Nathan Pretty (born 7 July 1973) is an
Australian
Australian(s) may refer to:
Australia
* Australia, a country
* Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia
** European Australians
** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists
** Aboriginal Au ...
racecar driver.
Career
He first rose to prominence racing
AUSCAR Superspeedway sedans (a
Holden Commodore
The Holden Commodore is a full-size car that was sold by Holden from 1978 to 2020. It was manufactured from 1978 to 2017 in Australia and from 1979 to 1990 in New Zealand, with production of the locally manufactured versions in Australia endin ...
), becoming rookie of the year in his initial season in 1994. His family based race team built a V8 Supercar Commodore in 1998 racing with his sister Nicole at the
1998 FAI 1000. After racing as a privateer Pretty increasing gained more prestigious drives with other V8 Supercar teams and was a favourite of the factory supported teams,
Holden Racing Team
Walkinshaw Andretti United is an Australian motor racing team based in the Melbourne suburb of Clayton. The team currently fields two Holden ZB Commodores in the Supercars Championship for Nick Percat and Chaz Mostert, along with a Porsche 91 ...
and
K-mart Racing Team.
Pretty was part of the
Garry Rogers Motorsport
Garry Rogers Motorsport is an Australian motor racing team. It is owned by retired racing driver Garry Rogers who began the team to further his own racing efforts. Based in Melbourne, originally out of a Nissan dealership owned by Rogers, the te ...
team that won the
2002 Bathurst 24 Hour driving alongside regular GRM driver
Garth Tander
Garth Tander (born 31 March 1977) is a multiple-championship winning Australian motor racing driver competing in the Virgin Australia Supercars Championship's Enduro Cup, co-driving the No. 97 Holden ZB Commodore for Triple Eight Race Engineer ...
,
Steven Richards
Steven James Richards (born 11 July 1972) is a New Zealand-Australian racing driver, currently competing in the Porsche Carrera Cup Australia Championship.
Richards, the son of seven-time Bathurst 1000 winner Jim Richards, is himself a five-t ...
and
Cameron McConville
Cameron 'Conkers' McConville (born 22 January 1974) is an Australian racing driver and motorsport celebrity. While retired from full-time competition, McConville still races occasionally and is an in-demand endurance event co-driver. McConville ...
driving the controversial #427,
7.0 litre Holden Monaro 427C
The Holden Monaro 427C was an Australian built and designed GT style race car based on the Holden Monaro CV8 road car. The car ran in the Procar Australia-run Australian Nations Cup Championship and at the short-lived Bathurst 24 Hour race a ...
. Out of that win Pretty gained a full-time drive in 2003 in the 24 Hour winning Monaro in the
Australian Nations Cup Championship
The Australian Nations Cup Championship was a motor racing title sanctioned by the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport (CAMS) from 2000 to 2004.
History
In the absence of the Australian GT Championship (which had not been run since 1985), Nat ...
. Pretty finished 3rd in the
2003 Australian Nations Cup Championship which included round wins at
Symmons Plains Raceway
Symmons Plains Raceway is a motor racing circuit in Australia, located about south of Launceston, Tasmania. Since the closure of the Longford circuit in the 1960s it has been Tasmania's premier motor racing facility. The circuit is one of the ...
in
Tasmania
)
, nickname =
, image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdi ...
and a surprise win at the tight
Winton Motor Raceway
Winton Motor Raceway is a motor racing track in Winton, near Benalla, Victoria, Australia.
History
The Benalla Auto Club began planning for a permanent racing track around 1958, as a replacement for their existing track at Barjarg. In 1960 it ...
in rural
Victoria
Victoria most commonly refers to:
* Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia
* Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada
* Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory
* Victoria, Seychelle ...
.
[2003 Australian Nations Cup Championship - Outright Points, www.procar.com.au via web.archive.org]
Retrieved on 19 September 2010 In the 2003 championship he was joined as a team mate by legendary racer
Peter Brock
Peter Geoffrey Brock (26 February 1945 – 8 September 2006), known as "Peter Perfect", "The King of the Mountain", or simply "Brocky", was an Australian motor racing driver. Brock was most often associated with Holden for almost 40 years, al ...
who was making a full-time comeback to racing after having initially retired at the end of 1997. Following the championship, Pretty and his 2002 co-drivers went on to finish 2nd in the
2003 Bathurst 24 Hour race, finishing less than a second behind their team mates Brock,
Greg Murphy
Gregory Murphy (born 23 August 1972) is a New Zealand professional racing driver, best known as a four-time winner of the Bathurst 1000. Greg Murphy joined Jeremy Clarkson and James May presenting Top Gear Live, when it had its first internati ...
,
Jason Bright
Jason Bright (born 7 March 1973) is a retired Australian racing driver who competed in the Virgin Australia Supercars Championship. He drove the No. 56 Ford FG X Falcon for Britek Motorsport, a satellite team of Prodrive Racing Australia, be ...
and
Todd Kelly
Todd Kelly (born 9 October 1979) is a retired Australian professional racing driver who competed in the Virgin Australia Supercars Championship. He is the older brother of fellow Supercars driver and former Bathurst 1000 winner, Rick Kelly. H ...
in the second team Monaro.
[Mount Panorama - Bathurst 23/11/2003 Bathurst 24hr 2003](_blank)
National Software retrieved on 4 April 2008
Brock formed his own team to run Monaro's for himself and his son James in the
2004 Australian Nations Cup Championship while Pretty remained with Garry Rogers, running the original Bathurst 24 Hour Monaro. Pretty would finish the 2004 championship as runner up to the
V12 V12 or V-12 may refer to:
Aircraft
* Mil V-12, a Soviet heavy lift helicopter
* Pilatus OV-12, a planned American military utility aircraft
* Rockwell XFV-12, an American experimental aircraft project
* Škoda-Kauba V12, a Czechoslovak experim ...
Lamborghini Diablo GTR
The Lamborghini Diablo is a high-performance mid-engine sports car built by Italian automobile manufacturer Lamborghini between 1990 and 2001. It is the first production Lamborghini capable of attaining a top speed in excess of . After the end ...
of defending series champion
Paul Stokell
Paul Stokell (born 8 March 1968 in Tasmania) is an Australian racing driver. Highly decorated in every category he has competed, Stokell has been a race and multiple championship winning driver in open wheel, sportscar racing and tarmac rallyin ...
. Along the way Pretty would set the class lap record at the
Sandown Raceway
Sandown International Raceway is a motor racing circuit in the suburb of Springvale in Melbourne, Victoria, approximately south east of the city centre. Sandown is considered a power circuit with its " drag strip" front and back straights be ...
. This would be the final year of the Nations Cup Championship as series owner Ross Palmer would be forced to close
Procar Australia Procar Australia was a motorsport category management company which operated in Australia from 1994 to 2004.
Procar was founded in 1994 by Ross Palmer, . This also forced the cancellation of the
Bathurst 24 Hour
The Bathurst 24 Hour was an endurance race for GT and production cars held at the Mount Panorama Circuit in Bathurst, New South Wales in 2002 and 2003. Only two races were held before the collapse of the management organisation PROCAR. Both ...
race.
[Drivers Points For Season 2004, www.procar.com.au, as archived at web.archive.org]
/ref>
After spending 2005 largely on the sidelines, Pretty raced for Robert Smith's team in the 2006 Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series. Kelly spent three years at Perkins Engineering
Perkins Engineering was a team contesting the Australian V8 Supercar Championship Series, operating as an active racing team between 1986 and 2008. From 2009 onwards, the involvement of Perkins Engineering in the championship wounded back into ...
racing at Bathurst and racing the teams Commodore station wagon at the Bathurst 12 Hour
The Bathurst 12 Hour, currently known as the Liqui Moly Bathurst 12 Hour for sponsorship reasons, is an annual endurance race for GT and production cars held at the Mount Panorama Circuit, in Bathurst, Australia. The race was first held in ...
. Pretty returned to full-time racing in 2011 in the V8 Utes
The V8 Ute Racing Series, known originally as the V8 BRute Utes was an Australian motor racing series for utilities, derived from the Australian Production Car Championship. It was conceived in 2000 by PROCAR chief and owner Ross Palmer, V8 Ute Pa ...
series where he has been instantly competitive. In 2015, he raced in the Stadium Super Trucks
The Stadium Super Trucks (SST), formerly known as Speed Energy Formula Off-Road, is an American short course off-road racing series created by off-road racer and former IndyCar and NASCAR driver Robby Gordon in 2013. Sanctioned by the United State ...
at the Adelaide 500
The Adelaide 500 (also known as the VALO Adelaide 500 for sponsorship reasons) is an annual motor racing event for Supercars held on the streets of the east end of Adelaide, South Australia between 1999 to 2020 and again from 2022. It is somet ...
.
Pretty occasionally goes by the non-de-plume of Randy Corners where he parodies motor racing culture and racing drivers.
Career results
Results sourced from Driver Database.Nathan Pretty - Driver Database
/ref>
Bathurst 1000
Bathurst 24 Hour
Stadium Super Trucks
(key
Key or The Key may refer to:
Common meanings
* Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm
* Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock
* Key (map ...
) (Bold – Pole position. Italics – Fastest qualifier. * – Most laps led.)
References
External links
* http://www.monsterenergy.com/au/en/athletes/nathan-pretty-2/
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pretty, Nathan
1973 births
Supercars Championship drivers
Stadium Super Trucks drivers
Living people
Sportspeople from Albury
Racing drivers from New South Wales
Kelly Racing drivers
Garry Rogers Motorsport drivers