Ryan volunteered to make a cameo as a ‘protection athlete’, otherwise known as a rodeo clown, in place to distract the bulls away from fallen riders.
The colourful character was given little more than 10 minutes of instructions and a padded vest before being thrown into the mix.
He was in the pen for three of the rides, getting close to the action but managing to stay out of harm’s way.
“It was a different experience and I love different experiences,” Ryan told Speedcafe.com.
“It’s pretty intense. That last one, that bull was going nuts. That got the heart rate up.”
Ryan ran for the fence following the last of the three rides, climbing the barrier as the bull remained on the loose.
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“I saw the other [protection] guys around it, and then the bull was the other side of them, and I thought, ‘I shouldn’t be in here’,” he recounted.
“I just went for the gate. They said not to do that. They said, ‘don’t run because it’ll out-run you’, but anyway.
“They had encouraged me to get close. The second one, I got in close and they said, ‘go and tap it on the arse’.
“So I went to, and then it just calmed down and went in the pen.”
Ryan had approached Supercars CEO Barclay Nettlefold and head of TV Nathan Prendergast about the idea on Thursday.
“I was at a function and said to Nathan and Barclay, ‘I want to get in and do the clown thing at PBR’,” he said.
“Nathan was straight on the phone and said, ‘let’s make it happen’.
“Then there was a ‘no, no and no’, and then all of a sudden they came back and said, ‘yeah, we want to do it’.
“I spoke to the protection guys and they said no one’s ever done, in their careers, no one’s ever just got in there.”
Ryan was the subject of some friendly heckling from Supercars drivers in attendance.
A contingent of Erebus staff including wife Loretta and daughter Charlie also watched on.
Asked if he’d do it again, Ryan said: ‘Oh, fuck yeah. I love it. I wanted to do more, but I think they’d used up all their credits.”
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