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Paul Newman: philanthropist, Academy Award-winning actor and co-founder of the Newman/Haas (now Newman/Haas/Lanigan) Racing team died this past Friday at his home in Connecticut, according to a press release on the team Web site. He was 83 years old.
Newman's fascination with automobile racing began in 1968 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway during production of the film "Winning."
He was given behind-the-wheel instruction at Bob Bondurant School of High Performance Driving and, over the course of the shoot, fell in love with racing.
Before long, he was competing in Sports Car Club of America events.
In 1972, a mere four years after his interest in racing was piqued, he took first place in an SCCA race in Thompson, Conn., driving a Lotus Elan. He continued in this vein of success in the SCCA for a decade.
In 1979, he and two other drivers shared in a second-place finish behind the wheel of a Porsche 935 at Le Mans.
In 1980, he and Lola distributor and one-time radio personality Carl Haas fielded a Chevrolet T530 under the newly-christened "Newman/Haas Racing" moniker.
In 1982, he took on a field stacked with professionals at the Trans-Am in Brainerd, Minnesota and won (a feat he repeated at Lime Rock, Conn. in 1986). 1983 saw Newman/Haas enter a car at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, where Newman's love affair had begun.
Acting was a secondary devotion for Paul Newman. "[He] was a racer who supported his habit by acting. That's how he would have wanted to be remembered," writes Mark Vaughn of AutoWeek.
So the Best Actor in a Leading Role Oscar he scooped for "The Color of Money" was, strictly speaking, a means to an end- an end with four wheels and an engine.
There was even more to Paul Newman than his prolific acting career and accolades in the realm of racing.
In 1982, Newman founded Newman's Own, a food company probably most famous for its eclectic (and delicious) line of dressings. Over $250 million worth of proceeds from the sale of Newman's Own products has been donated to charity.
"There are a couple of things I have great affection for," Newman is quoted as having said in May 2008. "One of those, as you all know, is automobile racing. The other is to care in some ways for kids who have been less fortunate than I have."
In 1988, Newman founded Hole in the Wall Camps, a family of camps specifically for children with life-threatening illnesses. Affiliate camps have been founded in Italy, Hungary, Uganda and Vietnam, to name only a few.
Newman touched millions in his film roles, changed innumerable lives for the better through his humanitarian programs, and, for us gearheads, will be remembered as one of automotive racing's all-time greats.
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