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Paul Newman
By Gregg Leary
Category:Auto Racing
“I can’t be competitive about acting, because there’s no way to compete as an actor. What are you competing against? In auto racing, either you win or you lose.”
“I enjoy racing in any form, because the guy next to me couldn’t care less what my name is. He just wants to beat me.”
“I love racing. I wish I could devote every minute of my time to it. Racing is the best way I know to get away from the rubbish that goes with being a so-called’Hollywood star.’ Racing is a way of being a happy child again.”
1965…sold his three motorcycles after his Triumph hit a slick spot on Sunset Blvd.
In the 1969 film “Winning” Paul drove Bobby Unser’s 1968 winning car and the film used footage of the 1966 start when 11 cars crashed just as the green flag waved. He went to the Bob Bondurant Racing School and refused a double for the racing scenes.
Robert Redford…co-star in “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” promised Newman a Porsche for his 50th birthday. He delivered…an engineless wrecked Porsche. Newman had it crushed, cubed and delivered to Redford.
Narrated “Once Upon a Wheel” in 1971.
1986 Newman wins Oscar for Best Actor in “The Color of Money” with Tom Cruise.
Questions I’d like to ask Paul Newman
1. I hear the movie “Winning” filmed at Indy in 1968 really got you hooked on auto racing. True?
2. That means you would have been 43 when you started racing…and you still “mix it up with the young guns” at places like Daytona. You won the 24 Hours of Daytona in 1995 at age 70. How good could you have been if you had started racing 25 years earlier?
3. If you HAD started racing 25 years earlier, would we have ever heard of Paul Newman the actor?
4. Take us through your racing career as a driver…the SCCA years…Trans AM…the 24 Hours of Daytona, Le Mans.
5. As a team owner…give us the history of Newman-Haas.
6. What was your greatest thrill as a Champ Car owner?
7. We have some video of you racing a TR6 and a Datsun 510 at Nelson Ledges in…I think it was 1975. I hear the fans at Nelson left you alone and just let you race. Were those the “good old days?”
8. Did you ever consider amateur racing in the early years of your acting career, like James Dean did?
9. Dean had a clause that he couldn’t race his Porsche during the filming of “Giant.” Do you have any such restrictions when you’re working on a film?
10. Your “Newman’s Own” charity and “Hole in the Wall Gang” camps seem to be major highlights in your life. Tell us how those things started and what they do.
11. You’re heavily involved in the Victory Junction Gang Camp. Is it similar to your other Hole in the Wall camps?
Tell me the first thing that pops into your head about the following drivers…
Mario Andretti
Nigel Mansell
Danny Sullivan
Bobby Rahal
Al Unser
Keke Rossberg
Elliott Forbes-Robinsin
Michael Andretti
Teo Fabi
Christiano da Matta
Sebastian Bourdais
Bruno Junqueira
12. What’s the greatest racing movie ever made?
Tell us your professional opinion of the following racing movies…
Grand Prix
LeMans
Days of Thunder
Driven
Winning
13. Who is the coolest person in racing?
Paul Newman’s Racing Bio
Got interested in racing during the 1968 filming of the movie “Winning” where he played Indy driver Frank Capua…drove Bobby Unser’s 1968 winning car
First win 1972…Thompson, CT driving a Lotus Elan
Won 4 SCCA National Titles
1976…D Production
1979…C Production
1985…GT-1
1986…”
Trans Am wins at Brainerd, Minnesota in 1982 and Lime Rock 1986
1977…5th in 24 Hours of Daytona
1979…2nd at 24 Hours of Le Mans in Porsche 935
1995…Won 24 Hours of Daytona IMSA GTS class at age 70
2003 ran Trans-Am event at Lime Rock
2004…ran 24 Hours of Daytona