Hal Prewitt

Harold D. Prewitt, Jr (Hal) (born October 1, 1954, in Hutchinson, Kansas) is an artist, photographer, race car driver, businessperson, inventor of personal computer products and early pioneer in the personal computer revolution.

He resides in South Beach (Miami Beach, Florida).

Prewitt's art career started over fifty years ago as a teenager creating and selling his works then expanded to developing computer technology and racing.

He has produced art in a wide array of genres and mediums, including oils, acrylics, pencil drawings and photography.

His works are displayed in many public and private venues, seen in movies such as Steven Soderbergh's Mosaic on HBO, and found in videos, advertisements and high-end restaurants, and are available from a limited number of galleries.

Prewitt grew up in the Daytona Beach, Florida, area and lived there from 1963 to 1976.

There he had his first exposure to auto racing; volunteering at Daytona International Speedway.

He built his first computer in 1967 at 13.

It performed simple math, which he disliked in school, and operated his phonograph.

He joined the Civil Air Patrol as a cadet and earned the second highest rank (Cadet Lt. Colonel), learning about the military, leadership, search and rescue, and the value of providing community service.

Prewitt learned how to fly a plane, soloed at 16 and shortly thereafter earned his Private Pilots License at the youngest age allowed.

He sold his first artwork, a painting, at the age of 16.

As a teenager, Prewitt learned sailing, fishing, boating and scuba diving and developed skills in mechanics, engineering, electronics, navigation and construction.

After school and in summers, he worked at jobs building homes and in a restaurant washing dishes and cooking.

In high school, he rented out the family houseboat.

He was interested in painting and photography – producing and selling a number of images.

After graduating high school, Prewitt continued building boats, managing his business and began to focus on computer programming.

In the 1970s and 1980s he was one of the early creators of personal computer products, developing popular software and hardware while helping build a new industry.

He provided consulting services to IBM and is credited with inventing hard disk drives and world's first local area network (LAN) for their first portable computer, the IBM 5100, and their first desktop computer the IBM 5120.

He created the technology and trademarked Hotplug, the computer industry's standard method of replacing computer system components without the need for stopping or shutting down key parts such as disk drives, disk controllers or host adapters and power supplies.

Another trademark Prewitt created in the late 1970s and registered in the 1980s was "CORE", used to identify computers and related products.

In the early 1970s, Prewitt dreamed of designing, building and selling a generation of small business computers with a price tag much less than the going rate of $50,000.

Convinced that there was a market, Prewitt unsuccessfully sought venture capital to get his plans off the ground.

Between 1972 and 1975 he learned various programming languages using an IBM 1130.

In 1975, he built an Altair 8800.

That same year, at the age of 21, Prewitt obtained his first business applications customer when he sold, designed and wrote computer programs for the IBM 5100 and System/32 as part of the business he had started at age 16.

He joined the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) and participated in autocross events.

Prewitt was born in Hutchinson, Kansas.

Prewitt's first patent details were disclosed in 1987 in the United States and Europe related to development of the technology, however, the filings were not completed.

Core created and in 1990 marketed the world's first disk drives, disk controllers or host adapters and power supplies that were hot pluggable or swappable.

The trademark was issued by the USPTO and other countries in 1992 under "Computer & Software Products & Electrical & Scientific Products Trademarks".

Prewitt was chairman and chief executive officer until 1993 when the company was sold to Sony.

Prewitt is the Managing Member of Prewitt Enterprises, a Florida-based agricultural and investment business.

In 2006, after Prewitt's company was sold and the registration use was discontinued, this trademark was adopted by Intel to market their computer processors.

Skilled in computer programming and engineering, Prewitt founded and managed a number of technology firms.

The largest and best known was Core International, a developer of disk array, computer data storage and backup products.

He was the No. 1 American and finished 4th of 819 international drivers from 58 countries in the 2015 International Endurance Series Championship.

He has been a competitor in IMSA, Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series and at international FIA races including 24 Hours of Daytona, 24 Hours Nürburgring, Dubai 24 Hour, 24 Hours of Barcelona and Silverstone Britcar 24-Hour.

By 2017, it was reported Prewitt had in excess of 800 collectors and sold more than two million dollars of his works.

Prewitt competed in professional and occasionally amateur motorsport road races and has driven in nearly 200 endurance racing or sprint races worldwide.