During the past 10 months, Ryan Ondrejko has been riding an emotional roller-coaster.

Last June, Ondrejko realized a life-long dream when he was able to land a ride in the Pro Stock ranks with Jim Yates.

Flash forward 10 months and Ondrejko has had to shift gears and he’s aiming to win a Top Sportsman Division 1 championship.

“Right now, because of no sponsorship and not much budget, I’m just driving my Top Sportsman car right now,” the 25-year-old Ondrejko said. “That could change to Top Sportsman and Super Gas, though. I have a 1962 Corvette I run in Super Gas a lot. Presently, though, we raced at Charlotte and I’m going to race  all the Division 1 Top Sportsman stuff and I plan on hitting a few Top Sportsman national events as well.”

During the past 10 months, Ryan Ondrejko has been riding an emotional roller-coaster.

Last June, Ondrejko realized a life-long dream when he was able to land a ride in the Pro Stock ranks with Jim Yates.

Flash forward 10 months and Ondrejko has had to shift gears and he’s aiming to win a Top Sportsman Division 1 championship.

“Right now, because of no sponsorship and not much budget, I’m just driving my Top Sportsman car right now,” the 25-year-old Ondrejko said. “That could change to Top Sportsman and Super Gas, though. I have a 1962 Corvette I run in Super Gas a lot. Presently, though, we raced at Charlotte and I’m going to race  all the Division 1 Top Sportsman stuff and I plan on hitting a few Top Sportsman national events as well.”

Ondrejko is piloting a 2008 Pontiac GTO in the Top Sportsman class.

At the inaugural NHRA Four-Wide Nationals in Charlotte, N.C., in the last week of March, Ondrejko made the most of competing on the big stage by winning the Top Sportsman event crown.

“We’re working on getting a Pro Stock deal going, and it’s all about money and we’re looking to get some sponsorships,” said Ondrejko, who finished second in Top Sportsman in Division 1 a year ago, while balancing his Pro Stock driving duties. “I thought I was going to be sitting out the entire season, but my dad (John Ondrejko) decided to have me race at Charlotte and it was a dream come true to win that race. Now, we need to keep our name out there and keep our momentum going.”

Ondrejko’s father, John, owns John’s Racecraft in Brockton, Mass.

Last season, the younger Ondrejko was able to hook up with Yates and compete in nine Pro Stock events, qualifying for eight of them. Actually, John Ondrejko was a crew chief for Chuck Harris’ Pro Stock car back in 1996, and Harris was Yates’ teammate at the time. Yates won the ’96 Pro Stock world title and Harris came in seventh.

“Jim told my dad, that his car was available for me to drive and with a little bit of financial support from a family friend, we got the ball rolling,” Ryan said. “We went and tested and I swear, I had never driven a stick shift in my life. It’s such a steep learning curve to drive a Pro Stock car, and fortunately by the end of the day I figured out how to drive the car. It was a great experience to get to race in Pro Stock and we made somewhat of an impact. We were working all off-season with Jim (Yates) trying to come up with sponsors, and it’s just so hard out there.”

Although Ryan wants to be behind the wheel of a Pro Stock machine, he’s keeping his plight in perspective.

“Honestly, I respect both classes, Pro Stock and Sportsman equally,” said Ryan, who won Division 1 Super Gas crowns in 2007 and 2008. “It’s just as difficult to win in the Sportsman classes as Pro Stock, because some Sportsman races you have 200 guys showing up trying to win a trophy. One of the biggest lessons I learned in Pro Stock is that you could be doing your absolute best and you still could come up short. It’s difficult to race Pro Stock and also race in the Sportsman classes. Pro Stock is a personal challenge to hit every gear change right every time and not screw up. The Top Sportsman races, you have to cut the light and drive a great race. I’m just taking things race-by-race right now and I’m trying to keep winning rounds, so people will hopefully notice me.”