KIDS SMOKE BECAUSE OF PEER PRESSURE, PRUETT SAYS

Race driver says role models give wrong impressions about smoking.

The concept of smoke is nothing new to the Indianapolis 500, or to racing in general. Burning rubber in the pits, a crash in the third turn or a blown engine in the main straightaway all create those hazy fumes.

There is something else, though, that creates smoke . . . cigarettes. And this is where Indy car driver Scott Pruett comes in.

Although Pruett didn't qualify for the Indianapolis 500 this year, he's been in road-course competitions along with racing in Phoenix and in Long Beach, Calif. He has raced in three other 500s, including in 1989 when he was named co-rookie of the year.

Pruett spoke to Children's Express in late April about the National Tobacco Free America program, which is one of the sponsors for his car. He's one of their spokespeople and talks to kids in schools, malls and makes other appearances to warn about the hazards of smoking.

"We aren't going after the people that are currently smoking, and we aren't going after those guys that have been (smoking for) years and years," he explained. "Basically all we're doing is going after the young people throughout the U.S. and Canada and saying, `Hey, it's not the cool thing to do.' "

Why kids smoke

Pruett says he believes that one of the major reasons kids smoke is peer pressure.

"I think that if I were to say why do people start smoking is because they think it's the cool thing to do," he said. "To smoke is to be grown up. (To) smoke is to be cool, (to) smoke is to be one of the guys or one of the girls, and it's not."

Pruett also believes that famous role models can set a bad example for some kids.

"I was just watching a movie last night with Bruce Willis in it - The Last Boy Scout - and he smokes like a fiend in that movie, and people look up to him and (say) 'He's cool and he's a role model.'

"I think that is a problem with our society - that people look up to those people," he explained.

Pruett has never smoked, in part because his parents never did. His father, who encouraged him to race, was and continues to be one of his major role models.

"When I started racing go-carts, the bottom line was (that) he worked on them some, but I had to get involved as well," Pruett said. "He wasn't going to do the whole thing, and that taught me a lot growing up."

Stood up to peer pressure

Pruett hopes he can be a nonsmoking role model for youth. "I've gotten to where I've gotten (in) racing without smoking, without caving in to peer pressure, without looking up to these people who are smoking," he said.

When asked if he thought that racers such as Emerson Fittapaldi, this year's 500 winner, who are sponsored by tobacco companies send bad messages to kids, he replied:

"It's very tough to walk away from a job opportunity to take care of your family, to really achieve at your level of ability, and say, `No, I can't do this because (a tobacco company) is a sponsor of a car.'

"(But) I think a lot of drivers, if they were forced to smoke (to get the sponsor), I don't think that they would do it." EDITED BY: Sam Perry, 15