Armed Polite Society
Main Forums => The Roundtable => Topic started by: mtnbkr on October 25, 2015, 10:03:37 AM
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This is a documentary produced by Adam Carolla earlier this year about Paul Newman's racing career. It's quite interesting even if you're not a racing fan. PN, without the arrogance you'd expect from an actor, started out at the bottom and worked his way up. It includes interviews with racers, actors, and other racing luminaries.
It's free on Amazon if you have Prime.
Chris
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It didn't take long for him to make his way up -- he had tremendous natural talent.
Newman lived in Fairfield County, CT, a.k.a. "The Gold Coast." There was a Datsun dealer named Bob Sharpe (which was also the name of his dealership), also in Fairfield County. Bob Sharpe Racing use Limerock Racetrack in north western CT for practice, as well as racing SCCA and professional events at that track. Newman went to Bob Sharpe and bought a race car, and asked Sharpe to teach him how to drive.
HAH! In short order, Newman was beating Sharpe. IIRC, it wasn't long before Sharpe gave up driving and made Newman the team driver. He was THAT good. HE didn't race as "Paul Newman." Paul Newman was a movie star. He raced as "PJ Newman," and he tried very hard to keep the racing completely separate from the Hollywood hype. In the pits and on the track, he wasn't a movie star, he was just one of the guys.
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From what little I've read of Newman, "just one of the guys" was pretty much how he always was.
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Funny you should mention this as I just stumbled across it tonight. He did have some serious racing talent. Newman seems to have been a race car driver at heart. Acting was just something he did on the side.
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Newman was a real class act on the track as well as on the screen, along with Jim Garner and Steve McQueen. They were real man's men! All great actors as well as great race drivers!