Newman had big passion for auto racing

His first professional victory came in the rain at an SCCA trans-Am race at Brainerd, Minn., in 1982.

When Newman arrived in the media center at Brainerd for the winner’s interview, a bottle of champagne in hand and a huge smile on his face, he found just two writers waiting for him.

“Where is everybody? I guess I’ll have to win something a little bigger than this to get any attention,” he said.

Newman added another Trans-Am win at his home track in Lime Rock, Conn., in 1986.

He often said one of the things that attracted him most to racing was the camaraderie in the pits and paddock. And Newman loved a good practical joke, even when it was played on him.

During a race at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wis., several drivers conspired to pull a fast one on him. They hired a bus and sent it to a home for the aged, telling the residents that actor Paul Newman had invited them for lunch and a day at the track. About 40 women jumped at the offer.

Newman was at the track when a crewman came in and said, “Paul, there’s a bunch of people out here who say they’re supposed to have lunch with you.” Newman came out of his motor coach smiling and played the role of gracious host at a hastily arranged lunch for the adoring ladies.

When the Indy Racing League was formed, Newman/Haas stuck with CART and Newman tried numerous times during the 12-year split to broker a deal to get the rival organizations back under one banner.

Once, when a deal appeared close in the late 1990s, Newman summoned a writer to his motor coach at Portland, Ore., and demanded: “Write about this now and we’ll put some pressure on these people to get this done,” he said, with a profanity tossed in to underline his point.

It finally did get done, but not until this past February.

Newman was thrilled by the unification, even though it was the IRL’s IndyCar Series that wound up the winner of the internecine warfare.

“It’s about time,” Newman said. “Now, we can tell potential sponsors we have a future and mean it, and we can develop great, young drivers that will attract new fans to the sport. The future looks much brighter now.”

As he passed his 80th birthday, he remained in demand. He managed to combine acting with racing by providing the voice of a crusty 1951 car in the 2006 Disney-Pixar hit, “Cars.”

Newman drove his last race as a professional in the 2005 Daytona 24-Hours and even ran some hot laps around his beloved Lime Rock Park in August.

As the years went on, people kept asking him when he was going to quit racing. His reply was standard.

“That’s what Joanne keeps asking me,” he said.

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