Yep, unlike the usual short tracker you’ll find around Florida, this driver didn’t start at his neighborhood go-kart track or even spent weekends from high school driving a hobby stock.

This guy traveled 5,000 miles before he ever climbed into the cockpit of a race car.

But that’s just a drop in the bucket compared to the journey he’ll take next month. One actually far removed from racing.

We’ll explain that in a minute.

We’re speaking of Rich Pratt, of Anthony, a third-generation driver whom you’ve probably seen on the short tracks of Florida in his red, blue and yellow Groeb Farms No. 0 2002 Monte Carlo.

His penchant for picking and choosing his races helped this third generation driver to rookie honors in the Florida Pro Series back in 1999.

Today, he travels also, from the Florida Pro Series to the Sunbelt Series and big races in-between such as Citrus County’s leg of the Powell Memorial, where he finished third. And those Sunbelt races, like Lakeland, but not that far from home.

But where in world did he go -- 5,000 miles -- to first climb into a race car?

Hawaii, that’s where.

Yes, Hawaii, hardly a hotbed of racing, but let him explain:

“I decided to hold off on an ultimate career choice and figured enlisting in the U.S. Air Force would help me learn and trade and perhaps I’d be stationed in the Carolinas or Tennessee, where I could look into the prospects of driving a race car,” he recalled.

Not to be.

In all of its wisdom -- as any former servicemen will attest -- after his basic training, the Air Force sent him to the aforementioned Hawaii, where he spent his entire military career.

Pratt recalled that his heart sank when the sergeant told him he was going to Hawaii, which he envisioned as being no bigger than a big short track itself.

But never fear.

On his first day there he came across another serviceman who had his own race car and invited him to accompany him to a local dirt oval.

“He had a mini-stock and he invited me to help him with it and said he’d let me drive.”

Pratt did, on both counts.

Pratt recalls that his first night behind the wheel he went out and did OK, but on the second night, he won.

“That was pretty cool. It was at Hawaii Raceway Park on the island of Oahu.”

Despite that “delayed” start, young Pratt already had a racing background.

His senior year of high school in Indiana, he worked in the shop of C.J. Rayborn, for whom dad Richard was driving. That enabled him to go around the country, serving on the pit crew.

After his service stint in 1995, Pratt says he went to a Florida Pro series race and although sitting in the stands, was impressed. In 1996, he bought a Late Model and with the help of dad Richard, it was off to the races.

How in the world did No. 0 come about?

Pratt recalled his granddad raced a car on which the No. 4 appeared, but that digit was already taken in the series. So was the No. 20, which appeared on the side of his dad Richard’s car.

“I’d been a longtime fan of Buzzie Reutimman, so I asked about the double zero, but that number was also taken, so I settled on just the zero,” he said. And that it remains to this day.

Pratt, 30, has advice gathered from his own experience, to anyone just beginning to race:

“I’d say never give up. I’ve had misfortune and when I would think my racing was over, the next thing I knew somebody came along the next week to save me, because I kept my nose to the grindstone,” he recalled.

In between racing weekends Pratt is a race car fabricator in his shop at Anthony, Fla.

But now what about this upcoming monumental journey? To a far off NASCAR Winston West event? Maybe an ASA race?

No, we said this had nothing to do with racing and in fact, Pratt and finance Nicole Shaw searched and searched for a date that had no nearby short track racing scheduled.

Because, you see, they were searching for a possible wedding date.

And they found it, in July. July 5.

But don’t forget that Groeb Farms No. 0. The name may be difficult to pronounce (phonetically, it’s Grabe) but the products that Troy Groeb’s outfit produces are easy on the palate, such as Gourmet Jose Salsa.

The company’s website is www.groebfarms.com.

“Without the support of Groeb Farms, Inc., we would be finding it difficult to keep racing as we are now,” says Nicole, Rich’s biggest fan, along with dad Richard.

“We owe many thanks to Troy Groeb and his family.”

So in July, those four words for Pratt, “Gentlemen, Start Your Engines”,

will be joined by four others: “Here Comes the Bride”.

And now for that Wedding March.