Winning: The Racing Life of Paul Newman

By Matt Stone, Preston Lerner and Mario Andretti

Winner of International Automotive Media Gold Award 2010 For all his fame as one of Hollywood’s great actors, a world-class humanitarian, and the proprietor of a natural food empire, the late Paul Newman had another intriguing facet that was less known and perhaps closer to his heart than all the rest of his well-chronicled life. He was an avid, successful and well respected car racer and team owner. This book tells that story--from Newman’s racing career, begun in earnest at an age when many race car drivers contemplate retirement; to the partnership he formed in 1983 with Chicago racing entrepreneur and team owner Carl Haas; to the impressive stable of automobiles he owned, from the Porsches and Ferraris to quirkier modified VWs and Volvos. This is the tale of a life full of passion and skill, of someone who entered the 24 Hours of Daytona at the age of 70 and made his last professional race outing at 82; whose roster of drivers for Newman/Hass reads as a who’s who of open wheel racing; and whose interest in cars extended from the likely suspects to old trucks and new hybrids. And then there’s the charming pal who, when the incorrigible prankster Robert Redford had a miserably wrecked Ferrari dropped at his front door, returned the favor by having the car, crushed into a cube, delivered to Redford’s living room. The anecdotes, the races, the cars--all are here, adding up to what for many would be a full life, but for Paul Newman was simply another side of a man of talent, conviction, and enduring spirit. See Motorbooks author Matt Stone interviewed by Jay Leno on JayLenosGarage.com: http://www.jaylenosgarage.com/video/jays-book-club-matt-stone/1164286/

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Oct 15, 2009
• ISBN: 9781616730383

Book preview

WINNING

THE RACING LIFE OF

PAUL

NEWMAN

MATT STONE

AND PRESTON LERNER

FOREWORD BY

MARIO ANDRETTI

CONTENTS

FOREWORD

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER 1   WINNING

CHAPTER 2   PL NEWMAN, RACING DRIVER

CHAPTER 3   100 VICTORIES AND COUNTING

CHAPTER 4   CARS

CHAPTER 5   NEWMAN’S OWN

CODA

APPENDIX   PLN’S RACING RECORD

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

INDEX

FOREWORD

Paul Newman was one of us. A car enthusiast, I mean. A racer. He loved the camaraderie at the racetrack. He loved ass-kicking cars, just like all of us. Even 10 years after I retired, I’d see him at Road America or Laguna Seca or Mid-Ohio, and he’d say, Let’s go take the pace car for a spin and see if we can go two hundred. It was that devil in him that I loved.

I first met him in 1967 at Bridgehampton Raceway on Long Island. I was driving for Ford at the time, driving a Can-Am car called the Honker II. It was an unexpected meeting between the two of us. I arrived at the garage on race morning and saw PAUL NEWMAN in big letters painted on the nose of my car. Wow. My jaw dropped, and that was even before I saw the man. If Ford wanted to get visibility, having Paul Newman involved would do it. Especially if he actually showed up at the track, which he did. I remember being somewhat star-struck when we were introduced but also amazed that someone of his stature would take the time for this particular race. It wasn’t exactly an event that draws the who’s who of Hollywood—or anywhere else, for that matter. Why would Cool Hand Luke want his name on what was probably the worst Can-Am car ever designed? That was something that went forever unexplained.

Mario Andretti and Paul Newman. Bridgehampton, New York, 1967. Mario Andretti collection

I took him for a ride that day in one of the pace cars, a souped-up Mustang. Bridgehampton was a very picturesque road course with a lot of elevation changes. The first turn was a triple apex blind corner, and I really dumped it in there. He was holding on tight and white-knuckling a bit, but I was watching him out of the corner of my eye, and I could see he loved it. I don’t know if it was a memorable day for him, but it was for me. I was definitely a little gaga that the man was even talking to me. And he was looking at me with that gaze. You know the one I’m talking about. That Paul Newman gaze.

I didn’t see him again until he was on the big screen, in 1969 in the movie Winning. It wasn’t long after that when he began running in the amateur ranks. After learning to race for the movie, he took up the sport with a passion and chased every chance to drive. He actually took to racing like cream cheese on a bagel. Among his accomplishments were four Sports Car Club of American National Championships and finishing first in his class in the 1995 Rolex 24-hour race at Daytona. But it was in the late 1970s that he also became a team owner, running his own Can-Am racing team. He was seen frequently at the track after that.

The Honker II, Andretti at the wheel, 1967. Pete Lyons

Throughout the 1970s we would run into each other, and we would always talk. He was very interested in new technologies and inventions that improved the race cars. He’d ask questions, go off and think about it, then come back and ask more. He was extremely intelligent about the cars and could engage particularly well on technical topics. I was always impressed by his depth of technical comprehension.

The first time we tossed around the idea of me driving for him was in 1980 when we were both in Monte Carlo for the Grand Prix. It wasn’t a serious conversation, just one of those wouldn’t it be nice if one day this would happen things. I drove for Pat Patrick for the 1981 and 1982 seasons. My son Michael was racing for Carl Haas in Formula Fords. The Can-Am series was waning. That’s when it dawned on me that there might be an opportunity to bring Paul to Indy cars, possibly with Carl Haas. Two extremely great competitors. In due time, the partnership was formed, and it turned out to be one of the most successful in racing history.

Those were especially good times for me, too. I raced with Newman/Haas for 12 seasons—the longest stint of my career. We won 18 CART races and the 1984 series championship, and for four years I was teamed with my son Michael.

Paul and I became extremely good friends. What I saw in him was the wisdom of someone in love with life. A man who stayed with his dream. He was glamorous, fearless, funny, smart—it’s no wonder everyone gravitated to him. Paul threw out the rule book when it came to a standardized idea of what a movie star was, but he also wrote a new rule book. One that said: We can do a lot of things. We can do it all. We can act. We can race cars. We can create a foundation that raises millions of dollars for charity and a camp that is a wonderland for sick children. And we can lead by example. You just have to have the gumption, like Paul, to get up and go.

Andretti and Newman. Edmonton, Ontario, Canada, 2007. Patty Reid

Some things are known by everyone, like the fact that Paul Newman stood tall as a human being of unique qualities. He was a symbol of selfless humanity, a brilliant actor, a devoted husband, and a terrific father, and, of course, he had a love affair with race cars.

What isn’t known by everyone is how much I loved that man. And how lucky I felt to walk pit lane with him. And how much I loved when he called me to bet $1.72 on the Super Bowl, or 15,349 Italian lire on the World Series, or two million Russian rubles on the U.S. Open. And he’d deliver the goods; I still have those rubles. He took the time for nonsense. He came to my house once driving an older model, very nondescript, Volvo station wagon. A car couldn’t be any more ordinary than that. Funny thing was, he had a 400-horsepower turbocharged engine stuffed in it. I laughed so hard. Imagine being in the car next to him at the stoplight—and Paul blasting away in that thing.

He was really a colorful character. Bigger than life but also trying to be extraordinarily ordinary. Wanting to be just one of the guys.

On September 26, 2008, Paul had no horsepower left. After a long battle with cancer, he died at age 83. I really miss him. He had given me the greatest gift—his friendship. But I know he’s gone to heaven, hooked up with Alberto Ascari, Ayrton Senna, and Ronnie Peterson. And they’re driving around trying to figure out what kind of downforce they can get in the clouds. I’ll bet you 14,484 Somali shillings that’s exactly what’s going on.

So the next time you hear rumbling in the sky during a storm, that’s not thunder—that’s horsepower. That’s Paul. I think he is driving around in the clouds, just tearing it up all over heaven. Still cool.

It’s in that spirit that this book was written. In a tribute to Paul, the following pages recall all kinds of great stories about his love of driving. I have been promised that this book will remember Paul, the fellow racer, the most popular guy in pit lane, taking pleasure in the environment we all love—speed.

Mario Andretti

INTRODUCTION

I’m not a very graceful person. I was a sloppy skier, a sloppy tennis player, a sloppy football player, and a sloppy dancer with anyone other than Joanne. The only thing I found grace in was racing a car.

– Paul Newman

How does one introduce a man who, as they say, needs no introduction?

The words I was searching for came from the subject himself. In a foreword for a book about Mario Andretti, Paul Newman wrote, I wonder how much I can add to so much that is known.

Much is known about Paul Leonard Newman. Academy Award–winning actor. Father to five daughters and a son, and twice a grandfather. Devoted husband to Joanne Woodward, in a marriage that survived five decades and the pitfalls of mixing two remarkable Hollywood careers. Director and producer. Committed philanthropist. And, of course, race car driver and race team owner.

Several books have already been written about Paul Newman’s legendary life. His passing on September 26, 2008, will no doubt inspire several more. Yet few of them have explored, or will explore, the gasoline-fueled passion that was so much a part of this complex, multifaceted man’s makeup. That is our goal here.

Newman always showed a penchant for automobiles. Yet typical of his low-key, fly-beneath-the-radar demeanor, he eschewed flashy Jaguars and Lamborghinis in favor of Volkswagens and Volvos, although many of them were so-called sleepers—deceptively ordinary-looking cars modified to be extraordinarily fast. Winning, filmed in 1968 and co-starring his wife and Robert Wagner, unlocked his passion for motorsports. It is only fitting that Paul Newman’s final movie role, as the voice of Doc Hudson in Pixar’s Cars, produced in 2005, also revolved around automobiles and the racing life.

Off-screen, Paul Newman lived his racing dreams on two levels. The first was from behind the wheel of a race car. He began racing small production-based sedans in the amateur ranks of the Sports Car Club of America in 1972. Connecticut’s historic Lime Rock Park was his home track, and, early on, he competed there and elsewhere in his Triumph TR6, Datsun 510, and 240Z; in Porsches and Mustangs; in Ferraris and dozens of other cars; from his home state to France, wishing only to hone his craft and be treated like any other racer. Acceptance among the motorsports fraternity was paramount to him. His driving suit identified him as PL Newman (and in some cases, Butch, after his role in the film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid), and his helmet was usually lettered with only his initials: PLN. He was an SCCA member for 36 years.

In addition to winning four national club-racing titles, he competed in the pro sports car ranks, achieving success in IMSA and the Trans-Am series; at the 24 Hours of Daytona, where he’s still the oldest driver to post a class win; and in the world’s most significant endurance race, the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Although he didn’t possess the superhuman ability required to race at Indy or in Formula 1, Newman’s talent was considerable. By his own admission, he wasn’t born a racer. But he absolutely became one. He asked questions, learned, practiced, trained, and tested with relentless enthusiasm and commitment.

The connection between Paul Newman and the author of our foreword, F1 champion and Indy 500 winner Mario Andretti, dates back four decades. In 1967, Andretti raced a Can-Am car campaigned by Ford, a guppy-lipped, purple-painted machine named the Honker II. As Mario described, it had Paul Newman painted across the nose, in search of a little promotional value. The results were less than spectacular. "How ’bout we put my name on it, said Andretti to Newman, and you try to drive it?"

In 1982, through Mario Andretti, Newman connected with Carl Haas, race team owner, race car importer/distributor, and himself a retired driver. Together, they formed Newman/Haas Racing, a top-ranked Indy car team during the next 25 years. In 1984, only their second season, Andretti and Newman/Haas won the CART series championship. It was the first of eight CART/Champ Car titles the team would win in the ensuing 25 years that Paul Newman was part owner of the team. Andretti was joined and followed by an impressive roster of world-class talent. The organization was a threat to win any race it entered. The renamed Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing, now competing in the unified Indy Racing League, remains so today.

This book is not a lap-by-lap chronology of Newman’s career as a racer and team owner, although plenty of that detail is included. Instead, we focus on his many achievements and the manner and style in which he achieved them, through the remembrances of those who knew him best in this way: racers who drove for him, others who drove against him, his Newman/Haas family, friends, and so many more who came in contact with him, not as an actor/director/producer, but literally and metaphorically at the track. Racing, he said in a People magazine interview, is the best way I know to get away from the rubbish of Hollywood.

My final contact with him is one that will remain burned into my mental hard drive forever. In my capacity as executive editor of Motor Trend magazine, I contacted Pixar in advance of the release of Cars, requesting an interview with the voice behind Doc Hudson. I promised his public relations representative that it would be to the point, no trick questions, and 10 minutes maximum.

During that conversation, it was clear how much Newman enjoyed the experience of making the Pixar film. He was moved by what John Lasseter’s creative people, and this amazing animation technology, were capable of. All too soon, our time was up. In closing, I mentioned something about having watched him race. Ten minutes turned into a half hour and beyond before we hung up, with his sincere invitation to call back any time.

It impressed me how passionate he was about racing, said Patrick Dempsey, another blue-eyed racing actor. "Paul Newman taught me how important it was for a man in his position to keep his feet on the ground. He was the one you hold yourself up to, not just in terms of what he accomplished on the racetrack or in Hollywood, but in what he gave back. He was talented, he was a winner, and he was well respected as a

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Car racing biography of Paul Newman