The nine drivers we can’t believe are still racing in 2025

Carlos Sainz

Born on April 12, 1962, Carlos Sainz Sr.’s debut in the professional motorsport realm came when he got his start rallying back in 1980.

Sainz’s decorated career includes eight championships, 26 overall victories in the World Rally Championship, 47 Dakar stage wins, and four overall Dakar victories. On top of that, he founded the Acciona Sainz Extreme E team and contested the first two seasons.

And now, 45 years after his rally debut, Sainz is still competing. At time of writing, he was contesting the 2025 Dakar Rally for the 19th time.

Fernando Alonso

Another legendary Spaniard is Fernando Alonso, a two-time Formula 1 World Champion who was born on July 29, 1981.

While Alonso is a youthful 43 years of age, what makes his career so impressive is the fact that he’s still racing in Formula 1 coming up in 2025, even after having made his debut all the way back in 2001.

Alonso has won the 24 Hours of Le Mans (twice), and the Rolex 24 at Daytona. He’s contested both the Dakar Rally and the Indianapolis 500. And, in 2024, he became the first driver in history to contest 400 Grands Prix.

And he’s not done yet. Alonso’s most recent contract with Aston Martin was a multi-year deal signed for the 2023 season and beyond.

Helio Castroneves

Forty-nine-year-old Brazilian racer Helio Castroneves was both on May 10, 1975 and made an exceptional career in the IndyCar Series. He debuted in CART back in 1998 and was part of Team Penske from 2000 until 2019.

Castroneves won his first three Indianapolis 500s for Penske in 2001, 2002, and 2009 — then came back for his fourth in 2021 with Meyer Shank Racing, making him just the fourth driver in history to win the iconic race four times. (That list includes A. J. Foyt, Al Unser, and Rick Mears — three other drivers whose careers spanned several decades.)

On top of his other achievements, Castroneves is a three-time winner of the Rolex 24 at Daytona, as well as an IMSA champion. Oh, and he also took home a massively popular victory on Dancing with the Stars back in 2007.

After stepping back from full-time competition in IndyCar last year, Castroneves has just announced that he’s going to make another attempt at the Indianapolis 500 — and will try his hand at NASCAR’s Daytona 500 in just a few weeks.

Rubens Barrichello

Born on May 23, 1972, Brazilian racer Rubens Barrichello is 52 years old and has an impressive racing career under his belt.

Barrichello was a Formula 1 driver between 1993 and 2011, finishing second in the World Drivers’ Championship twice by winning 11 Grands Prix. After leaving the series, he popped over to IndyCar and also tried his hand at endurance racing.

But he hasn’t retired; far from it! Barrichello still actively competes in the Stock Car Pro Series, a Brazilian touring car series considered to be the major discipline in South America. He’s taken two titles in that sport, one in 2014 and his second in 2022.

When he’s not actively racing, you can find Barrichello serving as co-host of the Acelerados YouTube channel.

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Travis Pastrana

At 41 years old, Travis Pastrana still seems young compared to some of his fellow drivers on this list, but he’s notable for sustaining an impressive racing career for over two decades — all while racing in some of the most dangerous series in the world.

Pastrana is a multi-time gold medalist in the X Games, a series dedicated to action sports, and has accomplished some incredible feats on the back of his bike in freestyle motocross.

He won titles in AMA Motocross and Supercross. On four wheels, he’s taken home four championships in Rally America. And if that wasn’t enough, he’s also a Class 1 World Powerboat Champion.

Somewhere in there, he’s managed to make multiple starts in various NASCAR disciplines, recreate iconic jumps by Evel Knievel, and help found the Nitro Circus entertainment brand. It isn’t fully clear exactly what he’ll be racing this year, but one thing is for certain: He will be racing.

Mike Wallace

Mike Wallace debuted in the NASCAR Cup Series all the way back in 1991. He’s something of an outlier on our list, having scored no wins or pole positions in his decades-long career, but if Wallace is doing anything, he’s still racing.

Born on March 10, 1959, Wallace will be 65 years of age when he gets behind the wheel of his Ford Mustang in hopes of qualifying for the iconic 2025 Daytona 500.

It’ll be Wallace’s first attempt at a Cup Series race in a decade, but he hasn’t been a stranger to various lower-tier NASCAR series — and was even indefinitely suspended by the sport for violating its social media policy! He was reinstated in 2021, and will be making his return to the paddock this year.

Ben Keating

Born on August 18, 1971, the 53-year-old Ben Keating has been racing since 2007.

His path to the sport was somewhat unconventional; growing up in a family that owned automotive dealerships, Keating went university to study business and opened several dealerships of his own; he has the 15th largest auto group in America, and the first largest in Texas.

But back in 2007, he started racing after receiving a track driving course from his wife for Christmas. He was enamored with the sport and has been competing in LMP2 or GT cars ever since.

He’s a two-time class winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, a two-time World Endurance Championship champion, and a two-time IMSA champion — among his many other accomplishments, like winning the 12 Hours of Sebring.

And this month, he’ll be powering the No. 52 LMP2 machine at the Rolex 24.

Red Farmer

If you’re a Formula 1 fan at heart, there’s a good chance you’ve never heard of Red Farmer — but you should.

Farmer was born on October 15, 1932, making him 92 years old in 2025. Yes, he’s in his nineties, and he still has plans to get behind the wheel of a 602 Crate Dirt Late Model this year. After all, he last won a race in 2022, so why not keep going?

Making things all the more impressive is the fact that nothing can stop Farmer — not a health scare in 2024, nor a tornado that demolished his house, race shop, hauler, and race car back in 2021.

He may not be racing every weekend, but Red Farmer is still racing.

Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Last but not least is Dale Earnhardt Jr., a 50-year-old NASCAR driver who has decided to hop back into the motorsport scene by choosing a handful of Late Model Stock Car events to compete in.

Earnhardt, the son of the iconic Dale Earnhardt Sr., made his Cup Series debut in 1999 and raced full time through 2017, taking home 26 wins along the way. He’s a Daytona 500 winner and has since become an incredible podcaster and color commentator.

Part of Earnhardt’s reasoning for retiring was the toll racing had taken on his physical health. In his autobiography, Earnhardt revealed that he suffered a nasty concussion in 2002, followed by another in 2012, and a season-ending concussion in 2016. Though those were the main major ones, Earnhardt has determined that after his death, he’ll be donating his brain to science in order for others to better understand how repeated blows to the head impacted his brain.