Paul Newman RIP

eastAR5

Active member
a true nig, stacked so much paper he didnt even keep profits. all to charity.. Thank you for keeping me refreshed with such dank heady drinks for all these years. ** REST EASY ***
 
A real man of cinema(with films like the Hustler, and cool hand luke), a major influence in the automotive racing world , and man whos last part of his life consisted mainly of charity work.

RIP......you will be missed
 
At least he got to see one of the racers on his team, Justin Wilson, on the Newman/Hass team win the Detroit indy 300 at belle isle park a few weeks ago.
 
paul newman is a badass, cool hand luke, and especially butch cassidy and the sundance kid are some of the best movies ever, especially butch cassidy, thats seriously one of the best 20 movies ever made, and one of the best 3 westers ever.
he was a race car driver, owned a racing team and gave a shit ton to charity, doesnt get much more awesome than that.
im gonna go rent cool hand luke and butch cassidy now.
 
one of the biggest BAMFS ever, a few weeks ago he spun a few laps in his SCCA corvette from when he raced trans am in the 70s at limerock and was apparently driving the wheels off it

here's a great memoir of PLN's racing legacy: http://auto-racing.speedtv.com/article/miller-paul-newman-an-american-original/

"He was a reluctant movie star, a philanthropist of magnanimous

proportions, a late-blooming race driver, a happily married father, a

passionate car owner and a guy's guy who enjoyed his beer, telling stories and hanging out at the track.

But the main reason Paul Newman had such a love affair with auto racing for the past 40 years was the essence of this very special man.

"He enjoyed everything about our world and he definitely felt

embraced," said Mario Andretti. "But everyone respected his privacy and

gave him space.

"And he really cherished just being one of the boys."

While it may be hard to imagine this Hollywood icon blending in

with the scenery, that's exactly what he did from the time he started sports car racing in the '70s with PLN scribbled on the side of his car to his last appearance at Milwaukee this past June.

Whether he was perched in the corner of his garage watching the

crew change engines, standing on the podium with Carl Haas, competing

at the 24 Hours of Daytona, riding his scooter through the paddock,

testing a sprint car or chatting up one of his legendary drivers,

Newman never acted like a person of privilege, he just felt privileged

to be part of the action.

Acting was how he made his living, but it ran a distant second to racing.

Hollywood was make believe, but racing was reality and it gave him

a satisfaction like nothing he ever experienced in front of a camera.

Newman said many times that driving fast was the one thing he felt like he had an aptitude for and it challenged him like nothing else.

"When Paul started driving for my dad, he was just so enthusiastic

and full of questions and he could not get anough of racing," said

Scott Sharp, who teamed with Newman in his dad's (Bob) Datsun 240Zs in

Trans-Am.

"I mean, you've got to remember he was in his mid-40s when he

started and he really had natural ability. You can only imagine where

he might have gone if he'd started in his 20s."

Winning SCCA National titles and Trans-Am races confirmed his talent yet his appetite for faster cars never went away. He tested super-modifieds, stock cars, midgets,

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dirt modifieds and sprint cars.

Three years ago, dirt-track ace Corey Kruseman took some of his

850-horsepower sprinters out to Perris Speedway near Riverside, Calif.

so Sebastien Bourdais, Bruno Junqueira, Paul Tracy and Newman could hot

lap them on the half-mile dirt track. Bourdais could not believe his

eyes.

"Here's this 80-year-old guy who weighs about 125 pounds guy

thowing this sprint car into the corner," recalled the four-time Champ

Car king. "I mean, these things are powerful and then he gets in too

hot and rides up on the wall. Thankfully, it came back down on all four

wheels instead of flipping.

"Paul came in with a big grin on his face and said: 'Can you

imagine how you guys would have explained that to Joanne (Woodward, his

wife)?"

About that same time, the great writer Brock Yates was toying with

the idea of bringing back the original Cannonball Baker

Sea-to-Shining-Sea Memorial Trophy dash (of which I'd had the pleasure

of running in 1972). Eddie Wirth, a helluva racer on two or four

wheels, was PLN's best bud so I approached them about teaming up.

Newman's response was classic: "There's no way Joanne would ever

let me do that," he said. I screamed back: 'First of all, your Paul

F...... Newman, you can do whatever you want and, besides, you almost

killed yourself in a sprint car a couple months ago and this will be

tame compared to that."

He grinned and put his index finger up to his mouth and indicated

he had not shared that latest adventure with his wife. But by the end

of the summer he'd started asking questions about who might be in the

Cannonball, how long it might take and what kind of car we would use. I

responded by saying whatever car he could promote. "Oh, so that's why

you want me on the team?," he said.

No, not really, was my response. We want you because every time we

get stopped for speeding by the state troopers, they'll recognize you

and let us skate.

"Don't bet on that," he chuckled. "I'm not that big anymore. Hell, I don't even recognize me."

Of course it was that self-depreciating sense of humor that

endeared Newman to everyone lucky enough to become his friend.

At Long Beach a few years ago, three rather, um, older plus-sized women

were almost apoplectic upon spotting Cool Hand Luke sitting in his

hospitality area. They wanted a picture, so I informed PLN his

participation would be an extension of his overall goodwill towards

humanity.

He waved the girls in, put his arm around them and smiled. Their

life was complete. After they left, Newman turned and said: "I use to

get that a lot from pretty young women, but it's been a different

audience since I turned 78."

During the past decade, he always wore the same nondescript outfit

of all white -- shirt, pants and tennis shoes. That wardrobe brings us

to my favorite personal story and illustrates why PLN felt so anonymous

at a race track. We were at Sebring, Fla. and Newman had flown down to

watch Junqueira's first test since being seriously injured at

Indianapolis.

It was lunchtime, so we drove into downtown Sebring to grab a burger.

As we were leaving the cashier pointed to Paul and asked me: "Is that

who I think it is? Paul Newman?"

I laughed and said no, he was just a painter at the track. When

informed of his new identity, Newman laughed for five minutes and he

talked about that every time I saw him for the next six months. He

truly loved not being Paul Newman sometimes.

About the only thing he used his celebrity for was his benevolence

to those not as fortunate. His salad dressing became a million-dollar

business and 20 years ago he launched a camp for teminally ill children

called The Hole in the Wall Gang. He'd contributed nearly $200 million

before he passed away Friday night.

Andretti, who put Newman and Haas together back in 1983, spoke to

his old friend for the last time a few days

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ago. Naturally, they talked about racing and how well Bourdais had been running at Spa.

Although Nigel Mansell, Michael Andretti, Cristiano da Matta,

Justin Wilson, Graham Rahal, Oriol Servia, Junqueira, Tracy and

Bourdais all brought success to to this team, it was Mario who got

Newman excited about and into Indy cars.

And it's Mario who can put Newman's life and death into perspective,

"Here's this guy who was bigger than life in another life and he

truly, truly loved motor racing," said Mario, who won the first CART

title for Newman/Haas in 1984. "A couple years ago he and I started

talking seriously about what we could do in the future to try and put

open wheel back together.

"The first meeting at my house there was Kevin Kalkhoven, Paul

Gentilozzi, Tony George, Brian Barnhart and Paul. I think when Tony saw

Paul putting out that olive branch, it was huge and that was a big

factor in bringing this thing together."

Of all their victories, Newman/Haas never won Indianapolis but PLN

returned last May on pole day and clearly enjoyed the sight of everyone

back together in Gasoline Alley.

"Paul was a character and an icon and he contributed so much to

our sport and so much to life itself," continued Andretti. "Losing an

individual like him is irreplaceable and I know I'll miss him greatly.

"He touched my life in a very positive way."

As he did for so many people, for so many years from so many angles."

 
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