At just 16 years old, Carson May found himself driving faster than any recognized driver his age ever had at the famed Bonneville Salt Flats. By the time his record-setting run was complete, the Central Florida teenager had not only earned a place in the prestigious Bonneville 200 MPH Club, but had also broken a land speed record previously held by his own grandfather. 

Now 17, May isn’t slowing down. 

The Oviedo racer has already become the youngest person to hold official land speed records at both Bonneville and El Mirage, reached speeds exceeding 246 mph, and established himself as one of the sport’s brightest young talents. Between chasing records on the salt flats and competing every weekend on the oval at New Smyrna Speedway, May is building a resume that racers often spend decades trying to match. 

“My dad’s been racing since he was a kid, way younger than me, so I’ve always grew up around racing,” May said. “Whenever I was younger, I would always go to the race track, watch my dad race, and it really impacted me.” 

Like many children raised around racing, May thought climbing behind the wheel looked easy. 

“But when you actually try, it’s a lot harder than it looks,” he said. “That’s what makes it exciting to me, because it’s hard. I would say it being hard makes it almost more fun, because not everyone can do it.” 

Although racing had always been part of his life, land speed racing wasn’t initially the dream. 

That changed in 2021, when his grandfather, Red Stauffer, purchased a 1972 Datsun 240Z and promptly set a world land speed record. 

“I went out there with him, and that really opened my eyes to the land speed racing world,” May said. “But still I was like, this looks cool, but I never really wanted to do it.” 

Everything changed a few years later. 

“When I was 15, it really sparked my interest because I was told that I would be able to go drive over 200 miles an hour in Utah at the Salt Flats,” May said. “There was, to that point, no other kid that has ever driven over 200 miles an hour.” 

Preparing for Bonneville meant spending time in a completely different form of racing. 

May began practicing in his father’s circle track car at New Smyrna Speedway to sharpen the shifting skills he would need on the salt. Along the way, he unexpectedly discovered another passion. 

“When I was practicing, I started getting really interested in the circle track stuff too,” he said. “It sparked me wanting to race circle track stuff by practicing to do land speed stuff.” 

The preparation paid off in August 2025. 

After completing licensing passes and working through tuning adjustments, May qualified the family’s Datsun at 247 mph before returning with a 244 mph pass to officially set a class record of 246.003 mph in the F/BFMS class. The performance earned him membership in the coveted Bonneville 200 MPH Club while making him the fastest recognized 16-year-old driver in Bonneville history. 

The record carried extra significance because it belonged to someone close to him. The previous mark of 231.142 mph had been set by his grandfather, Red. 

“It was really crazy,” May said. “Especially me knowing what it takes to break a land speed record. I’ve talked to many people, and they’ve told me it has taken them 15-plus years of attempting to break a land speed record over 200 and they haven’t got it. It was the first year I’d ever attempted the record. For it to be my grandfather’s was pretty cool because it’s different if you’re taking a record from a random person. It was kind of like he passed the record down to me.” 

Stauffer’s influence extends far beyond record books. 

“He’s kind of scared of nothing,” May said. “He’s taught me you can’t be scared of little things. Whenever you put your helmet on, it’s a whole different world, and you have a task to do. You can’t be worried about what if this happens or what if that happens. You just have to be focused on the task at hand and what you have to do to get it done.” 

That mindset has helped May remain calm before races, even if the nerves creep in while waiting his turn. 

“My heart beats like crazy,” he said. “But whenever the truck pushes you off, all those nerves go away.” 

May said driving at speeds of 250 mph leaves almost no room for hesitation. 

“I don’t think people realize how little time you have to correct things,” May said. “At over 250 miles an hour, you’re traveling about a football field a second. If something happens, you have less than a second to correct before you’re spinning out or going off course.” 

Bonneville was only the beginning. 

Later that year, May established another record at California’s El Mirage with a 212-mph run before returning in May to improve the mark to 217 mph. Those performances made him the youngest person ever to hold official records at both of the sport’s most iconic venues. 

Meanwhile, his success has continued closer to home. 

Competing in the E-Mod division at New Smyrna Speedway, May has quickly become one of the track’s top drivers. Through his first 10 starts, he has recorded seven top-three finishes, including two victories. Through three races of the track championships, he currently leads the standings by 13 points with five races remaining. His father, Brad May, also leads the Pro Late Model standings, giving the family a chance to capture two championships in the same season. 

May returns to New Smyrna Speedway on Saturday, July 11, before shifting his focus back to Bonneville Speed Week in August, where he hopes to add another chapter to his growing résumé. 

His current record sits at 246 mph, but his sights are set much higher. 

“The biggest goal for Speed Week is I want to go over 260,” May said. “I had a lot more room that I could have been accelerating at, but I didn’t because, for my safety, they were holding me back. But now that I’ve had the experience, I’m going to try to push the car faster than it’s ever been before.” 

Even that isn’t the ultimate dream. 

“This is going to sound really crazy,” May said with a laugh. “But someday, I want to drive a streamliner and hit the 400-mile-per-hour barrier.” 

The pursuit has required sacrifices, including missing milestones like junior prom, but May said the greatest cost has simply been time. 

“Racing consists of so much prep time,” he said. “My dad spends an extreme amount of time before work, after work, working on race cars, working on my race cars, getting just a tenth of a second faster. That’s just our life now.” 

For May, that investment has already produced historic results. With another trip to the Bonneville Salt Flats just weeks away, the teenager who has already rewritten the record book is eager to see just how much faster he can go.