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He's the father of Brighton Formula one star, Oscar Ptri,

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who now has two Grand Prix wins to his name,

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but Chris Ptri is also winning accolades

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for developing revolutionary computer software for cars.

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That's also a global success story. Joe Hall met him,

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Like his famous son, engineer.

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Chris Pry is happiest around motor vehicles.

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I like getting my hands dirty

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and um, both on the car mechanically, but also software

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Wise. The car

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obsession is generational with the pries.

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Growing up in Shepparton,

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he told his mechanic father he wanted

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to follow in his footsteps. He

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Looked at me and just said, over my dead body,

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you are going off to bigger and better things at at uni.

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And he did becoming an expert in it and engineering

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and founding the now multi-billion dollar automotive

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hardware and software company, HP Tuners based in Chicago

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with a branch in Mulgrave.

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It's a niche market worldwide.

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In layman's terms, Chris

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and his team have come up with a software product

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that enhances a car's performance

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for everyday things like fuel efficiency,

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but also for enthusiasts who want

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to take their car to the racetrack. Who

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Would use it? Anyone?

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A novice at home

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to a full blind professional workshop to an exhaust shop.

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Anybody can use it. It really is a game changer.

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This is stuff that was only available to the top tier

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of motorsports up until recently,

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and now it's available to everyone.

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The invention recently earned Chris,

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a prestigious pearcy entrepreneur award

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for Victoria named in honor of the man

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who invented the first computer in Australia. I

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Was quite happy to win the award, of course,

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and very proud.

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And what did Oscar have

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to say about dad's achievement? It's

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One of those things like, yeah, cool dad,

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Like father like son I,

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I don't tend to make a big deal about at these things,

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But he does about his son's enormous

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success on the world stage. It's

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Such a small group of people that get

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to call themselves Formula One drivers,

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and even now I get tingles, just even saying the words, but

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The long and expensive journey

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to being Melbourne's kid on the grid

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and hero to sports fans

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around the world hasn't changed either of them.

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Easygoing, quiet, quiet achiever.

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Um, he's all of those things

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and he just gets on with the job and let you know.

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Often just lets the scoreboard do the talking. Having

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Taken out the Victorian Pearcy Entrepreneurs Award,

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Chris is in the running for the National Award

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to be presented in Brisbane on November 19,

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but he says he already feels a winner

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For me personally, I've been able to turn that thing

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that I love into a career.

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So I mean it honestly,

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it feels like I haven't worked today in my life

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for the last 20 years.

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Joe Hull Nine News.