drivers guy light and jim brandt finished the 1981 northern lights rally just three minutes behind first place in the production class "in spite of nailing a tree dead center with their brand new amc eagle sx/4." two weeks later at the chisum trail rally, the light and brandt sx/4 captured fifth place overall, as well as won first in the production class, "only the second rally for the michigan team in their new eagle." the next event was the susquehannock trail rally that saw the first-place winner face "a stiff challenge" from light and brandt's sx/4 that captured second less than a minute later. at the centennial rally held in monument, colorado, the light and brandt team in their amc eagle sx/4 placed third in the production class and seventh overall. there were three entries with amc eagle sx/4s in the sunriser 400 rally. light and brandt won the production class and finished seventh overall, followed by drivers gene henderson and jim kloosterman placing fourth in production and eleventh overall, but steve dorr and bob lyle did not complete the race. with only 33 cars finishing out of 71 that entered, the grueling press-on-regardless rally held in michigan. light and brandt placed their sx/4 just two minutes behind the winning team in the production class.