PRUETT PLANS INDY CAR AUDITION : A Winner Several Times at Long Beach, He Rents Car to Prove That He’s Serious About Open-Wheel Racing

Like a spy trying to shake a tail, no matter how often Scott Pruett changes clothes and switches cars, he keeps ending up in Long Beach.

The first time, in 1982, he pointed his pro kart south from Roseville, Calif., his hometown, and won a supporting event of the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach.

The next year, same thing, and a few people started to notice. Hey, isn’t that . . . ?

Later, in ‘87, he tried to sneak back in a Trans-Am sedan with more car around him than a stretch limo--aha, we see you, Scott.

Once he even tried to hide in the pro-celebrity race, but his talent kept leaking through.

Did Scott Pruett make a wrong turn someplace? Yeah, he keeps blowing his cover by turning left, into the winner’s circle.

For Pruett, all roads lead to Long Beach, where he will run in the Trans-Am race Saturday and the main event Sunday--his first CART Indy car race.

He is auto racing’s man on the lam, running hard to elude his past, which he believes has typecast him out of his goal: Indy cars and, perhaps later, the international Formula One circuit.

“I need to show people I’m serious about going open-wheel racing,” Pruett said while testing his new Mercury XR4Ti Trans-Am sedan at Willow Springs in the Mojave Desert this week. “I’ve been in sedans for so long. . . . I enjoy sedans but I need to pursue my career.”

Lee White, who manages the Jack Roush racing team that also includes Lyn St. James and Deborah Gregg, said there will be no holding Pruett back.

“He’s won championships the last two years for us, and there’s a possibility this year that he’ll win two championships,” White said. “But we really don’t expect to have him with us next year. He’ll be going to Indy cars or something else.

“He’s extremely smooth, and he has developed into a very smart racer. He doesn’t stand on the gas and burn the tires off the car. He’s very good at milking the car right to the end of the race.”

Gregg said: “Scott’s a very focused, intense guy, especially when he gets in a race car. He has the ability to compartmentalize and to shut out everything around him. Because of (that) ability, I think he’ll make a really good Indy car driver.

“Coming from karting to these races that are so much longer, and where the conditions change so radically during the race, he’s learned how to stalk.”

Pruett agrees that he has learned patience, but only on the track. He is eager to move on and will pay almost any price--literally.

For winning 7 of the 12 Trans-Am events last year, he earned $127,100, but 28 CART drivers won more. Mario Andretti won $97,410 just for winning at Long Beach.

And Pruett will spend most of his ’87 winnings on renting one of Dick Simon’s cars for Long Beach.

“For a few days of testing and the race, we’re looking at somewhere between $80,000 and $100,000,” he said.

Some of that expense will be picked up by some one-time sponsors, but most will come out of Pruett’s pocket. “I feel it’s an investment in my future to go down to Long Beach and make some sort of statement,” he said.

Pruett found it considerably less expensive the first time he visited Long Beach.

“I was 17 years old, and some friends had given me a pass to the Grand Prix when the Formula One cars were still there,” he said. “I was walking around in awe. I think I took about 40 rolls of film. I had all these stacks of pictures everywhere.

“It wasn’t even a goal then. It was more of a fantasy or a dream. Then doing the kart stuff and the celebrity race, the Trans-Am last year and now the Indy car race, it’s been amazing.”

Pruett will use the car Simon drove in the CART season opener at Phoenix last week--the one Simon crashed into the wall when a tire blew while he was running fourth at the same time his other driver, Arie Luyendyk, was running first.

Simon said he would have the car fixed in time for practice and preliminary qualifying Friday. Earlier, Pruett had practiced in Luyendyk’s backup car, driving alongside other CART drivers one day during their tuneups at Phoenix.

“I was only about four-tenths (of a second per lap) behind Arie, and at that point of the day, when we left the track, I was a little quicker than Roberto Guerrero (who qualified second and finished second),” Pruett said. “My third time in the car and being a rookie, I was real pleased.”

Those who think Pruett might be intimidated by open-wheel racing probably aren’t aware of his kart background. He won two national championships, lying exposed on his back on one of the little machines that consist of little more than an engine, frame and wheels but go 130 m.p.h.

But when Pruett tried to leap into Formula One, he got a cold reception.

“I went and tried to do the Formula One thing without being a European driver, and it’s really hard to get in with a good team and get recognized in the right way,” he said. “So I opted to do the Indy car stuff.”

If he is fairly successful at Long Beach, he hopes to try two or three more CART events, when his other commitments allow.

Pruett lost track of how many races he drove last year--between 35 and 38--and he’ll probably drive more this year. He already leads the International Motor Sports Assn.’s GTO standings--his main push--with a first and a fourth in two races.

“You can get yourself doing too much because it’s hard to pay attention to each car,” he said. “If I felt I couldn’t do the job, I wouldn’t do it.

“But I could be in a race car every day of the week. I enjoy it that much. And the more I’m in it, the better feel I can get. You can’t beat seat time.

“There’s such a thrill to be out there and putting it on the edge. You have your comfort zone, and you take one step out of your comfort zone and really put it on the line sometimes. It’s so exhilarating. A real thrill.”

But Pruett realized early on that he couldn’t do it alone.

“It’s been a lot of hard work, a lot of dedication, determination and a lot of help from a lot of good people and sponsors,” he said. “A lot of people could have the ability, but without the help . . . I mean, I come from just a regular middle-class family that didn’t have the money to go racing.

“I just started going to races and watching--watching and talking to people. That’s what I did last weekend in Phoenix, so these people know I’m around and interested and serious about doing it. I just want to make sure they take a look and see what I do at Long Beach.”

When he slips into the Indy car cockpit, it will be an audition. He will be watching, say, car owner Roger Penske to see if Penske is watching him.

“I’ll talk to him before the race just to make sure he knows I’m there,” Pruett said. “If things go well, maybe I can make some sort of step.”