Scott Pruett

Scott Pruett is a former American race car driver who has competed in NASCAR, CART, 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 8 and went on to win 10 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 15 podiums (top-three finishes). During pre-season testing in 1990, Pruett was involved in a serious crash at the West Palm Beach Fairgrounds temporary circuit in West Palm Beach, Florida, where he seriously injured both his legs. Pruett spent the 1990 season recovering and 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 and 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 one 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 was a regular starter at NASCAR road course races and was often referred to as a Road Course Ringer. Pruett has won 11 American sports car championships, five in Grand-Am (2004, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012), to go along with previous championships in IMSA GTO (1986, 1988), Trans-Am Series (1987, 1994, 2003) and IMSA GT Endurance (1986).

Pruett is well known for his trackside interviews, frequently interjecting the greeting "Hi to my family at home" mid-sentence when answering a question. He also worked for several years as a commentator for Champ Car races on Speed Channel.

Pruett and his wife have also opened Pruett Vineyards in Northern California. In November 2012 their Lucky Lauren Red was given a score of 93 points from Wine Spectator.

On January 26, 2017, Pruett was named to the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America.