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Prather Completes Perfect Season With Seventh SCCA National Championship
Story courtesy of SCCA.com
ELKHART LAKE, Wis.
(Sept. 24, 2011) – Seven-time National Champion Kent Prather, of
Wakarusa, Kan., cruised to victory in the GT-Lite race during the 48th
SCCA National Championship Runoffs at Road America. Peter Shadowen, of
Riviera Beach, Fla., and Brian Downey, of Bristow, Va., joined Prather on
the podium, respectively.
 Prather
started from the Gumout pole in the No. 26 Prather Racing/Mazdaspeed/Moss
Motorsports/Goodyear Mazda Miata and was side-by-side with Bobby Lentz, of
Chantilly, Va., in the No. 60 FGR/Auto Expectations/Goodyear Nissan Sentra
SER in Turn One at the race start. Coming out of Turn One, Lentz had the
lead and held it for the first lap. Lentz had a transmission issue on lap
two, which forced him out of the race.
When Lentz pulled into pit lane, Prather inherited the race lead and
continued to string together fast race laps. Prather turned the Hawk
Fastest Race Lap of the race with a 2:35.100 (92.843 mph), opening up a
lead of more than eight seconds over the field by lap six of the 13-lap
race. Prather was never seriously challenge over the remaining seven laps
and cruised to a 3.398-second win over the defending GT-Lite National
Champion Shadowen.
“My kid, Jesse, three-time National Champion, told me, ‘Dad make sure you
beat him [Lentz] into Turn One,’” Prather said. “So, I did. Then, Bobby
got right up next to me. We went down into Turn Three and he was right
next to me. We went down the straight into [Turn] 5 and I could see he was
going to outbrake me. So, I let him go. Then, I decided this might not be
so bad. I was drafting him on the back side and I thought I would just
back off here and see what happens on the front straight.
“I pulled up on him on the front straight. I knew I could draft by. So I
said, ‘why don’t we just get away from the other cars.’ I saw that big
black wide car holding them all up [behind us]. I said, ‘I’m going to use
Bobby and we’re going to get away from these guys and we’re going to duke
it out later on.’
“We got going and then, I think it was the third lap, all of a sudden
going into the Carousel, he missed a shift. Apparently, he broke his gear
box. He pulled off, like the gentleman he is and I just took off. Then,
that was that. I just started hitting my marks. It started to rain a
little bit and I knew Peter [Shadowen] was coming because I could see the
yellow [car] back there. My wife kept giving me my gap. It would be six
[seconds], then it would be seven, then it would be six, then it would be
five. I decided to stay off the paint, get down in the brake areas
properly, hit my marks, and make sure he didn’t catch me.”
Prather’s car, which was a 185,000-mile street car before being converted
into a racecar, has now won Championships in three different classes. Son
Jesse Prather won three titles with the car – F Production in 2006 and
2007, E Production in 2008 and now GT-Lite with Kent behind the wheel in
2011.
It was Prather's
seventh National Championship. He is one of two drivers to win
Championships at Road Atlanta, Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course and Road
America, the other being Michael Lewis. Prather's previous six titles came
in G Production, driving an MGA.
Prather
Racing would like to thank its sponsors for their continued support,
including ARP, Carbotech, Goodyear Tires, Mazdaspeed, Moss Motors, Torco
Advanced Lubricants, Total Seal Rings and Venolia Pistons.
Now in its 48th year, the SCCA National Championship Runoffs annually
crowns Champions in the Sports Car Club of America’s Club Racing classes.
The live broadcast of all 28 National Championship races will be available
throughout the weekend at www.Speedcasttv.com/scca and later available On
Demand from the same site.
Image: Kent Prather
takes a victory lap with crew (l-r) Robert Montgomery, Kathy Prather and
Joey Smith.
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