Indeed, very sad to learn of the passing of Paul Newman.
I am sure many of you have had the opportunity to meet and maybe even become friends with someone famous at some time in your life. The famous person that I met many years ago and became friends with was Paul Newman.
When Paul raced Nissan's and Oldsmobile's in the SCCA and raced the endurance races such as in Daytona, Watkins Glen, Sebring and other places, he and I became good friends. In his early SCCA days, he raced in the same class as my father. Both he and my father were very good, and for a few years, either he or my father won most all of the races in their class. During this era, both he and my father won GT1 National Championships. I can honestly say I have shared more then a couple of Budweisers in the motor coach or dinners on a Friday or Saturday night after a long day at the track with Paul. I remember one occaision at a SCCA national race in Wentzville, MO., at Mid America Raceway. After a long race where he and my father traded the lead multiple times in about 100 degree weather, he invited my father and I to his motor coach after the race. Paul was sitting in his jockey undershorts and his wife Joanne was doing needle work. Gene Crowe, his lead mechanic and Bob Sharp (father of current Indy Car driver Scott Sharp), Paul's partner at the time were also there. We drank beer and ate good food until quite late into the night. I had to be back at school the next morning (about 7 hours away). In fun, Paul wrote me an excuse for my 1st period teacher and signed it. Of course, the next day, I was late and in a bit of hot water. Racing caused me to miss more than a few classes and I was about at the end of the road with some of the teachers. I was getting a fairly stern lecture about being late again - so I asked if a note from Paul Newman would be an adequete excuse. Of course, the teacher thought I was either bluffing or crazy - until I pulled out the note. I got out of the hot water! Another time we were at a restaurant in Commerce, Georgia having dinner during a race weekend at Road Atlanta. Paul was wearing tinted eyeglasses. A waitress came up to Paul and ask him if he would show her his blue eyes. He told her if she showed him her tits, he would show her his eyes. She did - and he did - everyone had a good laugh. Just a couple of many, many memories. My father retired from racing about 10 years ago. I had not seen Paul for at least that many years. But my memories of him are vivid. In all the time I spent with him and around him while racing, he never once brought up movies or acting. Neither did any of us. I think that is one of the reasons we became friends. We treated him like any other competitor, and never treated him like anything but one of the guys. And I think he respected our accomplishments. We were never one of the best funded teams, but we outperformed most all of them. Paul was a great person - he donated much of his time and money to those who needed help - especially children. He leaves a great legacy.
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Topic: What about Paul Newman? (Read 3443 times)