Love for animals prompts Ryan & Krissie Newman to build Rescue Ranch

STATESVILLE, N.C. — Forty-four miles from the roar of Charlotte Motor Speedway and in the quiet of Statesville, North Carolina is where you find driver Ryan Newman and his passion away from the track.

His farm, which is hundreds of acres, is where he comes to relax.

“How long have you had these buffalo?” Eyewitness News anchor Blair Miller asked.

“Three or four years,” Newman said. “As far as I know, me, Dale Jr. and Richard Petty are the only ones to have buffalo. It's not like it's a typical thing.”

It's not just buffalo -- there are also 18 cows on the farm.

“She can eat a lot of apples,” Newman said of one of the cows. “You see her drooling at the mouth. You know how you want to eat something you really like? For me, it's chicken wings. For her it's apples.”

The driver grew up with animals and a few years ago decided to build his own farm, including four barns, where inside he has his own stable with a different kind of horsepower.

“For me it's just my getaway,” Newman said. “I enjoy the outdoors. It's pretty. It's quiet. It's just what I do and what I enjoy.”

“How often do you come down here to the farm?” Miller asked.

“Every day that I'm here,” Newman said. “Every day I'm at the house, I usually come over here.”

And it's that love for animals that prompted Newman and his wife, Krissie, to build the Rescue Ranch, beam by beam, wall by wall and day by day.

It was Krissie who came up with the idea to build the Rescue Ranch.

Eventually, on the 172 acres, the rescue facility will include boarding for animals, a shelter, a vet clinic, horse riding trails and classrooms to teach kids about the animals.

“This is one way that I thought I could come here and make a difference in our community as well as all over the place, because we could be a model of other nonprofits that want to help animals and kids,” Krissie said.

They also plan to work with other agencies in the area to help increase the pet adoption rate.

“I think it's very important because that's one way people understand how passionate we are and how much we care about the project we're doing,” she said. “I want to be here every day I possibly can. We want to bring our kids here.”

“This is our goal -- to help animals, to help people understand animals,” Newman said.

It’s a way of life for the Newmans that’s far from the fast lane of the race track and right at home in Statesville.

WSOC