Winning: The Racing Life of Paul Newman [Illustrated] [Hardcover]

Hollywood movie icon, racing driver, team owner and salad dressing magnate. Paul Newman lived life to the full. Now, for the first time, the riviting story of his racing life is expertly told by Matt Stone and Preston Lerner, with the help of fellow racers, engineers, team owners and actors. --Autosport, October, 2009--This first words in this book come from the pen of Mario Andretti: 'Paul Newman was one of us.' A little later, he adds his impression on first seeing Newman's name painted on the name of his race car in 1967: 'Why would Cool Hand Luke want his name on what was probably the worst Can Am car ever designed?' That pretty much sums it up; Paul Newman came to racing somewhat late in life, but he was a racer. We get the entire story of Paul Newman's racing career, from the first time he took his Porsche-engined '53 Beetle out onto the Willow Springs racetrack, through catching the racing bug for real while filming 'Winning,' and on through his evolution from weekend Datsun 510 racer into Trans Am winner and team owner. Motor Trend executive editor Matt Stone and co-authors Preston Lerner and Mario Andretti interviewed a broad swath of Newman's instructors, competitors, and team members, and the reader comes away with a good sense of the kind of racer he was. According to Bob Sharp:'His first year was a struggle. He wasn't naturally fast. But he had a sensitive touch and was very easy on equipment. Even in the beginning, when he wasn't the fastest guy out there, he was always clean and disciplined. Never was he off the track. He improved very logically, systematically, and as he got more and more races under his belt, he got better and better and better. It was unbelievable. He became a very, very good professional driver.'Newman moved up to faster and faster cars, racing a Porsche 935 in the 1979 24 Hours Of Le Mans and winning his first Trans Am race in 1982. After that, he moved into CART team ownership and yet more racing. Though his acting gig occasionally got in the way of his real profession and his philanthropic ventures grew in importance, he more or less lived racing until his death at the age of 83 in 2008. Reading this book, you'll get all the twists and turns of this story, and Stone's hagiographic tone may be forgiven when referring a man who, by all accounts, really was the all-around good guy he appeared to be.As a nice bonus at the end, we get a chapter devoted to Newman's street cars over the years. Not only was there the Porsche Super 90-powered '53 Beetle in the early days; Newman decided that wasn't enough, so in 1969 he commissioned a Ford 351-powered Beetle. In the 1980s and 1990s, Newman drove some hot engine-swapped Volvo wagons. How about an '88 740GLE with a 400-horse turbo Buick V6? Or a supercharged Ford small-block in a '96 Volvo 960 wagon? This one gets a four-rod rating. Murilee says check it out! --jalopnik dot com, Oct 2009&-;Winning: The Racing Life of Paul Newman by Matt Stone and Preston Lerner is the latest in a very strong line of releases from Motorbooks. This book chronicles Newman's career as a hard running race car driver complete with great sidebars from the people he ran with and against, and has a foreward by Mario Andretti. Many people know that Newman was into cars, but few realize that he was a multi-time SCCA national champion. He drove dirt track cars, and in one well documented sidebar story in the book, a Winston Cup car. He had been offered a shot at driving the car, owned by Richard Childress, during a test day. NASCAR approved the test and Mike Helton asked that the crew guys pull some timing out of the motor and set the spoilers to keep the car glued to the track and not in lap record form. They did neither. Newman hauled around the track and matched the lap times of several hard running professional drivers. That was the charm of this man. --Octane Magazine, November, 2009

This book is not a lap by lap account of Newman's career as a racer and team owner, although plenty of that is included. It focuses on the many racing honours and the manner and style in which he achieved them, throguh the memories of those who knoew him best; racers who drove for him, others that drove against him, the newman/Hass famil;y, friends, and so many more that came into cnotact with him...Shropshire Star, December, 2009...We have often heard of leading men who fall in love with their co-stars. for Paul Newman, the love wasn't flesh and blood but gas and steel. Newman caught the racing bug while filming 'Winning' in 1968. Matt Stone and Preston Learner follow the road that Newman's obsession led him along. The book has the feel of a family album, an illusion broken only by the testimonials form friends and collegause such as Mario Andretti, Robert wagner, and Skip Barber. If you're loved ones love racing, this is the book to buy....Virginian pilot, December, 2009....Paul newman and mopar in one book - it's a cocktail of Dodges and Plymouths packed with facts, figures, and lavish photography...Practical Classics, Janaury, 2009.....Many people recognise the late Paul Newman as a well-respected actor and director from Hollywood's past, but not as many know of his illustrious career as a racing driver and team owner. Matt stones book covers this side of his life in fantastic detail. From the early days starting out behind the wheel, throguh his four national club racing titles, his success in the IMSA and Trans-Am series, his achivements at the 24 hours of daytona race, and fo course at Le Mans, the book is a wonderful tribute to a man who wasn't a born racer, but thanks to skill, determination, enthusiasm, commitment, and undoubted skill became one in his own right. --Performance VW, December, 2009...There are so many quotes form famous names in this book that describe Paul Newman the racing driver, but my favourite coomes form race engineer Mark Schomann:'Now that he's gone, I relaise I always thought of him as Paul newman the race car driver, who pretended he was an actor...He was a race car guy who wanted to drink beer and have his foot on a tyre, and ocassionally he'd go'Oh, s*** I've got to work and do a movie'.' That's the dominant message of this tribute to a much-loved man who died in September last year. Paul newman was one of the alst great Hollywood stars, but on the race track he was just one of the guys. The book recounts Newmmann's late in life love affair with racing, which was famously kick-started by his 1968 movie Winning. The story moves on to his very respectable club racing record of of the 1970's, the second place at Le Mans in 1979 (his only race outside North America - he hated the mania his prescence created) and his impressive semi-pro Trans-Am days in the 1980s. The chapter on his partnership in indycars with Carl hass is enlgihtening, while the box-out memories form friends, rivals, and the drivers who raced for him complete the portrait. Anyone who loves Newman the fim star should read this book to discover the real man behind those famous blue eyes...MotorSport, December, 2009...Paul newman starred in the 1968 motorsport film Winning, and this inspired him to get behind the wheel and race hishself. This book documenst his victories in club racing, at le Mans, and Daytona, as well as how he came to voice the character Doc Hudson in the 2005 disney film Cars. It's a good read, and there are plenty of images to supplement it -- --Auto Express, December, 2009

'Paul Newman was one of us. A car entusiast, I mean a racer,' so said Marion Andretti. 'He loved the camaraderie at the racetrack. He loved ass-kicking cars. Even 10 years after I retired, i'd see him at road America, laguna Seca, or Mid Ohio and he'd say' lets go tkae the pace car for a spin and see if we can go 200'. it was the devil in him that I loved, added mario. Newman commented:'If I hadn't been an actor, or a director of films, i guess I would have liked to becomea racing driver more than enything else.' Much is known about Academy-Award winning actor Paul Newman. he was a devoted husband to Joanne woodward, amarriage that survived five decades and the pitfalls of mixing two remarkable Hollywood carers - a director and producer. He was a comitted philanthropist and, of course, race car driver and race team owner. Winning, filmed in 1968 co-starring his wife and Robert Wagner, ignited a connection with motorsport. It was only fitting that Newman's final movie role, as Doc Hudson in Pixar's Cars, produced in 2005, revoelved around automobiles and racing life. This book portrays a side of Paul newman that most of the world didn't know - the avid, successful and well respected car racer and team owner. From his racing career, begun in earnest at an age when most race car drivers contemplate retierment, to he partnership he formed in 1983 with Chicage racing entrepreneur and team owner Carl Hass; to the impressive roster of automobiles he owned, like the Porsches and Ferraris to quirkier modified VW's and Volvos. Although Newman didin't posses the superhuman ability to race at indy or Formula 1, his talent was considerable. By his won admission, he wasn't born a racer. But he absolutley ebcame one. he asked questions, learned, practised, trained, and tested with relentless enthusiasm and commitment. He wanted to be treated like any other racer; acceptance amongst the motorsport fraternity was paramount to him. His driving suit identified him as 'PL Newman'( and in some cases 'Butch' after his role in the film Butch cassidy and The Sundance Kid). Newman was an SCCa member for 36 years, and in adittion to winning four national club-racing titles he competed in the pro sports car ranks, achieving success in IMSA, and the Trans-Am series; at the 24 Hours of Daytone,(where he is still the oldest driver to achieve a class win) and in the world's msot sigificant endurance race, the 24 Hours of Le Mans. --Shropshire Star, December, 2009...a look into a life away form the glitz of Hollywood and into the world of fast cars. The award-winning actor came to motor racing at the age of 47, at a time when many racing drivers would be considering retierment- and achived a great deal. However, more than a lap-by-lap account of his life behind the wheel, this book is loaded with articles by those people who raced alongside him, the people who managed teams he raced for and those who built the cars he drove. Newman proved to be more than a film starr who liked the idea of racing, and as a member of the SCCA (Sports Car Club of America) for 36 years he won four national club-racing titles, competing in both the 24 Hours of Daytonna and the 24 hours of LeMans. Most surprisingly, he was still racing in his 80s. The point is that paul Newman was one of those rare people who succeeded in most things he attempted. --Leicester Mercury, January, 2010

Paul Newman is one of the Great Hollywood Stars - an actor who's performances had such integrity they lifted him to the heights of stardom. But he remained a down-to-earth man, and nowhere is this more obvious than his collaboration to form the Newman-Hass racing team and his career as a Motorsport racer. He got the racing bug after filming "Winning", and set out to become a racer himself. Initially dismissed as a spoilt film star, he soon proved his critics wrong, with his first 1972 race for Datsun, showing commitment, talent, technique, and a professional determination to win. He learnt in a Lotus Elan, then a Triumph TR-6, and won his first SCCA championship in 1979, saying 'This is better than the Oscars'. He notched up a series of successes both on track and with his team - Daytona 24 Hour race, where he won his class, aged 70; second in the Le Mans 24 hour race of 1979 racing a Porsche, 107 Daytona wins and eight championships for the Newman-Hass racing team, which both Nigel Mansell and Mario Andretti raced for, and built up an impressive stable of cars, from Porsches and Ferraris to modified VW's and Volvos, all featured in this book along the legendary racing career of a man who was a passionate car racer, making this a title bound to appeal to any racing fan. With tributes from Jay leno, Carl Hass, Mario Andretti, Brock Yates, Patrick Dempsey, Roger Penslee, and others this is a fitting tribute to a man who was as passionate in his racing as his acting, and once commented he only took films on to afford his racing career.