Prather Takes G Production, Earns Record Sixth SCCA National Championship Runoffs Production Title

Lexington, Ohio (Sept. 23, 2005) – In what was perhaps the most exciting race of the day, Kent Prather, of Wakarusa, Kan., survived an action-packed G Production race at the 2005 SCCA National Championship Runoffs® Presented by Kohler to win his sixth Production class title, making him the all-time leader in that category. Chuck Mathis, of Saint Jacob, Ill., finsished second, and Woody Deatherage, of Cleveland, Ohio, was third.

Prather started second on the grid in his Prather Racing/Victoria British MGA and dropped to fourth on the first lap of the race before he started his comeback over then-leader and polesitter Kevin Dennis, of Rochester, N.Y.

Dennis, in his Nissan,Goodyear/Red Line/CDA Nissan 510 appeared to be well in control of the race, running the fast lap on Lap 10 with a 1:40.412 (80.954 mph) and extending his lead over Prather, who had moved back up to second, to 1.306 seconds. It took Prather little time to make up the difference, however, as Dennis slowed on the next lap. The two jostled for position and Prather dropped to third behind Deatherage as the lead pack weaved through passed traffic.

With the leaders in front and a lapped car between them on Lap 15, Prather made a bold move to the inside of all three cars, slashing his way to the front of the field – a move that seemed to catch everyone off-guard.

From there, Prather held his spot and earned his sixth Production class win – all in G Production – making him the all-time Production Class Championship leader.

“We’re going down the backside, Woody got ahead of me, and I’m thinking, ‘Well, huh, what am I going to do now,’” Prather said. “So I pulled into the inside, and there was a back-marker there. There was a little-bitty spot on the inside, and I dove right into it. I said ‘It’s now or never’ and dove in there and somehow ended up in the front.

“From there, it was just a matter of running qualifying laps and keeping these guys behind me and not making any mistakes.”

After the dust settled, Dennis wound up fourth, and Larry Gallagher, of Thornville, Ohio, was fifth.

No. 91 Steve Nagle, of Westmont, Ill., won the Sunoco Hard Charger Award for advancing 10 positions to finish 18th after starting 28th.

Now in its 42nd year, the SCCA National Championship Runoffs annually crown the best amateur road racers in North America as Champions. More than 750 competitors have gathered this year to battle for 23 class titles this year, with eight races being run Friday and Saturday and seven on Sunday.

Celebrating its 61st anniversary, Sports Car Club of America is a 60,000 member motorsports organization that sanctions and promotes grassroots and professional motorsports events of a variety of disciplines, including road racing, autocrossing, road rally and rallycross.