La Mirada~Ryan ‘The Rhino” Vargas took first place in the championship race and won the track championship this past Saturday at the Irwindale Event Center.

Vargas is an eighth-grader at Los Coyotes Middle School in La Mirada and began racing cars three years ago.

He races in the U.S. Legend Cars INEX Division and drives a Bandolero, a turnkey, spec-series 750 race car which can reach top speeds of approximately 90 mph.  He holds track records at Kern County Raceway Park, The Bullring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Orange Show Speedway.

He is a straight-A honor student and very involved in his school. Mom Dawn says he must maintain straight A’s in order to race.

He has been first in California the past three years in his division; last year he was sixth in the nation.

This year, he set a goal of becoming one of the top five racers in the nation.  He not only met his goal but also far surpassed it. He has a chance to be number one in the country.

He also captured two track championships this year, one at Orange Show Speedway in San Bernardino and the other at Irwindale Event Center in Irwindale.

Follow his racing page “Rhino Motorsports” on Facebook here.