Rachel Rainsford

Rachel Mary McKinney, better known as Rachel Rainsford (born August 16, 1979) is an American race car driver, best known as being Alexis Rainsford's half-sister. After hearing about her half-sister's racing ambitions, Rachel began using the Rainsford name in racing in order to signify a familial connection.

The Beginning
Rainsford began racing in the TM Master Cup Series in 2005 for Flare Motorsports, driving car #99. However, she was seldom competitive, despite staying in the top-27 in owner points for the entire season. Her best result was an 11th place at Indianapolis. Rachel was regularly outpaced by her little half-sister Alexis in 2006, but for the most part they were relatively even in points due to Rachel finishing more often.

She showed some brilliance in early 2007, but overall she did not have too much success, including being involved in a few silly collisions with Ian Cooper and Louis Kingston. In 2008 and 2009, Rachel earned a reputation as bit of a crasher, saying once in an interview that her little sister's success put a great deal of pressure on her that she could not handle very well. She failed to qualify a few times and her confidence was noticeably dented at the end of both seasons.

2011
Rachel was not given a full-time seat in 2011, but instead contested the Independent's Trophy in the famed Mitchell & Sons #74 car. Despite showing a good deal of speed, mid-race strategy errors often cost her good results, and therefore meant she did not have a very strong Independent's Trophy bid.

Rachel and Alexis Rainsford shared a Volpi SR560GT for the 2011 running of the 24 Hours of Karjala in a Lynxe-backed entry along with experienced female sportscar racer Maria Mondini, finishing 3rd in class after a relatively uneventful race.

2012
Rachel will be driving the #171 Dublin Downs Casino & Resort Kivett Spade for Gravity Racing, Inc. in the ARLA Elite Series for the 2012 season. In addition to that, she will act as reserve driver for Volpi Racing Team in the TM Master Cup Series. Should there be a schedule conflict, Rachel's position in the ARLA Elite Series points standings and the availability of Chris Davenport will determine what race she would participate in if she was called upon to drive one of the two Volpi cars.

Rachel is not the team's official third driver, so she will not run the Karjala Grand Prix, Round of Indianapolis, or the Round of Decatur for VRT. Despite this, she is looking for an opportunity for those three races. After Chris Davenport's Indianapolis run was botched in favor of giving Alli Culotta a shot in the third Volpi, speculation came up that Rainsford will run the #28 Volpi for Decatur. She is scheduled to repeat her duties as a reserve driver for Volpi.

2012 may be the last year she competes with the Rainsford name -- she is due to marry at the end of the season to Matt Torres, a paramedic who began working with the TM Master Cup Series medical staff after meeting Rainsford at a wedding.

2012 started out a bit slow for Rainsford. She failed to finish 4 of her first 7 races and had no top 10s, leading many to wonder if her job at GRI was in jeopardy right out of the gate. But starting at the 2012 Mini Indy 500, she reeled off 9 top tens in the next 11 races, including 7 consecutive top tens and a pair of runner-up finishes at California and Memphis, which led to her finishing 10th in the points standings. These performances led to GRI resigning Rainsford for the 2013 season, this time driving the team's flagship #71 car.

2013
Rainsford's 2013 season started off on a poor note, as she wrecked Tanner Clason on the first lap of the Smash Beer 200. However, she would eventually make her way to the front to finish the night in 7th.

With 6 laps to go in the first round of the Montgomery Motor Speedway Season Opener, Rainsford was battling Jason Bates for the second position, when leader Bobby Porteau experienced a tire failure and fell out of contention. Rainsford was able to clear Bates for the lead, and held on to take her first career ARLA Elite Series victory.