Winner of International Automotive Media Gold Award 2010
For all his fame as one of Hollywood’s great actors, a world-class humanitarian, and the proprietor of a natural food empire, the late Paul Newman had another intriguing facet that was less known and perhaps closer to his heart than all the rest of his well-chronicled life. He was an avid, successful and well respected car racer and team owner. This book tells that story--from Newman’s racing career, begun in earnest at an age when many race car drivers contemplate retirement; to the partnership he formed in 1983 with Chicago racing entrepreneur and team owner Carl Haas; to the impressive stable of automobiles he owned, from the Porsches and Ferraris to quirkier modified VWs and Volvos.
This is the tale of a life full of passion and skill, of someone who entered the 24 Hours of Daytona at the age of 70 and made his last professional race outing at 82; whose roster of drivers for Newman/Hass reads as a who’s who of open wheel racing; and whose interest in cars extended from the likely suspects to old trucks and new hybrids. And then there’s the charming pal who, when the incorrigible prankster Robert Redford had a miserably wrecked Ferrari dropped at his front door, returned the favor by having the car, crushed into a cube, delivered to Redford’s living room. The anecdotes, the races, the cars--all are here, adding up to what for many would be a full life, but for Paul Newman was simply another side of a man of talent, conviction, and enduring spirit.
See Motorbooks author Matt Stone interviewed by Jay Leno on JayLenosGarage.com: http://www.jaylenosgarage.com/video/jays-book-club-matt-stone/1164286/
Matt Stone (Glendale, CA), former executive editor of Motor Trend magazine, has been a professional automotive journalist and photographer since 1985. He is the author and photographer of several books, including Motorbooks' best-selling My First Car (2011), 365 Cars You Must Drive (2006), and McQueen's Machines (2010). He is the co-author, with Preston Lerner, of Winning: The Racing Life of Paul Newman (2009, 2014) and History's Greatest Automotive Mysteries, Myths, and Rumors Revealed (Motorbooks, 2013, 2014).
www.mattstonecars.com/bio.html
Preston Lerner, a regular contributor to Automobile magazine, has written about motorsports for publications ranging from Sports Illustrated to the New York Times. Lerner has co-authored Motorbooks titles Winning: The Racing Life of Paul Newman and History's Greatest Automotive Mysteries, Myths, and Rumors Revealed with Matt Stone.Mario Andretti is auto racing's definition of "Been There, Won That." His professional driving career spanned more than four decades and includes pit-stops as a Formula One driver (1978), an Indy 500 winner (1969), the Daytona 500 (1967), and four CART/USAC open-wheel racing national championships. Andretti has been called Mr. Versatile, known for driving everything from USAC sprint cars on the dirt to IndyCars, sports racing prototypes, and of course F1. He was Newman Haas Racing's first driver when the team was formed in 1982, raced there for 12 seasons, and is considered one of Paul Newman's closest friends.
