DRIVING LESSONS FROM PAUL NEWMAN !

I don't feel older. Even when I recall seeing my favorite living actor Paul Newman in 1982's "The Verdict". Packed away with the rest of my household in a controlled temperature storage warehouse is a huge dry-mounted and custom framed film poster of "The Verdict" that usually hangs over my bed. A tense Newman is captured in the poster alone in an old office (his) with the moniker: "The doctors want to settle...The church wants to settle...Even his clients are desperate to settle...But Frank Galvin is determined to defy them all. He will try the case". Damn, I love it!

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You wanna know what else I love? Of course you do! This Sunday night, Newman will be driving what has become NASCAR's open-wheeled past, the Coca-Cola 600 at Lowe's Motor Speedway near Charlotte, North Carolina. His next car race is in June at Lime Rock Park, near his home in Westport, Connecticut. This passion began in 1969 with the movie "Winning". And it has fueled Paul's passion to become a winning championship driver on both the amateur and pro circuits and co-owner of a team that won the Tecate Grand Prix three years in a row! In the film, Newman played an open-wheel driver against Robert Wagner--his on and off the track rival. Joanne Woodward played the wife who feared for Newman's life. THAT WASN'T ALL ACTING! Last year, she threatened to divorce him unless he quit! Well, I guess like all good couples with real-life ups and downs, they must have reached a compromise. Joanne gave Paul a Rolex watch with an engraving on the back that reads "Drive Slowly". WILD! He's her Tom Sawyer and she is his Becky Thatcher! Impressing his girl! On the track Paul Newman is awesome as hell! No? You need proof?

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In 1972, he drove Lotus Elan to victory at a track in Thompson, Connecticut; In 1976 Paul won the first Sports Car Club of America national title and SCCA's President's Cup (the Top Honor); he turned professional in 1977. Then, get this one: In 1979, he raced the 24 Hours of LeMans, the most prestigious endurance race in the world. He captured second place, then won four SCAA titles that year! Steve McQueen would have been proud of Paul's win as a co-driver of "24 Hours of Daytona" driving a Ford Mustang GTS-class victory---becoming the oldest driver to win the race! Last year, his car caught fire at that same race and he escaped the burning car only to belt himself into the team's prototype car finishing 51st (due to mechanical trouble). At 80, he was the oldest to compete.

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Like his "comeback" character in "The Verdict", Newman is doggedly determined NOT to join the more lucrative NASCAR series, but rather to remain with the Champ Car Series, even though Newman and Champ Car are losing fans, TV viewers and sponsors to NASCAR. "I have no quarrels with NASCAR", Newman says. "That would be silly. It's racing, and it's good racing. Why would I quarrel with it?" At one time, open-wheeled racing was the most popular form of auto racing. In fact, it used to be confined to one circuit: CART (Championship Auto Racing Teams). In 1983, Newman and business partner Carl Haas of Chicago formed a team at a time when names like A.J. Foyt, Al and Bobby Unser, Mario Andretti and Rick Mears overshadowed NASCAR's lineup of it's own star-power. Men like Richard Petty, Dale Earnhart, Cale Yarborough and Bobby Allison seemed a bit left out. But all that changed with a bitter mid-1990's split into two series. They both sponsor open wheeled racing, and if you looked at the cars from the audience stands, you probably wouldn't notice what's different. Well, the difference is the engines, chassis and tires (those are HUGE differences!). One holds its races on Oval-shaped tracks while the other races on temporary city-street courses. The Indy 500 is of course part of the Oval-dominated circuit. That means Newman's team is out, even though Champ Car Teams have won Indy races. All that changed when the family of Tony George, bought the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 1945 and later excluded Champ Car Teams. Newman was so put out over this exclusion that he hasn't attended an Indy Race since 1995. Here's where the two guys square off. (I side with Paul).

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George: (Newman) "always has been a big fan of Champ Car and what Champ Car was. CART was a diversified series with top drivers and top teams. I'm clearly biased, but that's what the IndyCar Series represents and what a unified series would represent. I don't know why he would have a problem (with IndyCar or a merger of the two series)".

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Newman: "I have a problem with the management. Listen, I'm just like FOX News. I'm fair and balanced", he says mocking the cable network. "But for this merger to occur, Tony must first think about what is fair and realistic. He can't load the gun and expect us to make a deal. I know what the offer was and it was neither fair nor balanced".

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Paul's loyalty has come at one hell of a cost. David Letterman, Bobby Rahal, Roger Penske and Chip Ganassi--all of whom have deep pockets and own racing teams---left Champ Car. Newman and Haas have taken a financial beating. Champ Car co-owners Kalkoven and Gerald Forsythe rescued the series from bankruptcy court in 2004 and have sunk millions into propping it up a well.

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"I'm running out of steam", said Newman. I'll keep driving as long as I'm competitive and as long as I don't embarrass myself. And so long as I don't dissolve into a tub of sweat. Those cars get awfully hot."

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I know, I know. You're all wondering if he and pal Robert Redford will reunite for one more "Butch and Sundance"? "We're working on it", Paul says. "As long as I keep things spontaneous, things work out better", he added. "That's the motto of the food company. If we ever have a plan we're screwed". By the way, Newman's Own, his company that makes fantastic food from Lemonade to salad dressing that now funds 1,400 charitable organizations has an official slogan: "Shameless exploitation in pursuit of the common good". You know it's amazing for me to think that had my other favorite actor Steve McQueen lived, he would have been 75 this year. And you know what? I believe he and Paul would probably be business partners in racing and movie making (Steve's company was called Solar Productions). Thank God for Paul Newman! I list his "Hole In The Wall Gang Camp" for children dealing with serious illnesses under my COOL STUFF category in the right-hand column of this Blogsite. Hey! Why not scroll down and Click on the site and watch the 12 minute presentation of the camp featuring Paul! I donate annually in memory of my Niece and Cousin each year. Most recently, Paul will be the voice of the animated car "Doc Hudson" in the upcoming Disney/Pixar film "Cars". So...

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Still think you are too old to be dating a certain someone? Too old to begin flying lessons or to learn a musical instrument? Think again. We place too much emphasis on age. Truth be told, we live but once. And ultimately, it is the person who counts. Paul Newman is a GREAT example of "breaking the mold" of stereotyped limits and boundaries many people have about age with his passion for living!

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