Jimmy Kite To Take the Wheel in Four Vintage Events

Open Wheel and Stock Car Veteran Returns to SVRA Series for VROC Races

Indianapolis, Indiana, February 18, 2020. Veteran open wheel and stock car racer Jimmy Kite will race the full, four-race season of the Sportscar Vintage Racing Association’s (SVRA) Vintage Race of Champions Charity Pro-Am Series in 2020. Kite (Brownsburg, Indiana) will contest the VROC rounds at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta (March 26 – 27), the Brickyard Vintage Racing Invitational (June 17 – 21) at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the Heacock Classic Gold Cup at VIRginia International Raceway (September 24 – 27) and the season-finale U.S. Vintage National Championships at the Circuit of the Americas (November 5 – 8) in Austin, Texas. Details of the car the five-time Indianapolis 500 starter and 1997 USAC Silver Crown Copper World Classic winner will be driving will be announced at a later date.

No stranger to SVRA competition, Kite drove in his first vintage event at Indianapolis in 2015. He has competed in at least one round every season since. In 2018, Indy’s Fastest Rookie Qualifier (1998) won the A Production class with Gary Klutt in the Brickyard Vintage Racing Invitational at “The Speedway”. In addition to his stints in the cockpit of vintage machines, Kite is an instructor for the Dodge/SRT Thrill Rides program and pace car driver for the one-make Ferrari Challenge race series in North America.

The VROC Charity Pro-Am is a Saturday feature event for the SVRA. The cars are primarily 1963 to 1972 vintage Corvettes, Camaros and Mustangs of SVRA “Group 6” A and B Production. The Pro-Am style series pairs professionals with amateur drivers. The amateur starts the 50-minute race for a preset minimum number of laps before handing the car over to their professional co-driver.

Jimmy Kite | “It's an honor that Tony [Parella] and everybody at SVRA are letting me be a part of the four race VROC series. Not only am I excited to know I'll be running Indy again this year but to get the invite to run the full VROC schedule has me ready to jump in a car tomorrow. To see Atlanta and Indy are the first two races on the schedule... that's a dream for me. Then VIR and COTA; both are beautiful tracks that will be fun to drive. I am looking forward to racing these fun cars at some of the best road courses in the country. The competition is going to be intense. I can't wait!”

About Jimmy Kite | Kite retired from professional racing in 2013 after a career that began as an eight-year-old in quarter-midgets and would culminate with five starts in the Indianapolis 500, 34 IndyCar Series races, multiple NASCAR Truck Series and ARCA starts and victories in NAMARS Midgets, sprint car racing and USAC Silver Crown including the prestigious Copper World Classic in 1997. The longtime resident of Stockbridge, Georgia accumulated six championships and numerous accolades including Fastest Rookie in the Field for the 1998 Indianapolis 500 and USAC Silver Crown Rookie of the Year (1997). In 2005, Kite became, and still holds the distinction as, the only driver to run a NASCAR-sanctioned event (Truck Series) and an IndyCar Series race on the same weekend at the same track (Texas). He repeated the feat at Kansas later that same season. Today, Kite is an instructor for the Dodge/SRT Thrill Rides program and pace car driver for the IMSA Ferrari Challenge. He lives in Brownsburg, Indiana where he and his wife Mindy operate “Mindy’s Brownsburg Signs”.

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