R.I.P Paul Newman

27 Sep

While in the shower this morning I heard the radio report that Paul Newman passed away after battling this year with cancer. Many might wonder why we would dedicate a place on a car blog towards remembering one of the world’s finest actors. The reason is simple – he also was an avid gearhead like the rest of us. Of particular interest to everyone here at Z1, he was also very involved in the early Datsun/Nissan racing program. He was one of Bob Bondurant’s earliest driving school clients, and competed in various 510’s and Z cars over the years, most notably for Bob Sharp’s legenday Connecticut based team. He also competed in various Porsche race cars as well, and even took 2nd spot at LeMans in 1979 in a 935. Later he formed his own race team, first competing in Can-Am racing, and eventually moving to open wheel competition with the formation of Newman/Haas Racing. A GT class team he was part of won the 24 Hour of Daytona race in 1995. The last time I can remember watching him drive was at the Daytona 24 Hour test session in 2005 behind the wheel of a Porsche powered Daytona Prototype. Some might remember the voiceover work he did in the Pixar movie “Cars”

Here are some pictures of a few Newman-piloted cars from over the years