Is this a stand up cab? It is 'reasonably' straightforward to fit a new control panel to a cabinet, but you need to do some research into exactly what is inside the cab. Afaik ridge racer is a namco sys 22 game... not sure what the hookup is for that system, what res the monitor is etc. Presuming the monitor isn't med or high res, you may be looking at rewiring the cab.
Does it come with the ridge racer board, ready to go? If so, and it's reasonably priced, it might be worthing having as it is anyway! Great game...