Clayton Ketcher is a racing driver who last raced in Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup presented by Michelin for Saito MotorSport Group. Ketcher is a one-time champion (2022), with 10 wins and 24 podiums from 56 starts.[1]
A Racer Rating of 3,300 ranks Ketcher 6725th of 40,105 indexed drivers, on an Elo scale where the strongest reach the high 8,000s. It is built from every indexed race in the driver's file, decayed for time since their last race.
| 2023-06-24 | Watkins Glen International ND2 | P23 | −147 |
| 2023-06-23 | Watkins Glen International ND2 | P14 | −36 |
| Rating won | Race | Series | Finish |
|---|---|---|---|
| +123 | Sonoma Raceway 2020 | NASA | P3 |
| +121 | Buttonwillow Raceway Park 2022 | NASA Spec MX-5 | P1 |
| +121 | Sonoma Raceway 2020 | NASA | P4 |
| +118 | Willow Springs Raceway 2022 | SCCA Majors | P1 |
| +105 | Sonoma Raceway 2020 | NASA | P4 |
| Season | Series | Team | Races | Wins | Podiums | DNFs | Poles | Points | Pos | Gain/Loss | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | ▸Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup presented by Michelin | Saito MotorSport Group | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | P22 | −183 | 3,426 |
| 2022 | ▸NASA Spec MX-5 | Charlie Hayes Racing | TMC | 4 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | +317 | 3,609 |
| ▸SCCA Majors | 4 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | P1 | ↑472+336 | |||
| ▸SCCA Regionals | 2 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | P3 | +80 | |||
| 2021 | ▸NASA | Mazda Miata | 23 | 3 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | P13 | +557 | 2,403 |
| 2020 | ▸NASA | Mazda Miata | 9 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | P23 | +645 | 2,562 |
| 2019 | ▸NASA | Mazda Miata | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | P107 | −82 | 1,268 |
| Rival | Rating | Raced | Ahead | Behind | Record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🇺🇸 Clayton WilliamsFIA Silver | 3,234 | 43 | 33 | 10 | 77% |
| 🏳️ Tony Senese | 640 | 43 | 35 | 8 | 81% |
| 🏳️ Laura Braverman | 562 | 41 | 31 | 10 | 76% |
| 🏳️ Paul Turner | 1,856 | 40 | 27 | 13 | 68% |
| 🏳️ Dan Johnson | 1,115 | 40 | 38 | 2 | 95% |
| 🇺🇸 Tomas MejiaFIA Silver | 2,131 | 39 | 11 | 28 | 28% |
| 🏳️ Roy Fulmer IV | 2,937 | 37 | 5 | 32 | 14% |
| 🏳️ Richard Lucquet | 632 | 37 | 34 | 3 | 92% |
| 🏳️ Brett Cox | 874 | 36 | 30 | 6 | 83% |
| 🏳️ Stephen McHenry | 400 | 36 | 35 | 1 | 97% |
| 🇺🇸 Kyle KaiserFIA Gold, 1× champion | 4,808 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 67% |
| 🇺🇸 Dean ThompsonHigher-rated | 4,681 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 100% |
| 🇺🇸 Trevor HuddlestonHigher-rated, 1× champion | 4,532 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 100% |
| # | Driver | Series | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6,715 | 🇳🇱 Remon Vos | Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie | 3,303 |
| 6,716 | 🇳🇴 Anders Burchardt | Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie | 3,302 |
| 6,717 | 🇧🇷 Fabio Gamberini | GP3 Series | 3,302 |
| 6,718 | 🇺🇸 Nate Monteith | NASCAR Truck | 3,302 |
| 6,719 | 🇳🇿 René Heremana Malmezac | Asian Le Mans Series | 3,302 |
| 6,720 | 🇦🇺 Winston Smith | S5000 | 3,302 |
| 6,721 | 🇨🇦 James Vance | IMSA Pilot Challenge | 3,301 |
| 6,722 | 🇬🇧 Jay Bridger | British GT Championship | 3,301 |
| 6,723 | 🇨🇴 Juan Esteban Jacobo | Formula Renault Eurocup | 3,301 |
| 6,724 | 🇺🇸 Patrick Wilmot | Zenith Racing Series | 3,301 |
| 6,725 | 🏳️ Clayton Ketcher | Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup presented by Michelin | 3,300 |
| 6,726 | 🇯🇵 Cyndie Allemann | Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie | 3,300 |
| 6,729 | 🇨🇿 Štepán Vojtech | FIA GT Championship | 3,300 |
| 6,727 | 🏳️ Tanner Arms | ARCA Menards East | 3,300 |
| 6,728 | 🇦🇺 Will Harris | TCR World Tour | 3,300 |
| 6,730 | 🇺🇸 Andrew Heffring | Lamborghini Super Trofeo NA | 3,299 |
| 6,731 | 🇪🇸 Daniel Maciá | Spanish F4 | 3,299 |
| 6,732 | 🇨🇿 Jaromir Jirik | 24H Series | 3,299 |
| 6,733 | 🇺🇸 Jeff Spraker | NASCAR Xfinity | 3,299 |
| 6,734 | 🇫🇷 Julien Gael | French F4 | 3,299 |
| 6,735 | 🇺🇸 Ken Fukuda | IMSA Pilot Challenge | 3,299 |
Clayton Ketcher holds a Racer Rating of 3,406, placing him in the semi-professional band where drivers win in pro-am and one-make classes while running mid-pack among full professionals. His career spanned five seasons from 2019 to 2023 across 56 starts, predominantly in Mazda Miata competition. Ketcher's record shows a driver who dominated one-make fields in 2022, winning his sole championship in SCCA Majors that year with three wins from four starts, but struggled when stepping up to national-level competition.[1]
The trajectory reveals a ceiling in Ketcher's capabilities. His 2022 campaign was strong within regional and club-level SCCA competition and the NASA Spec MX-5 series, where he accumulated seven wins across twelve starts in those contests alone. However, his step to the Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup in 2023, a significantly more competitive national platform, produced no wins or podiums across two rounds, finishing 28th. Head-to-head records against his most frequent rivals paint a picture of inconsistency against drivers at his level; while he held a strong advantage over Clayton Williams, a fellow semi-professional, and dominated Paul Turner and Stephen McHenry, he was heavily outpaced by Roy Fulmer IV and Wyatt Couch, finishing behind them in the vast majority of their shared races. Ketcher occasionally finished ahead of drivers rated as established professionals, including former Indy NXT champion Kyle Kaiser twice and series winner Dean Thompson three times, but these proved isolated results rather than sustained patterns of competitive parity at that level.