Welcome to the Marshall Pruitt podcast in a short feature series remembering John Paul Jr.,

which focuses on the late race car driver's career in sports cars.

Known as one of the most natural talents in the sport, Jr. became a champion in the

International Motorsports Association's fearsome GTP class,

won many of the biggest endurance races, and added a famous IndyCar victory to his growing reputation

before his father's drug trafficking business and snared the two in 1986.

With his career halted during the 30 months he spent in prison,

compounded by a refusal to testify against his father, John Paul Sr., the Indiana native returned to racing in 1989 and continued driving until the early 2000s.

Altogether, the vast majority of juniors' exploits in racing came in sports cars

and have assembled eight brief episodes with his friends, co-drivers, team owners, and an IMSA official to share their insights and appreciations for all that made John Paul Jr. such a beloved figure inside the sport.

And in some of the interviews, our guests speak to the latter years of Junior's life, where he fought and ultimately succumbed to the

neurological disorder Huntington's disease.

Junior's close friend, author Sylvia Wilkinson, wrote a book titled 50-50 about his life

and career before and after Huntington's impact.

And while the book is sold in many places, he'd like to support his legacy, a purchase directly from Sylvia through the email address,

John Morton Racing at ATT.net.

We'll send some of the proceeds to UCLA for ongoing research to combat the disease.

So let's get going with second generation racer and MSA champion Butch Lightinger. Got to drive with Junior, his family's Nissan GTU program, and then more frequently at Dyson Racing.

This episode brought you by Cooper Tires at Justice Brothers and Toronto Motorsports.com.

You were actually John Paul Jr.'s most frequent teammate in his time in sports car racing.

Two of you did more races together than anyone else other than his father.

So I think that's pretty darn cool.

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