The victory laps and stellar Syrahs keep coming for Sierra Foothills vintner and five-time 24 Hours of Daytona champion Scott Pruett, who recently learned that he’ll be inducted into the National Motorsports Press Association Hall of Fame at South Carolina’s Darlington Raceway in January 2023. This will be Pruett’s fourth hall of fame induction, having already been enshrined in the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America at Daytona International Speedway in Florida (2017), the West Coast Stock Car Hall of Fame (2017) and the World Karting Association Hall of Fame at North Carolina’s Charlotte Motor Speedway (1991).
We last caught up with Pruett when his Lexus ES 350 F Sport “Culinary Build” winemobile prototype was making the rounds. But he was back on the track, coaching NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson in Ohio earlier this month when he got the call from the Press Association HOF.
"The news made my day," Pruett told Wine Spectator. "It's just an incredible opportunity to continue on with these great accolades I continue to get, unexpectedly so."
Fans of racing’s top vintners will recall that Pruett also coached Schrader Cellars founder Fred Schrader for his 2012 Aston Martin Racing Festival of Le Mans debut, at which Schrader’s co-driver was yet another speed-obsessed vintner, Adobe Road’s Kevin Buckler.
Aside from racing, repping Lexus and Rolex and writing hall of fame induction speeches, Pruett has been making some of the top-finishing Syrahs and Cabernets in the Sierra Foothills for more than a decade, and he says he'll be taking a few bottles of his own to celebrate with in January … along with some Champagne.
”I am honored and humbled to receive this wonderful induction,” said Pruett, who comes from a family of farmers and began planting vines in 2006 with his wife, Judy. "I've raced for 50 years and loved every minute of it, but I don't collect race cars, boats or any other stuff … I have this insatiable passion for winemaking, and the fusion of art and science and continuing to make it better. I love this."
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