It is not a stretch to say that Ryan Newman leads two different lives.
On the racetrack, he is one of the fastest drivers in Sprint Cup. His nicknames – Flyin’ Ryan and Rocket Man – came honestly.
At home, though, Newman operates at much slower speeds. He and wife Krissie and daughter Brooklyn live about 50 miles north of Charlotte, N.C. in Statesville on a 200-acre spread that includes what Newman calls his hobby farm.
When Newman decided to pursue the farm life, he did so in a big way. He found a couple of old barns that needed a bunch of love, had them disassembled and moved south from Ohio and reassembled on his property. He bought – and operates – a number of antique tractors.
If this is sounding a little like the old television series “Green Acres,” it’s not exactly that. Newman’s “outdoor” life has a purpose that fits in nicely with his hobby farm and its environs.
He and Krissie formed the Ryan Newman Foundation in 2005 with several missions, including the encouragement of spaying and neutering of pets and education on conservation matters.
Animal rehabilitation and rescue are parts of the mission, and some of that happens on the Newman farm, where injured and abandoned deer – particularly orphaned fawns – are welcome.
The Newmans have employees at the farm, but they also are as involved in the day-to-day operations as their travel schedules allow.
“The fawns have to be fed five times a day, and it’s an hour per feeding,” Newman said. “Either I or one of my employees or sometimes Krissie will handle that.
“I enjoy doing things like that as a hobby, but it’s also a function of what we’re doing as a foundation.”
Visitors to the farm are likely to see the deer, a few cattle and an assortment of chickens.
Newman has been involved in the relocation and rebuilding of the barns on the property. “The hobby farm part of it is my stuff,” he said. “A bunch of old tractors, the barns moved down from Ohio. We put all that back together.”
For more information on the Ryan Newman Foundation, visit www.ryannewmanfoundation.org.
