Donald Scott Pruett (born
March 24, 1960 in
Sacramento, 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 are
children's book authors.
Pruett started racing
go karts at the age of eight and went on to win ten professional karting championships. In the 80's, he established himself as a top American
sports car racer, eventually winning two
IMSA GTO Championships and three Trans Am Championships.
In the 1990s, Pruett was a regular in the
CART (now Champ Car) series. From 1988 to 1999, he made 145 starts with two wins, five poles, and fifteen podiums (top three finishes). In preseason testing in 1990, Pruett was involved in a serious crash at
West Palm Beach, Florida, where he seriously injured both legs. Pruett sat out the entire 1990 season in order to recover.
Following his Champ Car career, Pruett raced a full season in the
NASCAR Winston Cup Series in 2000 with
PPI Motorsports, with little success. He then moved back to sports car racing, winning his third Trans-Am championship in 2003. Since 2004, he has raced in the
Grand-AmRolex Sports Car Series for
Chip Ganassi Racing. Pruett is still a regular starter at NASCAR road course races, and is often referred to as a
Road Course Ringer.
Pruett also worked for several years as a commentator for Champ Car races on
Speed Channel.