Career Highlights:
2007 GA Sprint Kart Champion (x2)
Youngest Driver to win Open Wheel Event in US (Skip Barber)
2010 SCCA Pro Formula Enterprises Champion
2010 Charlotte Motor Speedway/Atlanta Motor Speedway Legends Track Champion
2013 IMSA Lites Champion
2 Time Indy Lights Race Winner (2015 @Indy GP, Mid-Ohio)
2017 ELMS LMP3 Champion
Sean Rayhall was born on March 10, 1995 in Winston, Georgia. His racing career began in 2002 when he started Kart racing at the age of 7. In 2004 Rayhall entered the Georgia Sprint Kart Championship, and would also compete in the Florida State Championship and WKA Manufacturers Cup in later seasons. Rayhall would enjoy immediate success, winning two championships in the 2007 Georgia Sprint Kart Championship in the HPV 2 and Rotax Junior Classes.
Rayhall would start racing full size cars in 2007, joining the Skip Barber Southern Series. Rayhall would break records immediately, becoming the youngest driver ever to win a sanctioned open wheel race in US History (a record that will likely never be broken, as age restrictions have since changed). In 2010 the Georgia native would join the SCCA Pro Formula Enterprises series and also make his debut in Legends racing. Rayhall would win the 2010 FE championship by 23 points and winning 6 events along the way. In Legends, Rayhall was even more impressive, winning track championships by huge margins at Charlotte Motor Speedway and Atlanta Motor Speedway, and also winning the Legends Million Race that season. He would make his stock car racing debut in 2011 with the USAR Pro Cup Series, with a best finish of 3rd at New Smyrna that season. In 2012 he would notch his first ever stock car win at Caraway Speedway before finishing 4th in the season championship.
In 2013 Sean Rayhall made the switch to Sports Cars and endurance racing. In his first season with Comprent Motorsports in IMSA Lites, Rayhall would win six races and finish on the podium 12 times out of the 14 races run, and would win the championship by 4 points that season. In 2013 Rayhall would join the Prototype Challenge class in the American Le Mans Series in the 2013 Petit Le Mans. In his debut race, Rayhall would finish 2nd in class. Sean would go full time in the PC class with BAR1 and 8Star Motorsports, finishing 6th in the championship, along the way suffering a huge wreck at Petit Le Mans in which Rayhall endured 98G and an extremely severe concussion, resulting in some memory loss. Rayhall would bounce back the next season to continue with 8Star Motorsports in the Indy Lights championship. Sean would run a limited schedule, but would win the Indy GP at the Road Course at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, leading all 35 laps, and also take victory at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, finishing 12th in the championship.
In 2016 Rayhall would return to sports cars, running the famed Panoz Deltawing full time. During an event at Road America in Elkhart Lake, WI, Rayhall would participate in a Winged Sprint Car driving school, running a 360 Sprint under the tutelage of long time racer Randy Sippel. Sean would then race the car at Plymouth Dirt Track Racing that Saturday night after racing at Road America that same day.
In 2017 Sean would look to Europe, and the European Le Mans series, joining United AutoSports in the LMP3 class. Rayhall would win 3 out of the 6 rounds, winning the overall championship. He would run a limited schedule in 2018 with a best finish of 5th in class (twice).
Sean would then announce his retirement from professional racing in late 2018, but would soon announce a limited Winged Sprint Car schedule in the Midwest Sprint Car Association (MSA Sprints) in Wisconsin. Rayhall would make several A Features while running one of Randy Sippel’s school cars in races at the Plymouth Dirt Track. In 2019 Rayhall would run a much more consistent schedule with the MSA, and also entering several events with the Interstate Racing Association (IRA) 410 Outlaw Sprints. In 2020 Rayhall announced he would be competing full time with the IRA, throwing his hat in the ring for the Sage Fruit Rookie of the Year Award, while also running races with the Sprint Invaders 360 series, All Star Circuit of Champions, the MSA, ASCS, USCS, and non-sanctioned events at Jacksonville Speedway, Jackson Motorplex, and Knoxville Weekly 410 shows. Rayhall took his first win in a sprint car on August 8th, 2020 in the IRA Sprints B Feature, leading every lap and crossing the line 1.8 seconds ahead of 2nd place Jack Routson. Sean has logged 2 top 10’s, 2 Quick Time Awards, 1 B Feature Win and sits 6th in overall points, and leads the Rookie of the Year standings by a wide margin. Sean’s plans for 2021 are to run upwards of 90 sprint car races, while running the full IRA 410 schedule with numerous ASCS 360 races as well.
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