Starting his career in the 1990’s, Jesse Bunnell has race almost everything there is to race. Growing up in a racing family, his love for the sport was always instilled in him. After a hiatus from racing, he made his return to Legend Cars in 2024 and has found early success in this year’s Cook Out Summer Shootout.
Hometown: Kennebunk, Maine
Number: 96
Division: Legend Car Masters
Team: Neal Cantor Racing
Favorite Track: Bristol Motor Speedway
1. How did you get your start in racing?
I started back in 1996, racing at Beach Ridge Motor Speedway in Scarborough, Maine when I was 17 in the street stock class that they had. I did that for three years and then in 1999 I moved to Charlotte, because I had gotten a job for the Richard Petty Driving Experience. I started running Legend Cars in 2001 at Concord Motorsports Park. That progressed into racing Thunder Roadsters, we won the king of the oval’s championship in a Thunder Roadster in 2007. I also raced Street Stocks and Late Models locally. I took about a 15-year hiatus and just started racing again about 2 years ago.
2. How did you get your number?
It’s a funny story. When I started racing Legend Cars, my dad and I looked at a car, after saying we weren’t going to buy the first car we saw. We did and the number on the car was 96. My dad had joked that if I flipped the car, the number would still read 96 upsides down. The very first practice out at Concord, which was the night before my first race, me and Keith Newcomer got together in practice, and I ended up flipping it about five or six times down the front straight away. My dad jinxed us a bit there, but he was right, it still read 96.
3. Who is your biggest inspiration?
My biggest inspiration was my dad. He raced from the time I was born. I grew up going to the race track every weekend. I was into sports growing up, but when I was 15 is when I got an interest in racing. He let me help out I was on his pit crew, at 16 he let me practice his car. When I was 17, I built my own car and got to race against my dad in the same division. That was what got me hooked.
4. You have raced Legend Cars from the early 2000s to now. What brought you back to racing them, and how has the racing changed from the early 2000’s to the current day?
My crew chief, which is also my car owner Neal Cantor, he used to be my crew chief in the early 2000’s for Kyle Beattie Racing. He and I stayed friends when I had quit racing. He had been asking me for a while to get the band back together and get racing again. In 2024 I had called him up saying let’s do it. Concord had shut down so I wasn’t sure where or what they were racing locally. He had said they were halfway through the Summer Shootout, and it was no better place to come back to. We ran the last four races of 24, and we ran all of last years. The biggest difference is how people race. Back then, it was a lot cleaner racing. It seems like people are a lot more aggressive. These cars are not designed for how people are racing them. The competition is a lot better now too. The cars with the newer tires are a lot more fun to drive, you can man handle the cars a lot more now too. I have had to learn how to adapt after coming back in 24.
5. What is your favorite racing memory?
Back when we ran the Thunder Roadsters, we got to run them at some pretty cool racetracks. We ran twice at Bowman Gray Stadium, and we won both of those races. We got to race at Bristol Motor Speedway after they did the reconfiguration, and we won that race. I got to drive up on top of the building in victory lane. Those memories stick out the most, because they are iconic tracks and to be able to win there is cool.
6. You have competed in the first three rounds of the Cook Out Summer Shootout and have had success so far placing in the Top 3 each round and winning the Round 2 feature. How did it feel getting into victory lane and winning? How do you feel you've been able to find success early?
The first three rounds have been successful so far. We did a lot of preparation this year, we knew we had a chance of competing for wins and a championship. I put a lot more pressure on myself this year compared to the last two years were more about having fun. The Round 2 race, Bolen had a really strong car at the beginning. I knew there would be some cautions, so I tried to save my tires early. I wasn’t trying to press to get to him as fast as I could. On the restart we went down into one and he checked up more than I thought he would. From all of the videos I saw it looked like they just ran out of room coming out of Turn two. Overall, though, we got going, I made a break adjustment after the red flag for the incident with Jeff. It really woke the car up, and after that I had a better car than Robby did. I just had a good run coming off of Turn four and was able to clear him and hang on for the last few laps. It was a huge sigh of relief getting into victory lane. I have a wife and two young kids now. They see all these trophies in the garage, and they weren’t around to see me win in the early 2000’s. Now that they get to see a win was the coolest thing to me. Overall, it’s been a great season, the car is in a great place, Neil and the team have done great. We are looking for more wins and hopefully win this championship.
7. What is your favorite track?
Bristol, because of the speed factor. You had to hold it wide open in the Thunder Roadsters to be fast. To be honest, I don’t think we should have been racing there, we were flying. It’s such a cool place, I’ve always been a Nascar fan, and I always wanted to go to the Bristol night race. To be able to go there, race there, and win there was an awesome opportunity.
8. How do you measure success in racing?
The fun factor. That’s why we do this. If you aren’t having fun, then you should find something else to do. I like to be successful and win, I’ve won about 75 to 80 races in my career, but at times it wasn’t fun. It was people arguing and people upset. With all the work that we put into this, it’s all about having fun.
9. How has having kids changed your approach to racing? How does it feel to be able to share this and celebrate your victories with them?
Having the kids around I’m more focused on teaching them about racing. When I was doing this before having kids, it was all about getting to the track and working on the car. I am able to spend time with the kids now, teaching them how to work on the car, teaching them the proper way to race, and the procedures. They tend to come later in the evening after the work on the car is done, so I get to spend more time with them. They both are into it, my son is four, and getting a Bandolero soon if I let him, and my daughter Alexis, she likes it, I don’t know if she will be a driver, but I think she will have a career in the sport. The other night, going to victory lane was cool. They have seen dad run well last year, running second to Kyle [Busch] in the last race of the year. It was an honor, to us it felt like a win. I told them they were going to see me get it into victory lane and get the big trophy. They were ecstatic, and now they think I am supposed to do that every week. We finished third last week, and I think they were a little disappointed. My son after I won, made me bring my flag and trophy to his daycare to show everyone. This Wednesday, I asked him if he told all his friends how I did, and he said no because I ran third.
10. If you could race at any track in the world, what would it be?
Darlington, because it’s the ultimate driver’s racetrack.
11. What's the biggest lesson that racing has taught you in life?
Work ethic. If you want to be good at something, you have to put in the effort to be ablet to get there.
12. As a member of the Masters Division, what advice would you give to a younger driver?
Especially in this day and age, get into networking and building relationships with sponsors. With the social media side of things, that is where this sport has turned. If you don’t have funding, it’s very difficult to find success in this day and age. If you want to get into this, you obviously have to put in the work, but networking and marketing is the biggest thing now.