Mike Ryan Motorsports

To describe Mike Ryan’s career with automobiles is to describe a passion for anything with wheels. From farm tractors to Mercedes, Ryan has driven, crashed or raced them all. After learning how to operate heavy equipment at a local nursery before he was old enough to drive, Ryan also enjoyed riding and repairing go-karts and motorcycles as a teenager. This early interest led him to a career with automobiles.

When Mike Ryan was 18, he began working at stuntman Ronnie Ross’s shop in Southern California, exchanging his time for stunt driving lessons from Ross. Within six months, Ryan performed his first paid stunt, though he says it took seven years before he was well established as a stunt driver.

Mike Ryan’s modified Cascadia Racing Truck

Thousands have seen his work in feature films such as Herbie Fully Loaded, After the Sunset, The Italian Job, Training Day, Swordfish and Terminator II. With over 500 feature films, television shows and commercials to his credit, Ryan is probably best known for his work with semi trucks, where he can often be seen crashing, burning and getting blown up on screens across the United States.

In 1997, Ryan hand-built a Mercedes Benz—powered Freightliner Century Class S/T Super Truck and started competing in the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, held annually near Colorado Springs, Colorado. The race is the second-oldest motorsports event in the United States after the Indianapolis 500. He set his sixth new record in 2006 with a time of 12:43.66.

In 2007, in conjunction with the launch of the Freightliner Cascadia, Mike constructed a new, more powerful, and better handling race truck based on the Cascadia platform. Powered by a 2000 HP Detroit engine, Mike’s Freightliner Cascadia race truck has won several class championships in a variety of hill climb events including the “Climb to the Clouds” hill climb up historic Mount Washington.

In addition, Mike is actively performing exhibition runs in Formula Drift events and has starred in a series of drift videos including “Size Matters” which has eclipsed one million views on YouTube.

Ryan’s unique experience that he’s gained in over more than 25 years of stunt driving and stunt coordination with semi-trucks and automobiles has led him into several ways to share his knowledge with others in an effort to educate people about semi-trucks and safety. Ryan frequently reconstructs accidents, often serving as an expert witness in cases involving traffic collisions. In 1998, he began speaking to drivers in truck fleets on safety and accident avoidance maneuvers for semi-truck drivers.

“Not many truckers have had the experience of sliding or crashing their semi trucks, and it’s easy to panic when placed in a dangerous situation. By sharing my experience, I hope to lend some insight to truckers that may help them avoid or survive a collision and make the highways a safer place for everyone,” said Ryan. Mike Ryan lives in Southern California with his wife, Maureen, and their eighteen-year old son, Kristofer.

The Freightliner Cascadia race truck displays at trade shows across the US including; “The Mid-America Trucking Show” in Louisville, KY, “The Great American Truck Show” in Dallas, SEMA show in Las Vegas, NV and “The Truck Show Latino” in Pomona, CA just to name a few.