Last night I watched a really interesting video that I found in the LA county library system, "Winning: The Racing Life of Paul Newman". It was released last year.
I first "met" Newman at age 14 in the film "Exodus", and that super intense guy with the steely blue eyes made a lasting impression on me. Of course, he went on to play a lot of cool guys in a lot of great movies over the succeeding decades, but his second career as a race car driver that he started in middle age was even more interesting.
In 1976 Newman won the SCCA DP National Championship in a TR6, the same year I started racing an EP TR3 in SCCA Regionals at Riverside, Willow Springs, and Holtville. From there he went on to a very successful career as a pro with the Bob Sharp and Dick Barbour teams, winning many races and championships. In 1979 he almost won LeMans in a 935 save for a late race mechanical problem that dropped the team to second overall, but still first in class. Later he achieved success as co-owner of the Newman-Hass Indycar team.
The video almost made me feel like a wimp as I quit racing and doing track events when I was only a few years older than Newman when he started racing at age 48, but then I started at 16, so I was at the point of being able to say "been there, done that"
As the video progressed I thought is was too bad that he never raced a Corvette, but then there was the revelation that he actually did! At age 80 he bought a C5-based Trans-Am Corvette to race and run track time events at Lime Rock, which he did for the next two years, finally hanging up his helmet at age 82, about a year before he passed in 2008.
Be sure to watch the bonus features, which are extended interviews including Mario Andretti, Jay Leno, and Bob Sharp. Sharp, in particular, is a really interesting and articulate guy. He gives the best description of what it's like to race and why it's so additive as I've ever heard.
Duke
I first "met" Newman at age 14 in the film "Exodus", and that super intense guy with the steely blue eyes made a lasting impression on me. Of course, he went on to play a lot of cool guys in a lot of great movies over the succeeding decades, but his second career as a race car driver that he started in middle age was even more interesting.
In 1976 Newman won the SCCA DP National Championship in a TR6, the same year I started racing an EP TR3 in SCCA Regionals at Riverside, Willow Springs, and Holtville. From there he went on to a very successful career as a pro with the Bob Sharp and Dick Barbour teams, winning many races and championships. In 1979 he almost won LeMans in a 935 save for a late race mechanical problem that dropped the team to second overall, but still first in class. Later he achieved success as co-owner of the Newman-Hass Indycar team.
The video almost made me feel like a wimp as I quit racing and doing track events when I was only a few years older than Newman when he started racing at age 48, but then I started at 16, so I was at the point of being able to say "been there, done that"
As the video progressed I thought is was too bad that he never raced a Corvette, but then there was the revelation that he actually did! At age 80 he bought a C5-based Trans-Am Corvette to race and run track time events at Lime Rock, which he did for the next two years, finally hanging up his helmet at age 82, about a year before he passed in 2008.
Be sure to watch the bonus features, which are extended interviews including Mario Andretti, Jay Leno, and Bob Sharp. Sharp, in particular, is a really interesting and articulate guy. He gives the best description of what it's like to race and why it's so additive as I've ever heard.
Duke
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