This article first appeared in the August, 2016 edition of SportsCar Magazine. SCCA members can read the current and past editions of SportCar digitally here after logging into their account; To become an SCCA member and get SportsCar mailed to your home address monthly in addition to the digital editions, click here.

The road to success has been a circuitous one for Jesse Prather, but every step has led to where this three-time Runoffs National Champion and race shop owner wants to be

“My dad started Club Racing in 1979 – in the same MGA he has today,” Jesse Prather explains as we sit down to chat in Jesse’s race performance shop, Jesse Prather Motorsports. His shop, located in the southern end of Topeka, Kan., is not only a stone’s throw from SCCA’s National Office, but also Heartland Park Topeka, the racetrack where Jesse claimed all three of his SCCA National Championships, two in F Production, one in E. It’s also not far from the race shop his father owns. Ultimately, all these elements worked in tandem to build Jesse’s dream.

“We went to the races ever since I was a baby, so I grew up at the racetrack,” Jesse continues. “That’s what we did. We didn’t go on vacation – we went to the races.” Around 1990, the Prather family moved from Virginia to Topeka, which is where the family, both older and younger, set up shop, so to speak. Kent, Jesse’s dad (and now eight-time SCCA National Champion), opened Prather Racing, serving the British racecar community and, after some bouncing around through Idaho and Minnesota, Jesse came home to work with his father.

“My dad needed help in his shop in Topeka, so [my wife and I] came back and I worked for him for 10 years,” Jesse explains of what was the beginning of his own rise to SCCA racing notoriety – ironically, not in British cars.

“I had a guy in town who was running a GT3 RX-7 convince me to take a rotary engine apart,” he says. “I thought it was fascinating, so I started building his engines. Then around 2000, I bought an RX-7 for E Production and started developing that, and that’s how it all started.”

From there, Jesse expanded his father’s British car racing business to include Mazdas, with almost instant success. The rotary engine business was going well, then Miatas showed up in Production and life for the Prathers changed. “Chris Bovis wanted to build a Miata, so we built that for him,” Jesse says. “He ran it for a couple of years, then I bought his car in June 2006, ran my first race in that car in July, went to the Runoffs in September and won. That was my first year in a Miata, and it was awesome.”

With SCCA Production-class Miata business ballooning, Jesse was forced to make a difficult decision. “In 2009, I decided it was time to take my Mazda business and go out on my own,” he says. He rented a shop in town and took the plunge, being careful not to compete with his father’s business. After a few years, however, he felt his business could do with a change (“I decided I wanted to stop paying rent,” he admits), so he and his family moved to the edge of town to a house on 11 acres of land. Behind the house was a large metal structure perfect for the future of his business. “The building was just a metal exterior and dirt floor. I came in and designed it the way I wanted.”

The building, where we’re talking, is indeed nice. A dyno, a lift, eight cars, and enough tools to build championship-worthy racecars surround us. One of them, a third-generation MX-5 Jesse built for E Production, is arguably the racecar that started Jesse Prather Motorsports down its most recent journey. “Mazda was keeping an eye on some of the parts I’d developed over the years,” he says. “They then approached me about selling some of my parts through Mazda Motorsports. We’re over a year in on that now and there have been no problems.” The reason? Everything that comes out of his shop has Jesse’s touch. “It’s all stuff I developed and tested on my cars,” he says. But while he’s now selling more product than ever, he still aims for quality first. “It takes me time to provide Mazda with the big orders,” he admits. “Even if I have someone make something for me, I inspect it all. Like the shocks; I assemble the shocks and put a base setting on every single one before sending them to Mazda.”

While predominantly a Mazda and SCCA Production-class man, Jesse has also branched out, most notably building the motor in Cliff Ira’s Acura that won STL at the 2014 Runoffs. He’s also reached into the Touring world, assembling the motor that won Touring 4 that same year.

“What drives me these days is to see my customers succeed,” he says. “My goal is not about 100-percent focusing on me winning another National Championship – my goal is getting my customers National Championships. I get more satisfaction out of that than anything else. It’s about the customer and their successes.”

That said, Jesse has plans to return to the Runoffs podium. “For 2016, I’m racing Spec Miata in a 1.6L car,” he says, admitting his season has been hit and miss so far. While he plans to build a 1.6L motor for the car before the Runoffs and put on a respectable performance, this year’s Runoffs will mostly be for fun. His serious plans involve a return to E Production in time for the Runoffs at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in a car that brings Jesse’s story full circle.

“For 2017, I’m building a Tom Thrash tribute car,” he says with a smile, as we stand next to his latest purchase, a first generation RX-7. Tom and Jesse raced side by side in E Production for years until Tom’s unfortunate passing in 2009. You can tell the friendship meant a lot to Jesse.

“It’s a project that Paul Pineider had that was intended to be a Tom Thrash team car, but after Tom passed away, Paul just had the car sitting, so I bought it from him,” Jesse continues.

The RX-7 is mostly disassembled, but it’s surrounded by custom parts just itching to go on. “It’s going to be fast,” he grins. “It’s super trick. It’ll be old school with new school thinking. Nobody has seen a car like this. For every little aspect of the build, I sit down and think of a way to make it better, or “tricker”, or cooler – to make the car better, lighter, lower center of gravity, better suspension components, everything.”

Around this time, Jesse’s son Calvin pops into the shop to see how things are going. Calvin, at nearly 15 years of age, helps his father assemble some of the parts that ship from Jesse Prather Motorsports. Jesse says his kids are more into their own hobbies, but Calvin does show some interest. “My daughter’s been through a Street Survival school, and my son will do that this year,” Jesse says, “but as for getting them on the track, I’ve never pushed them to do it.”

And this doesn’t bother Jesse in the least. “I’m a big family man,” he says proudly. “I work to provide for them. I don’t spend late evenings or weekends out here in the shop if I don’t have to; I prefer to spend time with them. That’s the way I am. I work hard all week and I separate that from my family time – and I also have a fantastic wife I love to spend time with.”

So what’s next for Jesse and Jesse Prather Motorsports? “People ask me where I want to go now [with the business], and my answer is that I’m there,” he smiles as we wrap up the interview and he itches to get back to work after a distracted morning with this photo shoot and interview. “I’m loving what I’m doing. As far as I’m concerned, I’ve made it. I’m right where I want to be.”

Story and Image by Philip Royle