Scott Donald Pruett
Born	(1960-03-24) March 24, 1960 (age 52) Roseville, California
Achievements	SCCA Trans-Am Champion (1987, 1994, 2003) IMSA GTO Champion (1988, 1986) Michigan 500 winner (1995) 24 Hours of Daytona overall winner (1994, 2007, 2008, 2011) Rolex Sports Car Series Daytona Prototype Grand-Am Champ (2004, 2008, 2010)
Awards	Indianapolis 500 co-rookie of the year (1989) World Karting Association Hall of Fame inductee (1991)
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career
40 race(s) run over 8 year(s)
2008 position	68th
Best finish	37th - 2000 (Winston Cup)
First race	2000 Daytona 500 (Daytona)
Last race	2008 Toyota/Save Mart 350 (Sonoma)
Wins Top tens Poles 6
NASCAR Nationwide Series career
11 race(s) run over 6 year(s)
2008 position	79th
Best finish	76th - 2000 (Busch)
First race	2000 NAPA Auto Parts 300 (Daytona)
Last race	2008 NAPA Auto Parts 200 (Montreal)
Wins Top tens Poles 4 3
Statistics current as of November 7, 2011.

Scott Donald Pruett (born March 24, 1960 in Roseville, California) is an American race car driver who has competed in NASCAR, Champ Car, IMSA, Trans-Am and Grand-Am. He and his wife Judy have three children, and are children's book authors.

Pruett started racing go karts at the age of eight,^[1] and went on to win ten professional karting championships. In the 1980s, he established himself as a top American sports car racer, eventually winning two IMSA GTO Championships and three Trans-Am Series Championships.

In the 1990s, Pruett was a regular in the CART series. From 1988 to 1999, he made 145 starts with two wins, five poles and fifteen podiums (top three finishes). In a pre-season testing in 1990, Pruett was involved in a serious crash at West Palm Beach, Florida, where he seriously injured both his legs. Pruett spent the 1990 season recovering & on certain occasions calling ESPN Indycar telecasts as color commentator with Paul Page doing the play by play.

In 1994 he joined the reformed Pat Patrick team in CART series testing Firestone tires. Later that same year he won the Trans-Am Series Championship. In 1995 he drove full time for Patrick racing using Firestone tires in Firestone's return to the CART series & finally won his first race in a thrilling last lap duel with Al Unser Jr. at the Michigan 500. In 1997 he won his final CART series race at Surfers Paradise Australia (Nikon Indy 300).

Following his Champ Car career, Pruett raced the 2000 season in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series with PPI Motorsports, although with little success, achieving just 1 top-10 and finishing 37th in the points standings. He then moved back to sports car racing and won his third Trans-Am Series Championship in 2003. Since 2004, he has raced in the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series for Chip Ganassi Racing. Pruett is still a regular starter at NASCAR road course races and he is often referred to as a Road Course Ringer. Pruett has won nine American sports car championships, three in Grand-Am (2004, 2008, 2010), to go along with previous championships in IMSA GTO (1986, 1988), Trans-Am Series (1987, 1994, 2003) and IMSA GT Endurance (1986).^[2]

Pruett also worked for several years as a commentator for Champ Car races on Speed Channel.

He is rumored as a candidate to replace Brian Barnhart as INDYCAR Chief Steward.^[3]

Career[link]

Pruett at the 2008 24 Hours of Daytona

1980s[link]

Pruett began racing in karts at the age of eight. In 1984, he moved to sedan racing. His first victory took place in 1986, when he won the IMSA GTO Championship, which he would again win in 1988.^[4] In 1987, Pruett won the SCCA Trans-Am Championship.^[4] At the Indianapolis 500, he was the co-rookie of the year in 1989.

In 1989 and some seasons in the 1990s, Pruett started in the Indy 500s, but never won a position on the podium but started the race.

1990s[link]

Pruett won the opening round of the 1991 IROC series season at Daytona.^[1] In 1994, Pruett joined Patrick Racing as a test driver for Firestone tires. The same year, he also won the IMSA 24 Hours at Daytona, and also won a second Trans-Am Series championship.^[4]

For the next 4 years, Pruett continued driving Indy Cars for Patrick Racing and usually made the top ten in the series championship. In 1995 he won his first CART race at the Michigan 500.^[1] His best CART career championship finish was in 1998 finishing sixth in points with three podium finishes and one pole position.

In 1999, Pruett changed to Arciero-Wells and participated in the Toyota engine program development. He also earned Toyota's first pole on an oval (California Speedway) and earned Toyota's best qualifying effort on a road course at the current time (third at the Australian Grand Prix).

2000s[link]

In 2000, Pruett raced the #32 Tide Ford for Cal Wells in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series. Replaced by Ricky Craven after the season, he briefly retired from racing,^[1] but returned in 2001 to win the 24 Hours Du Mans LMGTS Class in a factory Chevrolet Corvette C5-R.^[1] The following year, he won the GTS class in the 24 Hours at Daytona and also joined Speed as a reporter. For them he covered the 2002 FedEx Championship Series as well as the Champ Car World Series in 2003. This year, Pruett also won the Trans-Am Championships in the Motorock Trans-Am Series for Rocketsports Racing.^[4]

In 2007, he won the overall race and Daytona Prototype in the Rolex 24 at Daytona, with Juan Pablo Montoya and Salvador Duran in the #01 Telmex, Target, Lexus Riley for Chip Ganassi Racing.^[1] Later that same year he nearly won his first Nationwide series victory at the Telcel-Motorola Mexico 200 at the Mexico City road course only to lose it in the closing laps when his Chip Ganassi team mate the afore mentioned Juan Pablo Montoya spun him out and Juan Pablo Montoya would win his first NASCAR race. Pruett would recover to a 5th place finish, his best Nationwide finish at that time. After the race however Pruett was none too pleased with his teammate stating, "that was...nasty, dirty driving".^[5]

The year 2008 was very successful for Scott Pruett. He won the overall race and in the Daytona Prototype Class at the 2008 Porsche 250 at Barber Motorsports Park and also the Rolex Sports Car Series Daytona Prototype season championship. In the Daytona Prototype Class at the Mexico City 250 he made the second place overall. Moreover, Pruett won the closest finish in the history of Grand-Am at the time, beating Alex Gurney in the finish to the 2008 Brumos Porsche 250 held at Daytona International Speedway by 0.081 seconds, after 145 minutes of racing.

2010s[link]

Pruett / Memo Rojas's 2011 Daytona Prototype

Pruett was racing for Chip Ganassi in the Grand Am Series during the 2010 seaon. In July, Hendrick Motorsports chose him as a standby driver should Jeff Gordon have to miss Watkins Glen due to the birth of his son.^[6] Pruett, combined with Memo Rojas, won 9 of 12 races to win another Grand-Am Rolex Championship. The nine victories was a series record.

In 2011, Pruett won the 24 Hours of Daytona, his fourth overall victory in the event.^[7]

Racing record[link]

American open–wheel racing results[link]

(key)

CART[link]

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	Rank	Points
1988	Dick Simon Racing	PHX	LBH Ret	INDY	MIL	POR	CLE	TOR														38th	0
	Machinists Union Racing								MEA Ret	MIS	POC	MDO Ret	ROA	NZR	LS	MIA
1989	TrueSports	PHX 11	LBH DNS	INDY 10	MIL 5	DET 2	POR 5	CLE 6	MEA 3	TOR 6	MIS Ret	POC 8	MDO Ret	ROA 8	NZR 6	LS 4						8th	101
1991	TrueSports	SRF 5	LBH Ret	PHX Ret	INDY Ret	MIL Ret	DET 17	POR 8	CLE Ret	MEA Ret	TOR 4	MIS Ret	DEN 5	VAN 5	MDO 4	ROA Ret	NZR Ret	LS 7				10th	67
1992	TrueSports	SRF Ret	PHX 7	LBH 9	INDY Ret	DET Ret	POR 10	MIL 11	NHA 6	TOR Ret	MIS 5	CLE 7	ROA 9	VAN 4	MDO 9	NZR 10	LS 14					11th	62
1993	ProFormance Motorsports	SRF	PHX 7	LBH 7	INDY DNQ	MIL	DET Ret	POR	CLE	TOR Ret	MIS	NHA	ROA	VAN	MDO 15	NZR	LS Ret					19th	12
1995	Patrick Racing	MIA 4	SRF 3	PHX 9	LBH 2	NZR 8	INDY Ret	MIL 12	DET 3	POR 13	ROA 7	TOR Ret	CLE Ret	MIS 1	MDO 11	NHA Ret	VAN 6	LS 5				7th	112
1996	Patrick Racing	MIA 4	RIO 3	SRF 2	LBH 11	NZR 8	500 Ret	MIL 12	DET 10	POR Ret	CLE 8	TOR 10	MIS Ret	MDO Ret	ROA 7	VAN Ret	LS 3					10th	82
1997	Patrick Racing	MIA 5	SRF 1	LBH 3	NZR 10	RIO 3	STL Ret	MIL 9	DET Ret	POR 17	CLE 8	TOR 5	MIS Ret	MDO 9	ROA 5	VAN Ret	LS Ret	FON 7				9th	102
1998	Patrick Racing	MIA 5	MOT Ret	LBH 12	NZR Ret	RIO Ret	STL 5	MIL 10	DET 9	POR 2	CLE 4	TOR 6	MIS 4	MDO 2	ROA Ret	VAN 3	LS Ret	HOU 11	SRF 4	FON Ret		6th	121
1999	Arciero-Wells Racing	MIA Ret	MOT Ret	LBH 15	NZR 10	RIO Ret	STL 14	MIL 17	POR Ret	CLE Ret	ROA Ret	TOR 7	MIS Ret	DET 8	MDO 17	CHI Ret	VAN 13	LS 7	HOU 10	SRF 9	FON Ret	19th	28

Complete V8 Supercar results[link]

+ Not Eligible for points
† Non Championship Races

References[link]

External links[link]

• Scott Pruett at Racing Reference

Dave Despain (born 20 May 1946) is an American motor sports journalist. He is the host of WindTunnel with Dave Despain on Speed Channel, and formerly the host of Inside Nextel Cup, until the latter underwent a format change at the beginning of the 2008 NASCAR Season.

Early life and career[link]

A native of Fairfield, Iowa, Despain worked for a time at KMCD-AM, the local radio station. His earliest work included a program called "Dave Despain's Record-Go-Round". Eventually he worked in all phases of KMCD's programming, and became known for a unique broadcasting style in which he vigorously nodded and bobbed his head while speaking. Despain, a former motorcycle racer, later joined the American Motorcycle Association in the public-relations department. One day in the 1970s, producers of ABC's Wide World of Sports asked him to appear on camera for its coverage of a prestigious bike race at Daytona International Speedway. Despain agreed, and a new career was launched. Throughout the 1980s and '90s, Despain was a pit reporter for both motorcycle and NASCAR races on WTBS and CBS.^[1]

ESPN[link]

He then moved to ESPN as host of its prerace show, NASCAR 2Day. His final appearance on 12 November 2000, is still fondly remembered by both fans and critics. After that race, ESPN stopped carrying NASCAR races after being outbid for a new contract (although ESPN returned to NASCAR in 2007). Despain also hosted Motor Week and filled in for Bob Jenkins on SpeedWeek, and hosted some programs featuring drivers walking away from scary crashes.

Speedvision/Speed Channel[link]

Despain joined Speed Channel in 2000 (then known as Speedvision). For some time Despain was one of several anchors of Speed News, Speed's racing newscast broadcast every weekend. In 2003, WindTunnel with Dave Despain debuted, which saw Despain preside over an hour racing-centric call-in show. He continues to host the series to this day.

Despain became host of NASCAR Inside Nextel Cup in 2005, replacing the panel show's longtime host Allen Bestwick. Despain hosted the series until its cancellation in 2008, when it was replaced by This Week in NASCAR.

Dave Despain hosts a series of specials called Dave Despain On Assignment that has documented the history of the Daytona Beach course and Daytona International Speedway, and the Talladega Superspeedway.^[2] The episodes have appeared on the weekends of the Daytona 500 and the Pepsi 400, and the fall AMP Energy 500.

Personal life[link]

Despain lives in suburban Atlanta, Georgia, with his wife Wendy, ten dogs and five potbellied pigs.

External links[link]

• SPEEDtv.com profile^{[dead link]}

References[link]