Jimmy Kite burst on to the IZOD IndyCar Series with a flourish and in a hurry.
He dove under veteran Chuck Gurney off the fourth turn to win the Copper World Classic’s Silver Crown race in 1997 at Phoenix, then stopped his car and ran down the
Jimmy Kite: Photo Credit-Callahan 1999
front stretch, looking for Victory Lane as the crowd cheered.
“That was a one-shot deal,” he said. “My name wasn’t even on the car.”
He hoped to get to Indy that May, but it was a whirlwind.
“Not as fast as it happened,” he said. “I knew being the age I was and the IRL had just started and I’d been in contact with some Busch teams in Charlotte.”
But Andy Evans called, and immediately Kite was doing an IZOD IndyCar Series press advance for Pikes Peak International Raceway.
“He was looking for a driver, so it was right place, right time,” Kite said. “Andy called me and said, ‘Do you want to test my car?’ Then he said for me to get ready to run with the big boys tomorrow. I couldn’t believe it. There was Scott Goodyear and Arie (Luyendyk).”
Kite ran the Indianapolis 500 five times in eight attempts, with a best finish of 11th in 1998.
“Hopefully there’ll be more,” he said. “The only thing I could do right now in Indy cars is Indy.
“I remember coming to Indy and in my head, I was saying I was going to treat it like any other race. But the way the media treated it was a shocker. On Race Day, walking out, where there hadn’t been anyone all month, were all those people. Even on the pace lap, I was in awe. I got to enjoy it more the second year and do my job.
“When I was 4 or 5 years old, whoever we were living, we’d come for a practice day. I didn’t realize how big Race Day was until I was there as a driver.”
He wants to do it again.
“I talk to a bunch of ‘em all the time,” he said. “We all know it’s not the best of economic times. Seventyfive to 80 percent of the cars, the drivers are tied to the sponsors. I need a rich uncle to hit the lottery.”
He’s still ready to drive sprinters.
“If sprint cars paid what Indy cars do, I’d drive sprint cars,” he said. “A sprint car is more like driving a stock car, sliding around, a lot more horsepower, no downforce. They’re just fun – horsepower, weight, have to think so fast, tracks change, it’s just fun.”
Today, Kite and fellow racer Geoff Dodge operate Indy Line Stripe, a commercial pavement line striping business.
“If I’m not in a race car, I’m out around people,” Kite said.
Indeed. One of his buddies is Matt “Bubba” Hoffman, who is about three times Kite’s size. The pair has a good time. And as pranks get played by Bubba and Jimmy, some get played on them.
One time Kite walked into a restaurant and immediately saw a friend at a long table of racing folks. He stopped to talk for a minute and the friend said: “Do you see those two people at the other end of the table? Go talk to them. They have a ride for you.”
Kite marched down and approached them about the “ride.”
And a staff and board member of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race waited about three seconds before laughing.
“Too cold,” said Kite.
It might be the only ride he’s turned down.
Very good. Jimmy is a great guy!! But in your blog you spelled Jeffs name wrong. The correct spelling is “Geoff” just wanted to let you know.