The young Texan started out in karting, winning six national championships, before moving up to cars in the Skip Barber Dodge Series in 1998, where he won Rookie of the Year honors in the Southern Regional Series. The following year he would add the Eastern Regional Series championship and the Grand National Championship titles to his tally.

For 2000 & 2001 Ryan competed in the Pro division of the Skip Barber series, notching top rookie honors in '00 & two wins in '01. Fot 2002 he moved up to the Champ Car Toyota Atlantic Series, winning three times & setting series records for most poles, laps lead, fastest laps and track records in a single season.

In 2003 Ryan moved up to Champ Car. While he would win twice in the next three seasons, mainly he struggled to be competeive on underfunded teams. By 2006 he had had enough, and joined General Motors' NASCAR driver development program, he also ran a limited Rolex Grand Am Series schedule.

Early 2007 would see more of the same as 2006, as well as an appearance in the New Zealand A1GP event for Team USA. Then, in July, Ryan was signed by the IRL's Rahal-Letterman Racing squad as a mid-season replacement for Jeff Simmons, who's car-crashing ways prompted the squad to show him the door. Ryan responded in fine form, notching three top-ten finishes in the last six races of the season, good enough to win him Rookie of the Honors with less than 1/2 of a season under his belt!

Ryan will be back with RLR in 2008. It is not yet known wether he will have a team mate or if the squad will be cut back to a one car effort.

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