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.
“Winning” 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/Haas 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, the incorrigible prankster
Robert Redford, who had a miserably wrecked Ferrari dropped at Newman’s front door. Newman 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.
Authors: Matt Stone and Preston Lerner
Forward by: Mario Andretti
Format: Hardbound
Pages: 176 / 72 color & 28 b&w photos
ISBN: 0760337063
Price: $30.00
Availability: www.qbookshop.com/motorbooks.com
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I’m looking forward to reading this book — in fact, I'll probabaly start it this weekend.
I got the chance to meet Mr. Newman in late April, 1995, at the Bosch Spark Plug Grand Prix at the Nazareth Speedway in Pennsylvania.
While standing on top of the racing tower overlooking the 0.946-mile track, we began chatting about CART racing for about 15 minutes while watching the drivers qualify below. Mr. Newman, co-owner of Newman/Haas Racing at the time, really seemed to be at peace up there among the smell of racing fuel, burning rubber and the winding sounds of the powerful Lola engines as the drivers sped around the five-turn track.
As a guest of Bosch that weekend, the racing event and the meeting of Mr. Newman has been one of my favorite memories as an automotive journalist/editor.
Although the Newman/Haas driver and eastern Pennsylvania “local boy” Michael Andretti didn’t fare too well in the race that weekend, Andretti returned a year later to Nazareth only to win the 1996 Bosch Spark Plug Grand Prix, which was considered to be his home track. I’m sure the first-place finish for Newman/Haas gave Mr. Newman a bit of extra gleam in his famous blue eyes that day.
Fast Eddie —