003 off-season, he signed a six-year extension with Lenard that covered through the 2010 season. (He also traded in the Carolina for a Lenard Q9.)

2004 started the way 2003 ended: with routine mid-pack finishes. The saving grace: the constant calls to the tech line ended, leading most of those who followed the series to believe it was just a form of rookie hazing. Matthews would improve steadily through the 2004 season, and at one point in the season posted three wins over a six-race stretch. He finished third in the final points standings. Matthews dropped off slightly in 2005, but it was during this season that he met the 19-year-old Canadian who would become his teammate and his future wife: Tiffany Rogers. Matthews would win the Can-Am Series championship in 2006, and again in 2009. By 2010, Matthews had decided the time was right for himself and his team to make the move from late models to stock cars.



Vaughn Stock Car Championship
Matthews, along with his race team, made his stock car debut in 2011, at the VSCC season-opener at the Daytona International Speedway. He was seeded in the second qualifying race held, finishing 11th, just making the cutoff to transfer to the main race.

Matthews kept his Juneau out of trouble in the main race for the most part, though he did receive minimal damage from an incident on Lap 39. Matthews barely got through the second caution on lap 43, when two of the lead cars ran out of gas on the restart. Given a clean bill of health on the subsequent pit stop, he was told, "Go get 'em." With spouse and teammate Tiffany cheering him on, he promptly obliged, working his way to third place with 11 laps to go. He got as far as second with two laps to go, but couldn't get past eventual winner Brandon Burns, finishing 0.09 seconds back.

Matthews also made the race at Karjala, starting fifteenth, but, in a recurrence of what he called his "Karjala luck" (see below), he got caught in an incident not of his own doing and finished 23rd. He had little to say about the race afterwards.

In Matthews' final VSCC start at Clairmont, he started 26th in the first qualifying race, but worked his way up to 15th at the halfway point in spite of spinning off the track in the first set of turns. He finished 13th, which was good enough for him advance to one of the main races – meaning he made all three races that he attempted to qualify for. The race was subsequently cancelled when the VSCC folded prior to the event.

2011
Matthews attempted to qualify for the 35th Karjala Grand Prix, but after a poor pole qualifying effort, he found himself having to race his way in. Placed in the second qualifier, he got well-acquainted with the sand traps in the Dwyer S and finished three laps off the pace in 28th place – well out of being anywhere near a transfer position.

His second attempt to make his Master Cup debut came at the season-ending Round of Decatur. Again, like Karjala, Matthews qualified poorly and had to race his way into the field. He started tenth in the first pre-qualifying race and came home sixth, advancing to a main qualifying race for the first time in his (short) Cup career. Matthews started 31st in that race, but failed to advance much past there and finished in 32nd place. Fortunately for him, that was the final transfer position – meaning he would make his Cup debut in the final race of the season.

Matthews ended up starting 19th on the grid for the main event – interestingly, alongside two-time Master Cup champion Alexis Rainsford. He managed to keep his car out of trouble, and ran for a while inside the top 20 before settling back into 23rd, where he ended up finishing.

2012
Matthews made his debut as a full-time driver at the 2012 Round of Las Vegas. He qualified poorly, rolling off 27th of 36 drivers. However, the engine on his Gasnier expired around the halfway point, ending his day on a disappointing note. Matthews would fare little better at Road Atlanta, though he would complete all the laps this time. At Carbondale, Matthews qualified tenth and hopes were high that he would finally crack the points. However, a faulty tire put him behind the 8-ball early on, but managed to hang onto the tail end of the lead lap. A Lap 66 incident involving himself, Dale Roswell, and Daniel Leckliter put to rest any ideas of breaking into the points table. Matthews, in his post-race comments, called it "one St. Patrick's Day weekend I'd like to forget."

With a number of quality cars involved in shenanigans and either off the track or out of the race, the potential was there for Matthews to finally end his pointless string at Brands Hatch. A camshaft failure put that idea to bed, and again, he left a TM Master Cup race with no points. But for the Round of France, Matthews had good reason to be optimistic. Despite rumors that he would be replaced by Jacques Bouvier for France that didn't materialize, Matthews managed to keep his Gasnier out of trouble and pointed in the right direction. He was rewarded with his best career finish to date: 12th, behind – ironically – Bouvier.

Matthews took the green in Sweden with a massive hill to climb, starting 32nd of 36 cars. Undeterred, Matthews finished in 16th to notch his second consecutive points-paying finish after an 0-for-four start. Coming into Karjala week, Matthews was hoping for better results than his first two visits to the track – both ending in failure. Unfortunately for him, his bad luck at the fabled Karjala Raceway continued, as he finished 22nd in his qualifying race and failed to advance out of pre-qualifying for the second consecutive year. Matthews returned to the track in Russia and picked up where he left off with a solid top-10 qualifying effort (eighth, his best of his career). He managed to hang around the top 10 most of the race, before dropping down to 12th on the last set of pit stops. Matthews wrapped up the European stretch of the season at Wales, where, despite qualifying poorly, he managed to bring his Gasnier home in 18th place – good for yet another points-paying finish. At Ohio, Matthews returned to his element – short-track racing. Starting in the 11th spot, Matthews floated in and out of the top 10 for most of the race, but was running 16th at the halfway point. But with a little work and a fortuitous caution, he rallied to score the first Top 10 finish of his career.

Matthews had plans for the Round of Quincy: he wanted to improve on his finish from Ohio. But to do that, he'd have to come from way down in the running order, as he started outside the top 20. He had made his way up through the field, at one point running second behind Tom Moore. As the laps wound down, he found himself running third, and in prime position to score his first career podium. It was not to be, however, as with nine laps to go Luciano Soveral, who was considerably faster than Matthews, punted him into the pit lane, bringing out the final caution of the race. After the race, Matthews was understandably livid at the Brazilian.

"I am so mad I could spit nails," he said in an emotional post-race interview. "Nine laps from a podium and that happens. I knew Soveral was faster on that last run, but come on. You want to get by me? Race me clean. Don't punt me like that. I've been around too long to know you don't do something like that late in the race."

Matthews did manage to take home the final available point, but to add insult to injury, he was penalized for an early-race incident with Anthony Griffith and was sent to the rear of the field for the Round of Wisconsin. Matthews could only complete nine laps there before retiring with an engine failure. "I could tell something was wrong with the car after I left the pits," he said. "The engine wasn't right. And then the next lap it just let go. I think I'm going to find Tom (Delgado) and have a few drinks with him. This is a weekend I don't want to remember."

The Round of Indianapolis was Matthews' first trip to the fabled race track, for both himself and his own race team, as Matthews Motorsports would also attempt to make its first Master Cup appearance of the season. But after pole qualifying was over, neither he nor his team made it into the top 10. Pre-qualifying saw the return of engine woes, as Matthews' Gasnier dropped a header six laps into the second race. "I don't get it," he said. "That's the second straight race with a failure for us. The engineers need to get their acts together, because we can't keep this up. I really want to keep driving in this series, and this kind of stuff doesn't do us much good. Oh well, I guess I'll see you at Calder Park."

Matthews didn't qualify all that well for the 2012 Round of Victoria, starting 20th on the grid. His hopes for a decent finish, were dashed on Lap 51, as he had another run-in with old friend Soveral. Matthews made slight contact with Soveral coming out of Turn 2, as he was on fresher tires than Soveral. Soveral took umbrage with Matthews and it appeared he gave Matthews a bump entering Turn 3, causing him to spin out and collect he, Soveral, and innocent victim Scott Bates.

Queensland proved to be no better for Matthews, as he ran mostly near the back all race long – though he managed to keep out of Soveral's way.

"This isn't how I wanted to end my rookie season, clearly. Especially since I'm obviously a free agent at the end of the year," he said, referring to the buyout of Majestic Motorsports by French fashion house Lynxe. "I've got to press on, but I'd be lying if I said I had any prospects. Hopefully someone needing a driver will give me a call."

The Round of Brazil, a race Matthews called "my last good shot," got off to a poor start, as he qualified well down the grid. But thanks to a number of cautions, his team was able to get the car right and he rallied to come home in 16th. He also finished 16th at New York, but he was not happy with the effort – considering only 21 cars were on the grid for the event. "I sucked, pure and simple," he said. "I've been junk on road courses this season, and this is just the latest example."

British Columbia was further proof of Matthews' lack of prowess on road courses, as he again finished in the lower half of the top 20, and he became more and more resigned to not getting a full-time deal in 2013. But he wasn't going to take Decatur lightly. "If I'm going to race my way out of the series I can't think of a better way to do it," he said. "I said I'm probably going to end my Cup career where it started, and it's looking more like that's going to be the case. But don't think I'm going to lay down, either. If I'm going out, I'm going out swinging."

Decatur was Matthews' swan song as a full-time driver, as he missed transferring out of the main qualifying race by 1.3 seconds. He failed to make each of the special event races.

2013
Matthews, left out of the full-time seat sweepstakes, will contend for the Independent's Trophy in 2013 for his own team, driving the No. 61 Principal Financial Group Aspira. He is focusing on his area of expertise, the oval tracks, though he will also attempt to make the special event races as well.

2011
Matthews was the relief driver for Tiffany's entry in the 2011 150 Laps of Dwyer. He kept her No. 85 Cromwell out of harm's way and helped bring her car home in a respectable 8th place.

2012
Matthews made his ARLA debut at the 2012 Carbondale Duels, marking the first time in 2012 that he and Tiffany would race in the same event. Unfortunately, he would be caught in a Lap 1 incident caused – ironically – by an engine failure on Tiffany's car. Bigsby Foote rear-ended Matthews as the cars accordioned behind the crippled No. 116 car, sending his No. 106 I.W. Eagle Lenard tail-first into the wall. He continued on in the race, but his own engine would give out on Lap 32. "That wasn't how we drew it up, obviously," he said. "The engine shop is going to have a lot to answer for. I mean, heck, we go two full races with no problems and then we can't have an engine go 500 feet? Well, the good news is we weren't the only ones with issues. It just stinks for everybody."

Matthews returned to action at the Smash Beer 400 at Lone Star Supercell, where he redeemed himself from his Carbondale performance by working his way through the field and finished fourth – his first career top-five finish in the Elite Series.

At Iowa, Matthews ran pretty anonymously, but kept his car out of trouble and came home in 12th.

His final part-time effort was at the New York Autoring, Matthews Motorsports' de facto home track. Unfortunately Matthews did not perform well, losing the engine on Lap 29. He remained upbeat, though.

"We had an R&D engine in the 106, just trying some new things, you know, see what works, what doesn't," he said. "Apparently what we did didn't work. Now we're off to Rockford."

Matthews' attempt to make the Rockford 200 did not go well, as he got into former Rockford 200 winner Rush McCloud, shoving McCloud into Earl McDermott and sending McDermott for a spin on the backstretch. Matthews apologized to McCloud after the race.

2013
Matthews will run full-time in the Elite Series in 2013, taking over the car his late wife drove to a ninth-place points finish in 2012. He made his full-time ARLA debut at the 2013 Smash Beer 200, where he got caught in a Lap 27 incident and failed to finish the race.

Dash Cup
Matthews attempted to qualify for the 2013 season-opening Eurospeedway GP. His Lenard was to have carried sponsorship from the Canadian credit union group Desjardins, which sponsored Tiffany in her Spa GP effort in 2012. As a result of her death at the Hanmore World Championships, Matthews' No. 46 Lenard instead carried a simple black paint scheme. He spun early on in his qualifying race, but recovered to finish seventh and advance to the main race. He started 18th in the race, and just missed a Top 10 finish, coming home 11th.

Matthews' second Dash Cup attempt came at the 2013 Spa GP, where he debuted the series-specific version of his team's privateer chassis, the Matthews Aspira DC. After finishing fourth in his qualifying race, Matthews did well in the main event, finishing 11th.

His final Dash Cup start of 2013 came at the Championship Night event at the New York Autoring, where he finished sixth.

Trivia

 * Was married to wife Tiffany from 2007 to her death in 2012. Since her passing, Matthews has never referred to Tiffany by name, only using the words "she" and "her" when referring to her.
 * Has admitted to having an unhealthy addition to the video game Angry Birds. He has been known to play it on his iPad in between on-track sessions.
 * Has become good friends with Packer Carroll and Joe Olenick.

"Karjala luck"
Matthews' struggles at the famed Karjala Raceway during the 2011 season, in which he failed to qualify for the 2011 Karjala Grand Prix and crashed out of the VSCC race held there, prompted him to refer to his ineptitude at the track as his "Karjala luck". While he did finish his qualifying race in 2012, he was nowhere near transferring out of pre-qualifying, therefore missing the race for the second consecutive season. He has yet to get out of the pre-qualifying round at the Grand Prix.