Sean Guthrie (born April 18, 1988) is an American racing driver from

Albuquerque, New Mexico Albuquerque ( ; ), ; kee, Arawageeki; tow, Vakêêke; zun, Alo:ke:k'ya; apj, Gołgéeki'yé. abbreviated ABQ, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico. Its nicknames, The Duke City and Burque, both reference its founding in ...

. The son of former IndyCar Series driver Jim Guthrie, he is a former Firestone Indy Lights driver and currently competes part-time in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West.

Career

Guthrie began his

karting Kart racing or karting is a road racing variant of motorsport with open-wheel, four-wheeled vehicles known as go-karts or shifter karts. They are usually raced on scaled-down circuits, although some professional kart races are also held on f ...

career at the age of eight. He won an IKF championship in 2002 and the SKUSA Long Track Nationals in 2003 and moved up to cars in SCCA Formula Ford in 2004. In 2005 he moved up to the

Star Mazda Series The USF Pro 2000 Championship Presented by Cooper Tires, formerly known as the Star Mazda Championship, Pro Mazda Championship, and later Indy Pro 2000 Championship, is an open-wheel racing series serving as the third step on the Road to Indy l ...

and finished 14th in points in a season beset by mechanical problems. The team, owned by his father, decided to move up to the Indy Pro Series in

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

, but Sean was forced to miss the first three races of the season as he was not yet the league-mandated 18 years old. He competed in 5 races with a best finish of 5th at

Kentucky Speedway Kentucky Speedway is a tri-oval speedway in Sparta, Kentucky, which has hosted ARCA, NASCAR and Indy Racing League racing annually since it opened in 2000. The track is currently owned and operated by Speedway Motorsports, Inc. Before 2008 J ...

.Sean Guthrie
, ChampCarStats.com The team returned for

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

for a full season. After crashing out of the first three races of the season, the team regrouped and finished the Freedom 100 and Sean registered a career-best 4th-place finish at the Milwaukee Mile a week later. In the Iowa Speedway race Sean suffered a heavy crash and the team's car had to be sent back to the manufacturer Dallara in Italy for repairs. Sean injured both his foot and knee in the accident. Sean made three starts at the end of the season for

Playa Del Racing American Dream Motorsports was a racing team that competed in the Indy Racing League's Indy Lights series and the IndyCar Series' Indianapolis 500 owned by Eric Zimmerman and William T. Kelsey. Until May 2008 it was known as Playa Del Racing and was ...

as the team ran in cooperation with Guthrie. Until his suspension in April 2009, he drove for his father's team

Guthrie Racing Guthrie Meyer Racing is a former Firestone Indy Lights Series team. The team started in 2005 as Guthrie Racing owned by 1997 IndyCar Series “Rookie of the Year” winner and 1997 Phoenix race winner Jim Guthrie. The team began running in the St ...

along with teammates

Alistair Jackson Alastair "Ali" Jackson (born 17 November 1988) is a Northern Irish racing driver. Jackson raced in the Asian Formula Three Championship in 2006 and finished 3rd in points with four victories, becoming the youngest driver to win in series histor ...

and Jesse Mason. Sean finished 14th in the 2007 championship and returned to the series, now called the Firestone Indy Lights Series in

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

, finishing 10th in points. In April 2009 he was suspended from the Indy Racing League after the race at Kansas Speedway in which he was penalized for driving through an accident zone too quickly and passing a car under the yellow flag and then refused to respond to the black flag. He made his return to the Firestone Indy Lights Series on October 9, 2009 at Homestead with Andersen Racing. After participating in

dirt track racing Dirt track racing is a form of motorsport held on clay or dirt surfaced oval race tracks often used for thoroughbred horse racing. Dirt track racing started in the United States before World War I and became widespread during the 1920s and 1930s ...

throughout 2010, Guthrie again returned to Indy Lights for the season finale at Homestead with Andersen, finishing 10th. After driving in

drifting Drifting may refer to: *Drifting (motorsport) *Pipe drift or drifting, measuring a pipe's inner roundness Film * ''Drifting'' (1923 film), a film directed by Tod Browning * ''Drifting'' (1982 film), the first Israeli gay-themed film * ''Drifting'' ...

for the 2011 season, Guthrie returned to professional motorsports in 2012, driving in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West at

Sandia Motor Speedway "Sandía" is "watermelon" in Spanish. Sandia may also refer to: Places * Sandia, California, community in Imperial County * Sandia, Texas, town in the USA * Sandia, Peru, town in the Puno region of Peru, capital of ** Sandia Province, province in ...

in late September, finishing 22nd and last in his debut in the series.

Indy Lights

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Guthrie, Sean Living people 1988 births Racing drivers from Albuquerque, New Mexico Indy Lights drivers Indy Pro 2000 Championship drivers NASCAR drivers Drifting drivers International Kart Federation drivers Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing drivers