He's the father of Brighton Formula one star, Oscar Ptri,
who now has two Grand Prix wins to his name,
but Chris Ptri is also winning accolades
for developing revolutionary computer software for cars.
That's also a global success story. Joe Hall met him,
Like his famous son, engineer.
Chris Pry is happiest around motor vehicles.
I like getting my hands dirty
and um, both on the car mechanically, but also software
Wise. The car
obsession is generational with the pries.
Growing up in Shepparton,
he told his mechanic father he wanted
to follow in his footsteps. He
Looked at me and just said, over my dead body,
you are going off to bigger and better things at at uni.
And he did becoming an expert in it and engineering
and founding the now multi-billion dollar automotive
hardware and software company, HP Tuners based in Chicago
with a branch in Mulgrave.
It's a niche market worldwide.
In layman's terms, Chris
and his team have come up with a software product
that enhances a car's performance
for everyday things like fuel efficiency,
but also for enthusiasts who want
to take their car to the racetrack. Who
Would use it? Anyone?
A novice at home
to a full blind professional workshop to an exhaust shop.
Anybody can use it. It really is a game changer.
This is stuff that was only available to the top tier
of motorsports up until recently,
and now it's available to everyone.
The invention recently earned Chris,
a prestigious pearcy entrepreneur award
for Victoria named in honor of the man
who invented the first computer in Australia. I
Was quite happy to win the award, of course,
and very proud.
And what did Oscar have
to say about dad's achievement? It's
One of those things like, yeah, cool dad,
Like father like son I,
I don't tend to make a big deal about at these things,
But he does about his son's enormous
success on the world stage. It's
Such a small group of people that get
to call themselves Formula One drivers,
and even now I get tingles, just even saying the words, but
The long and expensive journey
to being Melbourne's kid on the grid
and hero to sports fans
around the world hasn't changed either of them.
Easygoing, quiet, quiet achiever.
Um, he's all of those things
and he just gets on with the job and let you know.
Often just lets the scoreboard do the talking. Having
Taken out the Victorian Pearcy Entrepreneurs Award,
Chris is in the running for the National Award
to be presented in Brisbane on November 19,
but he says he already feels a winner
For me personally, I've been able to turn that thing
that I love into a career.
So I mean it honestly,
it feels like I haven't worked today in my life
for the last 20 years.
Joe Hull Nine News.