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Paul Newman first took an interest in auto racing while filming the 1968 motion picture Winning, in which he played the role of an Indy 500 driver. Since then, he has enjoyed an illustrious Oscar-winning acting career, but has never gotten the racing bug out of his system.
His first win was in 1972 at Thompson, Conn., in a Lotus Elan. While developing his skills as a sports-car driver, he also competed in a modified stock car at Daytona. In 1977, he finished fifth in the 24 Hours of Daytona and two years later co-drove a Porsche 935 to second place in the 24 Hours of LeMans. His last major triumph came in 1995 at the the age of 70 when he co-drove to victory in the IMSA GTS class at the 24 Hours of Daytona. Newman earned his first of four SCCA National driving titles in 1976 in the D-Production category. He also won titles in the 1979 C-Production class and was the GT-1 champion in both 1985 and 1986. His first professional Trans-Am victory came at Brainerd, Minn., in 1982, and he followed that with another win at Lime Rock in 1986. Before joining Haas as co-owner of Newman/Haas Racing in 1983, he fielded the likes of Danny Sullivan, Bobby Rahal, Al Unser, Teo Fabi, Keke Rosberg and Elliott Forbes-Robinson in the Can Am series. Newman and his wife, well-known actress, Joanne Woodward, reside in Westport, Conn. and have five children. Paul Newman is one of the most famous actors in the world. It could also be said that he is the most famous and well-known Champ or Indy car team owner. Newman first took an interest in auto racing while filming the 1968 motion picture “Winning,” in which he played the role of an Indy car driver. His racing career spans from his first event in 1972 at Thompson, Conn., in a Lotus Elan until today. His most recent professional racing victory took place in the Rolex 24-Hours of Daytona on February 5, 1995 where he and his co-drivers won the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) GTS-class. He was 70 years and 10 days old when he scored this grueling and historic victory. Newman competed in select races in 1997 including a GTS race in Lime Rock, Conn. on May 26, where he started third in a Ford Panoz and finished second. He also drove in a historic sportscar race in Daytona, Fla. on October 5. He competed in a one-hour endurance race as well as a sprint car race .He started 11th and finished second in a 1986 Porsche 962 in the sprint race. In January of 1999, his test drive in a Richard Childress-owned Winston Cup stock car garnered attention after he circled the high-speed Daytona oval at better than 184 mph which was only mere miles slower than times set by current drivers at the test. He competed in the 2000 Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona endurance race on February 6 but his hopes for another victory in the prestigious race were cut short by an engine failure only eight hours into the race. His comment after the race? “There’s always next year.” Not one to mince words, he was back for the 2001 race but a mechanical failure prevented another victory in the event. Plans to compete in the 2002 Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona with team drivers Christian Fittipaldi and Cristiano da Matta failed to happen but he continued to competed in, and win, events in the SCCA GT-1 category in 2002 and 2003. For the first time in nine years he competed in the SCCA’s headline professional series – the Trans Am Series and finished fifth in Lime Rock Park (5-26-03) against full-season veterans in the series. Those who know of his competitive spirit were not surprised to see him help kick off the 2004 racing season in the rain-soaked 24 Hours of Daytona race although his team was forced to retire after engine failure. In the early years of his racing career, Newman developed his skills as a sports car driver as well as competed in a modified stock car at Daytona. In 1977, he finished fifth in the 24 Hours of Daytona, and two years later co-drove a Porsche 935 to second place in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Newman earned his first Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) national title in 1976 in the D-Production category, and followed that with the C-Production class championship in 1979. He was GT-1 champion in both 1985 and 1986. Newman also was a semi-regular competitor in the SCCA Trans-Am series and scored his first professional victory at Brainerd, Minn., in 1982. His second career Trans-Am win came in 1986 at his “home” track in Lime Rock, Conn. Before joining forces with Haas for a Championship car team in 1983, Newman fielded cars in the Can-Am series for five years. His drivers included Danny Sullivan, Bobby Rahal, Al Unser, Teo Fabi, Keke Rosberg and Elliott Forbes-Robinson. Newman is also famous for his philanthropic endeavors. One of the charitable organizations he is most famous for is the founding of The Hole in the Wall Camps. Presently there are nine camps in five countries that offer children with serious illnesses and life threatening conditions a place to enjoy an old-fashioned camping experience free of charge. More than 70,000 children from 34 states and 27 countries have attended free of charge. Additionally, the Association of Camps is the official charity of the Champ Car World Series. Since founding Newman’s Own, an all-natural line of food products in 1982, he has given away 100 percent of after-tax profits to thousands of charitable and educational causes – a total that recently surpassed the $150 million mark. In a business where public scandal and bad-boy behavior are the rule rather than the exception, Paul Newman is as much a hero offscreen as on. A blue-eyed matinee idol whose career has successfully spanned five decades, he is also a prominent social activist, a major proponent of actors' creative rights, and a noted philanthropist. Born January 26, 1925, in Cleveland, OH, Newman served in World War II prior to attending Kenyon College on an athletic scholarship; when an injury ended his sports career, he turned to drama, joining a summer stock company in Wisconsin. After relocating to Illinois in 1947, he married actress Jacqueline Witte, and following the death of his father took over the family's sporting-goods store. Newman quickly grew restless, however, and after selling his interest in the store to his brother, he enrolled at the Yale School of Drama. During a break from classes he traveled to New York City where he won a role in the CBS television series The Aldrich Family. A number of other TV performances followed, and in 1952 Newman was accepted by the Actors' Studio, making his Broadway debut a year later in Picnic, where he was spotted by Warner Bros. executives. Upon Newman's arrival in Hollywood, media buzz tagged him as "the new Brando." However, after making his screen debut in the disastrous epic The Silver Chalice, he became the victim of scathing reviews, although Warners added on another two years to his contract after he returned to Broadway to star in The Desperate Hours. Back in Hollywood, he starred in The Rack. Again reviews were poor, and the picture was quickly pulled from circulation. Newman's third film, the charming Somebody Up There Likes Me, in which he portrayed boxer Rocky Graziano, was both a commercial and critical success, with rave reviews for his performance. His next film of note was 1958's The Long Hot Summer, an acclaimed adaptation of a pair of William Faulkner short stories; among his co-stars was Joanne Woodward, who soon became his second wife. After next appearing as Billy the Kid in Arthur Penn's underrated The Left-Handed Gun, Newman starred opposite Elizabeth Taylor in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, scoring his first true box-office smash as well as his first Academy Award nomination. After appearing with Joanne Woodward in Rally 'Round the Flag, Boys! -- the couple would frequently team onscreen throughout their careers -- Newman traveled back to Broadway to star in Tennessee Williams' Sweet Bird of Youth. Upon his return to the West Coast, he bought himself out of his Warner Bros. contract before starring in the 1960 smash From the Terrace. Exodus, another major hit, quickly followed. While by now a major star, the true depths of Newman's acting abilities had yet to be fully explored; that all changed with Robert Rossen's 1961 classic The Hustler, in which he essayed one of his most memorable performances as pool shark "Fast" Eddie Felson, gaining a second Oscar nomination. His third nod came for 1963's Hud, which cast him as an amoral Texas rancher. While a handful of creative and financial disappointments followed, including 1964's The Outrage and 1965's Lady L, 1966's Alfred Hitchcock-helmed Torn Curtain marked a return to form, as did the thriller Harper. For 1967's superb chain-gang drama Cool Hand Luke, Newman scored a fourth Academy Award nomination, but again went home empty-handed. The following year he made his directorial debut with the Joanne Woodward vehicle Rachel Rachel, scoring Best Director honors from the New York critics as well as an Oscar nomination for Best Picture. The couple next appeared onscreen together in 1969's Winning, which cast Newman as a professional auto racer; the motor sport remained a preoccupation in his real life as well, and he was the most prominent of the many celebrities who began racing as a hobby. He then starred with Robert Redford in 1969's Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, which went on to become the highest-grossing Western in movie history. It was followed by 1971's W.U.S.A., a deeply political film reflecting Newman's strong commitment to social activism; in addition to being among Hollywood's most vocal supporters of the civil rights movement, in 1968 he and Woodward made headlines by campaigning full time for Democratic Presidential candidate Eugene McCarthy. After directing and starring in 1971's Sometimes a Great Notion, Newman announced the formation of First Artists, a production company co-founded by Barbra Streisand and Steve McQueen. Modeled after the success of United Artists, it was created to offer performers the opportunity to produce their own projects. Newman's first film for First Artists' was 1972's Pocket Money, followed by another directorial effort, The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds. After a pair of back-to-back efforts under director John Huston, 1972's The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean and the next year's The Mackintosh Man, Newman reunited with Redford in The Sting, another triumph which won the 1973 Best Picture Oscar. He next appeared in the star-studded disaster epic The Towering Inferno, followed by 1975's The Drowning Pool, a sequel to Harper. His next major success was the 1977 sports spoof Slap Shot, which went on to become a cult classic. A string of disappointments followed, including Robert Altman's self-indulgent 1979 effort Quintet. The 1981 Absence of Malice, however, was a success, and for 1982's courtroom drama The Verdict Newman notched his fifth Best Actor nomination. He finally won the Oscar on his sixth attempt, reprising the role of Eddie Felson in 1986's The Color of Money, Martin Scorsese's sequel to The Hustler. After starring in two 1989 films, Blaze and Fat Man and Little Boy, Newman began appearing onscreen less and less. In 1991, he and Joanne Woodward starred as the titular Mr. and Mrs. Bridge, and three years later he earned yet another Academy Award nomination for his superb performance in Robert Benton's slice-of-life tale Nobody's Fool. His films since then have been fairly sparse and of mixed quality, with Joel Coen's and Ethan Coen's The Hudsucker Proxy (1994) being at the higher end of the spectrum and the Kevin Costner vehicle Message in a Bottle (1999) resting near the bottom. Newman again graced screens in 2000 with Where the Money Is, a comedy that cast him as a famous bank robber who fakes a stroke to get out of prison. For his role as a kindly crime boss in 2002's Road to Perdition, Newman would become a ten-time Oscar nominee. Still, despite his movement away from Hollywood, Newman has remained a prominent public figure through his extensive charitable work; he created the Scott Newman Foundation after the drug-related death of his son and later marketed a series of gourmet foodstuffs under the umbrella name Newman's Own, with all profits going to support his project for children suffering from cancer.
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