On Friday, I had the opportunity to speak with road-racing legend Scott Pruett.
He is the driver of the No. 01 Telmex Lexus-Riley Daytona Prototype for Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates in the Rolex Grand-Am Series. He also drives stock cars for Ganassi in both the NASCAR Nationwide and Sprint Cup Series.
Pruett is the current points leader in the DP class, he won the 24 Hours of Daytona in January, and four of the first six races of the 2008 season. He also won the Brumos Porsche 250 at Daytona last week by the closest margin in Grand-Am history.
Scott has driven in practically every series in North America.
From Rookie of the Year at Indianapolis in 1995 to NASCAR—from winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans to 24 Hours of Daytona—from Champ Car to Trans-Am, Pruett has warmed the seat of many a race car. You can learn more about Scott’s storied career here.
Because of the length of the interview, and thus the length of this transcript, I’ve broken it down into two parts. I will post Part Two in the next couple of days.
Adam Amick: Scott, welcome.
Scott Pruett: It’s good to be here. We’re actually here in Columbus, Ohio at the Good Guys Car Show. So even on my weekends off I’m just a fool for racing and cool cars and stuff. So I’m having a great time.
AA: What kind of cars have you seen up there this weekend?
SP: Well, I’m here with Air Ride. You know, coming to these shows it’s amazing how many hours and expense goes into doing some of these cars. I mean all this stuff is hot rod stuff—a lot of ‘50s and ‘60s, even back in the ‘30s and ‘40s.
You know, the good old muscle that America was built on. You get a lot of these builders like the Ring Brothers to come along and take what was already a beautiful car and make it even that much nicer.
So it’s just amazing. I’m like a kid in a candy shop right now checking out all this cool equipment.
AA
7 comments Last one added about 1 month ago — Leave a Comment
Sanjay Kumar 12 months ago
Great interview! Pruett has always been an icon and I am a huge fan of his. Can't wait for part 2! Thanks!
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Adam Amick 12 months ago
Thank you, Sanjay. I just made some additions of links in the story if you'd like to look it over again. I'm hoping these will help increase the reading experience and knowledge gained.
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Sanjay Kumar 12 months ago
Also for some more info on Pruett, Car & Driver did a great spot of him a few months ago (I'll look at my back issues and try to find it).
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Saraswathi Siriginia 12 months ago
Wonderful interview Adam!
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Adam Amick 12 months ago
Thanks, Sarah. It's amazing how 18 minutes of audio can take hours to transcribe... :-) And I still have about 8 of that 18 to go.
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Alan Bass 12 months ago
Wow, unbelievable interview adam. i can't wait for the second part
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Lola Judd about 1 month ago
The ugly daytona prototypes and tube-frame GT cars have made the 24 Hours of Daytona a joke.
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