Steve Parker: Paul Newman, race car driver, 83

Paul Newman was the real thing. He died yesterday at age 83 in his Connecticut home (close to his home race track, Lime Rock Raceway). Newman was said to have been suffering from lung cancer, and was for many years a heavy smoker. Still, making it to 83, smoking or not, is not bad at all. Everyone knows about his film career and there's no lack of information on his life all over the Web. So, here I'll share a few memories, and offer a few anecdotes which some readers might appreciate knowing. Many of his obituaries are referring to him as a "racing enthusiast," but he was not a wealthy dilettante who spent weekends slumming with gear-heads and wrenches; he was a skilled, serious, professional and world-class race car driver as well as one of the most successful team owners in the sport's history. Had he never acted, his racing career alone would have garnered him great fame and fortune. I first met him in the mid-1970s at Riverside Raceway in Southern California, once one of the ... (link)