WINSTON, Ga. – When Sean Rayhall announced his retirement from professional racing in December, he didn’t expect to be back so quickly. In fact, he didn’t expect to be back at all.
However, Rayhall will be back in a race car this summer, just not the type of machinery that his fans have been accustomed to seeing him pilot in recent years.
The former Indy Lights winner and European Le Mans Series champion plans to compete in 15 to 20 winged sprint car events on the dirt later this year. He’ll drive for the Michael Racing Group, with whom he has longstanding ties that go back more than a decade.
“I helped T.J. in Legend cars a little bit, years ago, and I actually even took his older sister to Homecoming down in Texas, back in the day … so I’ve always been really, really close with the Michael family. I call him my little brother, but he’s taller than me now,” Rayhall joked. “They always knew that when I went back road-course racing, it was more to make a living, than necessarily to go racing. I enjoyed what I did for a while, but it just wasn’t for me.
“We’d been talking and flirting with the idea of me driving one of their cars for a while, so when T.J. called me and asked what I thought, I told him, ‘Man, I want to go racing, racing,” added Rayhall. “Sprint cars have always been a passion of mine, even though I haven’t been able to go race them full-time or anything like that, but he and I talked about the idea and finally, we sat down to have dinner and decided that this just felt right to go and do.”
Rayhall, who celebrated his 24th birthday earlier in March, has past experience in IMSA’s WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, IMSA Lites, the American Le Mans Series, UARA-STARS late models and the former X-1R Pro Cup Series (now the CARS Tour), in addition to his time in Indy Lights and the ELMS.
It’s a resume that makes the Georgian one of the nation’s most diverse talents, even if dirt-track racing isn’t yet among his varied list of skills.
“I know I have a lot to learn on dirt. I was pretty fast the one night that I went and ran one, but passing is a really difficult deal in those cars,” Rayhall noted. “From asphalt and road-course racing, there’s a lot (different) to figure out, and it’s not like on a short track, where you can just put a bumper to someone.
“That’s definitely going to be a learning curve, so I’ll be leaning on TJ to get some knowledge and feed off of him, but I’m really looking forward to this and I think it will be a lot of fun.”
Rayhall’s multi-faceted list of racing accomplishments actually provides a motivator for him in this new endeavor. He desperately wants to add “dirt sprint car winner” to his career timeline.
“The one place I haven’t won on is dirt,” Rayhall explained. “I’ve won on short-track asphalt ovals in late models, I’ve won in Indy Lights, I’ve won a European Le Mans title in sports cars, but I’ve got a goal here and I want to win on dirt. I think that would be a nice full-circle thing, with me being so versatile.
“If I get to running pretty well, we’re going to try and run some more, because I want it just as much as they do,” Rayhall continued. “We’re going to focus a lot on testing the first year, as a team, because I have to get my feet well and figure out how to chase the tracks. Next year is when we hope to be flat out.”
If all goes according to plan this year, Rayhall isn’t ruling out a future pursuit of top-level dirt racing, such as a run at the Knoxville Nationals or even chasing the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series championship.
But at least in the short term, he’s focused on enjoying the ride and having fun again.
“I’m telling everyone that I’m going racing with family. It might be two different last names, but I’m really close with that bunch and have always been,” said Rayhall. “I’m coming back to racing for the love of the sport and to chase some wins.
“I’m going trophy-hunting, now. I’m not here to make a buck.”