Bryan Sellers (born August 19, 1982 in Dayton, Ohio) is an American racing driver. Sellers won the title in the U.S. F2000 in 2002 and later competed in the Atlantic Championship and in racing sports cars.

Racing career

Bryan Sellers first competed in the World Karting Association (WKA) Manufacturer's Cup and the Gold Cup in 1994, racing other young drivers such as Danica Patrick.^[1] In 1998, Sellers won the Spec 100 Open class in the Manufacturer's Cup, beating future Atlantic Championship rival Jonathan Macri.^[2]

Sellers made his first auto racing start in a Star Mazda in 1998, before competing in the Midwestern Skip Barber Formula Dodge. Sellers won the championship, beating other young hopefuls such as Caio Travaglini and Jason LaPoint.^[3] Sellers won his first two races at the Indianapolis Raceway Park road course,^[4] and ran races in the other Formula Dodge regions. At Lime Rock Park, Sellers beat Marc Breuers to win two races.^[5] In 2000, Sellers competed in the second edition of the Skip Barber National Championship; he won races at Grattan Raceway at the start of the season but lost the title to Canadian Anthony Simone.^[6] Due to his strong results in the Skip Barber ranks, Sellers advanced to the Barber Dodge Pro Series at Road America, supporting the Champ Car Grand Prix of Road America, and placed twelfth in his debut race.

For 2001, Sellers signed with DSTP Motorsports for a partial schedule in the U.S. F2000. After one race, the team switched from the Mygale chassis to the more favorable Van Diemen chassis. The best result for Sellers was a seventh place at Sebring International Raceway.^[7] Supported by Team USA Scholarship, Sellers and teammate A. J. Allmendinger competed for a number of races in the New Zealand Formula Ford Championship. Sellers and Allmendinger finished second and third in the prestigious New Zealand Grand Prix which was won by Fabian Coulthard.^[8] For the 2002 season, Sellers returned to the United States to race in the USF2000, joining the highly successful Cape Motorsports outfit.^[9] Sellers won the first race at Sebring and won another seven races to claim the championship.^[10] The following year, 2003, Sellers joined the Atlantic Championship with Lynx Racing. Running a partial schedule, Sellers scored three top-ten finishes out of four races. In 2004, Sellers competed in all races of the championship; he claimed three podium finishes: at Long Beach, Cleveland and Denver.

Sellers driving the Falken Tire Porsche at Road Atlanta in 2011.

Unable to continue in single seaters, Sellers shifted his focus to the American Le Mans Series and Grand-Am. Panoz Motorsports signed Sellers to drive their Panoz Esperante GTLM. The team had a tough season with a number of retirements. The best result for Sellers was a fifth place at the 2005 Portland Grand Prix with teammate Robin Liddell. For 2006 Sellers joined BMW Team PTG in of their BMW M3 GTR entries. Sellers and teammate Justin Marks finished 24th in the season standings. After running various races in 2007, Sellers joined the Rolex Sports Car Series for their 2008 season. Joining The Racer's Group, Sellers scored a third place in class at the 24 Hours of Daytona. Sellers was placed sixteenth in the series championship. After running three races in 2009 for Team Falken Tire, Sellers joined the team full-time in 2010 and scored numerous top-ten finishes in the American Le Mans Series. In 2011, Sellers scored two class wins in the GT class with teammate Wolf Henzler at Mid-Ohio and Baltimore. For 2012, Sellers remained at Team Falken Tire, run by Walker Racing. Sellers and Henzler again won their class at Baltimore. Sellers also ran in the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge for Fall-Line Motorsports, placing tenth in the championship standings. In 2013, Sellers won Petit Le Mans in the GT class, the final ALMS event before being merged into the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. Sellers repeated this performance in 2014. In 2015, Sellers won the 6 Hours of Watkins Glen.

In 2016, Sellers joined Paul Miller Racing, and teamed up with Madison Snow. In their sixth race as a duo, they earned their first joint podium. They went on to finish 3rd in the championship that year, including a win at Virginia International Raceway. Year 2 was the only one to see them not get a win, and after a penalty resulting in loss of championship points, they finished 9th. Everything went right in 2018, with Bryan and Madison winning the GTD Championship, as well as the 2018 12 Hours of Sebring and the NorthEast Grand Prix at Lime Rock Park. The duo took 9 podium finishes out of 12 races. They narrowly beat Katherine Legge in what remains the hardest fought GTD championship to date, requiring an average finish of 3rd place. Bryan had two different co-drivers in 2019, sharing the Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini with Ryan Hardwick for the first half of the season before endurance driver Corey Lewis stepped in to contest the final 5 races of the season. Together with Lewis, Bryan won the Laguna Seca round. Madison came back into the picture for the 2020 season, and it kicked off with a bang! Together with Lewis and Andrea Caldarelli, Madison and Bryan claimed first place in GTD at the 2020 24 Hours of Daytona. Due to Covid-19, however, they were unable to complete the full season and instead participated in only select races. They did still win a championship! Lewis, Snow, and Sellers took the 2020 Michelin Endurance Cup, setting a record for points accrued that still hasn't been broken. In 2021, Bryan once again teamed up with Snow in the Lamborghini, and they had much success, taking their first win at the Long Beach Grand Prix. They stood on the podium 7 out of 12 races, and came just short of winning their second full season championship. 2022 brought big change to the Paul Miller Racing organization, with the introduction of a new manufacturer. The team moved to BMW, becoming one of four M4 GT3s on the grid. Unfortunately, they did not receive their car until after the first race of the season, eliminating them from contention for the full season honors before their first race. They debuted the car at Sebring International Raceway and ran well until contact from a faster class car put them behind the wall for several hours. But the team fixed the car, and they learned valuable lessons they wouldn't have to wait long to flaunt! The defending race winners at Long Beach took pole and victory once again at the southern California event. Bryan and Madison would win a meaningful Lime Rock Park race once again as well, finishing out the season with top 5 finishes at every race except Sebring and Watkins Glen, where they (along with many others)^[11] were disqualified. Their average finish in 2022 was the best of the field. 2023 sees Bryan once again sharing the car with Madison, tying Wolf Henzler for Bryan's longest driving partnership. The duo clinched the championship in record setting fashion, sealing it with still a race to go. They achieved victories at the 2023 12 Hours of Sebring, a third consecutive win at the Long Beach Grand Prix, their first wins at both Canadian Tire Motorsport Park and Road America, as well as win at the site of their first success in 2016, Virginia International Raceway. They also took home their second consecutive Sprint Cup.

Personal life

Sellers is married to pit lane reporter Jamie Howe,^[12] and the couple have two children.^[13]

Racing record

References

External links

• Bryan Sellers Racing Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine