By T.J. Buffenbarger
KNOXVILLE, IA (August 9, 2024) — When I decided to seed the Knoxville Nationals field again this year, I mentioned in the article that there would be a follow up story composed after the event about how good or bad my choices were.
When Jimmy Light, the driver I picked in the last position, far outperformed his seeding I felt writing a story about him before leaving Knoxville was justified.
Light, originally from West Springfield, Pennsylvania and now living in Pittsboro, Indiana, is a familiar face to sprint car fans at the Knoxville Raceway from competing in multiple Knoxville Nationals, even holding the dubious honor of being the only driver to win back-to-back E-Features in the event’s history.
Shortly after those E-Main victories Light got away from racing, but eventually came back to the USAC Silver Crown Series events. That ended up rekindling the fire for Light’s return to winged sprint car racing.
“Sitting on the couch sucked,” said Light. “We ran some silver crown stuff the last couple years, but I just missed this. I wanted to come back (to Knoxville). Our joke was we wanted to get out of the E-Main.”
“I stepped away for a little while. Laura and I just had our son, and my business had got out of control. I tried running a little last year, but I was just frustrated and didn’t like it and sold everything. Silver Crown stuff kind of got me through it. But (winged sprint racing), honestly, I’ve had more fun this year than ever. This is my smallest rig and I’m just doing it just for fun, and I’ve had more fun this year than I have for a long time”
Unfortunately for Light his point total will put him in contention for a third E-Main victory Saturday at the Knoxville Nationals. While Light is in the lowest main of the Knoxville Nationals, he has exceeded his seed by nearly 19 positions.
“I wasn’t aware that you ranked me that bad until you told me,” said Light, who thankfully doesn’t waste time worrying about what I’m writing about him. “I don’t even know if I’d have found that out. Someone might have told me.”
After some good-natured ribbing, Light said he could see my point of view of why I put him in this position in the seeding. As the owner of a very successful company, Horsepower Inc, that makes aftermarket parts for motorcycles and has grown to 25 employees, I wasn’t even sure if work would allow him to get away to race at the Nationals along with his lack of starts compared to the other competitors in the field.
“I can see why you’d rank me that bad because this is the hardest place there is to race a sprint car,” said Light. “There’s no other place that has this much of a challenge, especially at this race. I’m glad I could prove you wrong a little bit”
Light has made little gains throughout the week at Knoxville that showed up in small bursts. Light admits this is the best equipment he has been in while winged sprint car racing. Unfortunately, luck has not been on his side as much as some of the others drivers in the field.
“Sunday we were not bad and then got better in the C, and then the B, and got lapped,” said Light. “I just need more laps here. Then today we were 15.6, and we just got screwed by that draw and the rest of the night got crashed and shit like that.”
“The car is way better than the driver. I’ve got good equipment. I also have a lot of help from some good people too and that makes a huge difference. That’s a big part of it here.
This is far from Light’s swan song though as he’s already starting to make some preliminary plans for 2025, but also realizes the window to still compete could be short.
“Oh, I’ll be back,” Light said when asked if he had enough fun to return to Knoxville in 2024. “I’m not done racing at all. No way. Even being E-Main, we’ll get out of that. I’d like to come here and run a decent number of times next year and do a tune up for (Natonals). I’ve only got a couple more years of doing this. If my kid ever wants to race when he wants to do that, then I’ll get away from it. But no, I’m not done. I’m going to try to I’m trying to run a bunch next year.”