CHAMP CAR PADDOCK PEOPLE: WILL PRAPPAS
Sunday, April 27, 2003
(courtesy CART.com News, author: David Phillips)

Will Prappas: A wonderful life

One of the most familiar faces in the Champ Car paddock over the past decade belongs to Will Prappas. As many people know, Prappas has played an integral part in Jimmy Vasser’s success, if not on the race track, then managing his business affairs and negotiating contracts with Target/Chip Ganassi, Patrick Racing, Team Rahal and, for 2003, American Spirit Team Johansson.

Less well-known is the fact that another "Jimmy" played a major role in Prappas’ career as a self-described "business manager slash agent" for racing drivers. That "other" Jimmy would be Jimmy Stewart. Yes, THAT Jimmy Stewart. As in "The Philadelphia Story," "Rear Window," "Vertigo," "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington," "Harvey" and, of course, "It’s a Wonderful Life."

"My mom worked for a really wonderful guy in the ’60s who had an entertainment business management firm," explains Prappas. "He had a pretty good stable of clients: Jimmy Stewart, Marlon Brando, Julie Andrews… He developed a brain tumor and passed away in the space of about seven months. In the interim, my mother took over the business for him and at the time of his passing, Mr. Stewart decided to stay with her.

"So that’s how the business started, this was back in the mid-’70s. I came in and started helping my mother, then she scaled back over the years and I took over in the early ’90s, and added some clients on my own."

Although those clients have included some big names in the entertainment industry, names like Mel Torme and Bob Barker, increasingly, Prappas’ clientele has been more concerned with following the racing line than memorizing the lines in their scripts. For that, Prappas can thank another major influence in his life, his brother Ted.

A regular Champ Car competitor in the early ’90s, Ted Prappas was a charter member of a closely-knit bunch of racers spawned by the California racing scene in the ’80s including Vasser, Mike and Robbie Groff, Tom Kendall, Jeff Krosnoff, David Kudrave and a score more.

"That’s how I got involved in the racing business," says Prappas. "I was a fan of Ted and followed him around. I had the business management firm going, and I followed racing and loved it and made a lot of my best friends, including Jimmy, the Groffs, Jeff Krosnoff - all the guys from California.

"I thought I could put my business together with the racing business; I thought there was a need for it. So I started working with Jimmy early on, he was my first racing client, and as he started to get more and more successful, it just kind of grew into a role where there was a lot more responsibility and a lot more to do."

These days, Prappas had plenty to do. Although Vasser remains his "anchor" client, Prappas’ clientele also includes Alexandre Tagliani, Michel Jourdain, Jr., Max Papis and Townsend Bell. Prappas has as many different job descriptions as clients.

"With Jimmy, for instance, I act as his agent," says Prappas. "So I’m negotiating contracts with the team, trying to keep abreast of opportunities and talking to the team owners when it’s time to look for another opportunity. And once that comes up, we identify our opportunity, negotiate with the team owner, work out the kinks in the contract - of course, with tremendous input from Jimmy and going back and forth at every stage.

"So that’s one part of it. Then I manage the relationship as the season progresses. If there’s little things that need to be said, often times its better coming from me than it is coming from him, and other times it’s not. Sometimes it’s better from him.

"I’m not a hard ass kind of guy," he continues. "My philosophy is we’re all trying to achieve the same end, so it’s better to work together.

"The other part of my relationship with Jimmy is that I manage all his financial affairs. It goes from day-to-day bill-paying, accounts receivable, accounts payable, investments, he has some real estate and a car dealership as well that I oversee, not the day-to-day management but general oversight. Whatever Jimmy’s business interests might entail, I’d be involved.

"I work with Alex Tagliani in the same capacity . . . do all his financials, do all the negotiations with the teams . I do some work with M ichel Jourdain, Jr. which is not so all-encompassing. We haven’t totally defined our relationship yet. I’m working a little bit with Townsend Bell, mostly on the business management side, and doing a little bit of work with Max Papis as well. I say ‘a little bit’ because it’s not so all encompassing as it is with Jimmy and Alex."

Of course, there is something of a price to pay for Prappas’ burgeoning business. Like when an uncertain environment has the majority of his clients shopping for rides at the same time. That was the case late last year, and Prappas readily concedes it was a difficult time for him as well as his clients.

"It was tough at the end of the season," he says. "It got kind of hectic trying to figure how everything was all going to play out, trying to identify the best place for everybody. From my point of view, it wasn’t a lot of fun. The drivers have different personalities. Jimmy approaches things a little bit differently than Alex. Alex was calling . . . frequently. He wanted to know what the latest development is and that’s Alex’ personality."

"The way I look at it, not everybody’s right for every situation. You look at Jimmy and you look at Alex… they’re both very talented race car drivers. But one is an American guy, a past champion and a guy who is a staple of the CART community and brings certain things to certain sponsors or teams that may be more appealing. Alex is extremely fast, is going to win races; Max is a proven race winner. So I don’t think there’s that much difference in the on-track stuff.

"On the other hand, the situation with Paul Gentilozzi was having Alex as his driver made it a little bit easier for him to bring certain sponsorship deals together which, if you look at the car now, would otherwise not have been possible with Jimmy or Max.

"So that tends to smooth out the conflicts of interest a little bit, so I focus on those rather than the negative parts of the conflicts… but it was a little tricky and not a lot of fun.

"But it’s worked out well, although, unfortunately, it hasn’t worked out well right now for Max (Papis), but that may change. I think he’ll have some opportunties. Still, I’m pretty happy with the ways things turned out. I’m happy that CART’s going in the direction it’s going. A lot of good things are happening."

That bodes well for Prappas, who already ranks among the most influential people in the paddock not wearing a drivers suit, a team uniform or a Bridgestone Presents the Champ Car World Series Powered by Ford shirt.

"It’s kind of worked out," says Prappas. "It’s something I wanted to try to do and I’ve been fortunate enough to be able to do it. My primary goal has been to represent my clients in a fair and dignified manne. I try to put myself out there in the way they would. I don’t try to have a big ego about it and try to do what’s best for them. That’s my focus and it’s been fun."

One might even be tempted to say, wonderful.