A third generation racecar driver, Ryan began driving Quarter Midgets at age 4 and nearly won the first QMA Dirt National Championship race he ever entered. He then went on to a stellar 7-year career in Quarter Midgets, becoming Virginia's all- time QMA leader and the one of the most successful open-wheel racers in the state. A threat in QMA National competition since his debut, Ryan was soon on the lookout for his next conquest.

Entering the Legends scene at the tender age of 12, Ryan achieved great National success campaigning the popular and powerful little open wheel INEX Legends Cars. Winning Young Lion and Semi Pro titles in 2002, 2003 and 2004, Ellis toured the nation in 2005 as a member of INEX’s elite Legends Pro division, capturing the 2005 Virginia State Pro Championship and finishing 4th in the National Pro Series. Ellis has won dozens of Legends features on the Bullrings of Virginia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Ohio. Even now, Ryan returns to the ovals with his Legends Car several times each year, and proves without a doubt that he remains the man to beat.

A Quarter Midget child, road racing was not his original focus, but his talents when placed behind the wheel of a road-racing kart allowed the young Virginia racer to nonetheless become a two-time State Red Bull Driving Champion, (Ryan was selected to the 2004 and 2005 National Semi-Finals). Now Ellis can often be found practicing his craft at Allsports Grand Prix in Sterling, Virginia, an indoor professional kart racing facility near his Virginia home where he has been employed since age 14 - he currently serves as a staff “Pro” and an instructor at their Kart Racing School.

Ryan’s short-lived entry into full-bodied world of NASCAR during 2006 showed undeniable promise. Right out of the box, Ellis was the NASCAR Late Model Stock Car, (LMSC) Rookie pacesetter at his home track; - Manassas’ fabled Old Dominion Speedway.  Ellis competed sparingly that spring in both Virginia and North Carolina in NASCAR’s highest Weekly Racing Series division, (he still holds a NASCAR license and occasionally has been known to slip into a Late Model for a race or two each year) .

In 2006, when he wasn’t running Late Models, he raced his Legends Car, going Road Racing with the National Auto Sport Association, (NASA) where he won the majority of the events he entered. Ryan won the 2006 NASA Hyperfest/Summit Point event, captured the 2006 NASA Mid Atlantic Legends Road Racing Championship, and lost the inaugural 2006 NASA National Championships at Mid Ohio by a mere 2 feet. Along the way, Ellis established himself as a versatile and supremely talented driver who is a threat to win on any type of track: Dirt, Asphalt Oval, or Road Course. At the end of the 2006 season Ryan was invited, (for the second year in a row) to the 2nd annual Performance Racing Industry National Invitational race at the Orlando Speedworld bullring. In only his second Oval track race of the season with the Legends Car, Ryan qualified in the top ten and was running fifth in the prestigious nationally televised event.

In 2007 Ryan Ellis Racing re-established our own internally managed race programs featuring a Pro Legends Car oval racing entry, and in mid-year we also began contesting a Mazda Spec Miata race car in a partial season of both NASA and SCCA Road Racing. That program led to a full-on 2008 NASA National and Regional Championship chase in the hotly contested Spec Miata class. While Ryan was the dominant driver at the handful of INEX Legends oval track races he entered that year, his focus was really on the NASA Mid Atlantic Spec Miata title chase, where, in his first full year, he finished 2008 as runner-up by the closest of margins.  He also was the highest finishing driver from his region at the 2008 NASA Spec Miata Nationals, finished 2nd in the inaugural Mazda Teen Challenge program, and was voted “Driver of the Year” by NASA Mid Atlantic. Quite a year!

In February 2009, Ryan was selected in a nation-wide search by Volkswagen of America as one of only 15 new drivers from North America invited to enter their 2009 Jetta TDI Cup series. The series is a ten race, nation-wide program featuring the top young race car drivers from across North America aged 16 through 26. Trained by VW throughout 2009 in the art of being a professional racer, Ryan was proud to represent the world’s 3rd largest automobile manufacturer all across North America! And when he wasn’t racing somewhere in the TDI Cup, Ellis spent the 2009 season racing his beloved Mazda Spec Miatas with NASA out on the West Coast – where he dominated the 2009 Teen Mazda Challenge and won the season Championship. Ryan even raced a bit at Old Dominion Speedway’s fabled 3/8 oval in 2009, winning another Legends race and driving a NASCAR Late Model once again.

At the end of the 2009 season Ryan entered the Playboy Mazda MX-5 Cup twin finale(s) at Virginia International Raceway. There he surprised the series regulars by running in the lead pack both days, and posting solid top ten finishes in his first time ever in a MX-5 Cup car. The 2009 season closed with a coveted invite to the Mazdaspeed Motorsports Development MX-5 Cup Shootout, where Ryan, (the youngest of the 5 finalists) impressed once again and finished as the runner-up in the closest competition ever!

In 2010, Ellis again competed in the Volkswagen Jetta TDI Cup series. In the first two races, Ellis got two poles, two wins and a track record. Ellis finished the season tied for the most wins and most poles and fourth in points. At the end of the season, Ellis was invited to try out for several Grand-Am teams and shortly thereafter, signed with APR Motorsport.

Ellis began his 2011 Grand-Am rookie season with a bang shattering the track record at Daytona International Speedway by half a second in his first qualifying session. Ellis then went on to lead every single lap on the way to his first ever Grand-Am victory in the first race of his rookie season. Ryan then continued his winning ways at Homestead/Miami Speedway with a last-lap last-corner pass to go two-for-two in his rookie year. Grand-Am took away 2psi of boost from Ellis’ car in an attempt to level the playing field, which left the team struggling to find speed as the year progressed. Still, the team managed to get one more podium and finish 3rd overall with Ellis scoring more points than any other rookie in 2011.

That same year, Ryan was signed as the factory driver of the Superlite Coupe. He went on to successfully develop it to the point that every single track they visited that year, Ryan broke the track record, and won every single race the car ever finished without mechanical problems, including winning the NASA Super Unlimited National Championship by nearly a lap.

In 2012, Ryan found an opportunity with Insight Racing to continue his Grand-Am career with new teammate Tyler McQuarrie in a BMW 128i. Along with a full Grand-AM Continental Tire Series season, Ryan will again be continuing to develop the Superlite Coupe in ten to twelve races across the United States.

Ryan’s personal streetcar is a 2011 Volkswagen GTI. When not racing, Ellis can be found at George Mason University, (GMU) where he is a senior majoring in Business Marketing. Ryan currently plays on the GMU Inline Hockey Team, and he has also played with the Potomac Mavericks - a Professional Inline Hockey Association Minor League hockey club. After racing, the sport is Ryan’s second love, having played organized hockey continuously since age 6. He’s a huge Washington Capitals fan.