Ryan Newman’s Road To The 2011 Daytona 500

Though this week’s Daytona 500 drivers may be rich and successful now, none of them reached NASCAR’s Super Bowl without some bumps along the way. We asked several drivers to share the story of a difficult moment with us. Up next: Ryan Newman.

Ryan Newman didn’t come from a wealthy family – quite the contrary, actually. What money his family did have went toward Newman’s racing career, which turned out to be a wise investment in the future.

Reaching the top of the NASCAR world – which happened when Newman won the 2008 Daytona 500 – only came after a long, difficult journey. And because of that, Newman says he appreciates his success so much more.

In his own words:

We didn’t have much money growing up. I had five pairs of jeans – one for each day of school. The next Monday came, and I wore the same pair I wore the last Monday – that type of thing.

I knew we didn’t have a ton of money. I knew we had enough money to live and be happy, but I wanted that money to go toward my race car – to be productive. What jeans I wore didn’t make a difference to me.

Ultimately, we didn’t go out very much. On Friday nights, we might go get a pizza and play Putt Putt as a family, but that was it. We didn’t indulge ourselves, because we didn’t have the money to indulge ourselves.

That, to me, makes me appreciate it that much more – where I am, where I came from, things that I’ve done, hard work that’s been done by myself, my family and all the friends it took to get to this point.

I think there are people who don’t even have a clue to appreciate the things they’ve gotten, because the money has come so easily – and that’s usually pretty evident to see.