Ryan Simmons Moves to Modified for the 2023 Season in the McClinton Motorsports # 5

For the second season in a row Ryan Simmons exceeded his expectations with a career best STSS and New Egypt points standings finish as well as three wins, but the best part of his 2022 season was saved for last when Ryan saw childhood dream come true in early December when he secured his first modified ride for the 2023 season in the McClinton Motorsports IHOP Chambers Overhead Doors # 5 modified.

The McClinton Motorsports driver seat became open when Ryan Conrad left to pursue other driving opportunities. Within a couple of the weeks Ryan Simmons was selected as the new driver of the IHOP Chambers Overhead Doors # 5 modified for the 2023 season.

Michael McClinton noted “We met John and Ryan Simmons for dinner one night and quickly figured out we were all on the same page.  All of us just want to win and give it our best shot.  I was really pleased to get Ryan as our new driver along with his father John as our new crew chief.  I really see this as a win-win situation for all of us since we are combining all our years of on track experience at New Egypt Speedway and beyond.  Ryan is a racer who loves racing and along with his dad will be maintaining the car in their shop with some help from one of my crew guys.”

“We are going to be busy this year at McClinton Motorsports as we are expanding to a two car team with my wife racing for the first time in Crate Rookies in our 2016 Teo.  We are upgrading our primary modified to a 2020 Bicknell for the 2023 season and keeping last year’s 2016 Bicknell as a backup car for Ryan.  We’ll have three spec 358 freshened and ready to go.  Ryan will also continue to pursue the STSS 602 Crate South region points championship with his family owned # 20.”

Michael reflected “Last year we had 3 heat wins and two near feature wins with Ryan Conrad leading two features only to have both wins get away due to freeze plug failure with 6 laps to go and then a tech issue with a new part.  Nonetheless, I feel we compiled some good notes to have a good baseline for Ryan and his dad to work with in 2023.” 

“I would like to thank each of the sponsors for their continued support of McClinton Motor Sports:

IHOP – Chun Enterprises

Chambers Overhead Doors

Graphics by Lenny

APS Powder Coating

Country Beat magazine

Ryan’s Elegant Exteriors LLC

Ryan Simmons comes off a solid 2022 with three wins at New Egypt Speedway on the season and two 2^nd place finishes in NES points standings behind Joe Toth and a 7^th place finish in the STSS South points standings.

Ryan reflected “This year was an up and down year for us.  Most of the year was very good for us with a lot of podium finishes but in the middle of the year we got caught up in a couple of wrong place wrong time wrecks and had a couple of rears break that set us back a bit.  We picked up three wins at NES and honestly think we gave a few away.  We were leading Legends of the Fall at NES in October and cut a right rear with only a handful of laps left.  We ended up 2nd in NES points, 2nd in the High Gear Select Series points and 7th in both Georgetown and STSS South points after missing a race for both because of the tire shortage.

“ We were able to run the Belmont’s Garage 14 for a few shows this year after suffering heavy damage at NES a week before championship night.  We were having issues with our second car and Andy Belmont and Joe Toth were gracious enough to let me run a few shows while we fixed our issues and swapped our car over to coils for the end of year shows.  It was awesome to run Andy’s car and I would love to run a few shows in one of his cars again this year.  Despite Joe and I being in direct competition for both NES point championships, we really became like teammates.   I felt like we both competed for wins every week at NES, I would win, and he would be second, then he would win, and I would be second.  It was very cool bouncing set up ideas off one another and talking about what we think track conditions would do.  We raced each other clean and hard every week.”

“Our plan for next year is to go back to running the full STSS South tour with our crate as well as NES full time and Bridgeport as much as possible with the modified.  We also are going to plan a trip up north to Fonda and Utica Rome once or twice next year. Depending on what Georgetown does with their schedule next year, we would also like to be there as much as possible with either the modified or crate.”

Ryan continued “When I was a kid, I used to play with toy cars below the grandstands pretending I was a modified driver racing against the guys that I watched growing up and now Mike has given me an opportunity to live the dream and be one of those modified drivers.  I’m very excited to finally be able to have the opportunity to run modified for Mike McClinton.  I would like to especially thank Mike McClinton, Leo, all of Mikes guys who helped make this happen for me and Ryan Stillwell from Elegant Exteriors.  I want to thank my dad for all he has done for me as well as Jimmy and Bridget Spence for their constant support over the years.  I would also like to thank all of my sponsors and Mike’s sponsors who make all this possible for us year after year.”  

“We had another banner year in 2022, and we could not have done it without the loyal support of our sponsors:

Elegant Exteriors

Tri-County Party Rentals

Spence’s Hot Rod Shop

K2 Motorsports

Bitner Automotive

Precision Hydraulic and Oil

Mancini Custom Homes

Gary’s Septic Service

Fast line Performance

Lyons Construction

“Our goal is to be competitive every week in the modified division at New Egypt Speedway and finish as close to the top ten in the points standings as we can.  It would be great to get a win in my first full season in modified but I’ll be happy with being able to pass cars and move forward through the field on a consistent basis.  As far as the STSS, I would like to win a race somewhere and finish in the top five in the South region season point standings.  Who knows maybe we can end up in another one of my childhood dreams and make a trip to Grandview for the Freedom 76er this year.”