Paul Newman was a famed and respected actor, and a pretty successful and certainly respected racing driver and car lover. Alongside Steve McQueen and James Garner he was part of a trio of stars who were fast enough to have had careers on the track as much as on celluloid, and who found ways to get their passion on screen (Le Mans for McQueen, Grand Prix for Garner and Winning for Newman for example).
Out of the three, Newman went on to win four national championships, and even won his class in the 1995 24 Hours of Daytona at the age of 70. This was despite only starting to race at the age of 47, after shooting Winning at the age of 44
Not only that but he also formed the competitive Newman Freeman Racing team in American Can-Am racing, with drives including Keke Rosberg, Teo Fabi, Patrick Depailler, Danny Sullivan and Bobby Rahal. And then later co-founded Newman/Haas Racing which notched up 105 wins with drivers including Mario Andretti (CART champion in 1984), Michael Andretti (1991 champ), Nigel Mansell (1993 champ), Cristian da Matta (2002) and Sebastien Bourdais (2004,2005,2006 and 2007 Champ Car).
And his final role for a major feature film was providing the voice of Doc Hudson for the animated Disney/Pixar film Cars, inspiring another generation of car lovers.
The official release date for the film is May 22, 2015. It’s directed by Adam Corolla and Nate Adams. And it certainly could be up there with the likes of Senna.
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