OT: Paul Newman Article

[Matt Holcomb]

I found this (interesting) article today while browsing the electronic version of a major Melbourne newspaper.

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/08/08/1060145856823.html

I had no idea that Paul Newman finished 2nd overall at Le Mans in '79.


Matt Holcomb
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[bell]

good read

here's a funny story about newman........was told to me some time ago but here goes.....

when he was first getting into racing he was turning some laps at nelsons ledges by following another driver, everything was going fine, lap times were good.........
turn 1-2 is a slight right to a slightly tighter right........well the driver he was following went in too hot and headed strait for the tire wall which he endied up hitting..........
newman who was following also went off because he too went in to hot.........then he hit the exact spot on the tire wall

moral of the story.............when your behind someone else on track don't rely on their line/speed for which way the track goes

[jluetjen]

I believe that the 2nd Place at Le Mans was in a Porsche 935 (There, now this threads back on-track!). PLN Still races fairly regularly in the SCCA up here in the North East. Lately he shows up in the GT1 (AKA: Trans Am) class and still does well, occcasionally winning like I think that he did at a National race Lime Rock earlier this year in the rain. This was separate from leading the Trans Am event at Lime Rock this year in the rain.

He's very much just "just one of the guys" at these events. I remember about 15 years ago I was crewing for a friend who had a FF2000 Van Diemen. It was a race at Pocono which also used 2/3's of the oval, which is pretty much flat out for most classes. At one point on Saturday my buddy's car lost the rear wing flap and endplate which went flying over the boilerplate which lines the outside wall. After the cars were done racing for the day, it was possible to go out and walk on the track and my buddy and I went out to find the flap. As we were walking back with about half of our rear wing slung over my shoulder PLN and some other guys were walking in the other direction and they all kind of stopped and watched us walk by with a sort of bemused look as if he had some sort of wise crack that he was about to say, but then chose the better of it. My brush with fame.

He comes across as a very normal guy.

[GeorgeK]

Oh Yes, PLN got 2nd at Le Mans in '79. He probably would have won if it wasn't for a stuck wheel nut that cost him 25 minutes.
That year, Klaus Ludwig and the Wittington brother won (935 K3).
A Swiss guy named Trisconi from Monthey (not far from where I live) got third also in a 935 K3. A few years later, he bought a nice brick red 930, which is now in my garage...
GeorgeK

[Zeke]

Originally posted by bell

moral of the story.............when your behind someone else on track don't rely on their line/speed for which way the track goes

BTDT.............twice..............

[Early_S_Man]

Matt,

Making Winning! for PLN in 1968 was probably a lot more fun for him than any other movie he had ever done ... all of the different cars [Indy, Can-Am, NASCAR] and tracks, not to mention the time with Bob Bondurant!

You should get the Moby Dick and the Warhorse Gang video about the 935 racing team effort by the Garretson team ... all the great players are there ... Garretson, Bruce Anderson, Jerry Woods, etc.