Winning: The Racing Life of Paul Newman Page #7

and he would say, you know,

"I really want to go into

salad-dressing business."

Sam Posey's wife designed the label,

and Paul Newman was

in the salad-dressing business.

He and my wife,

Ellen, started hanging out.

He said, you know,

"I'd like the label to be not one

of the traditional salad dressings.

Would you be interested

in doing the label for me?"

So she said sure,

and she came and mocked one up

Right within a day right there.

And he loved that,

and that's the way it went.

Her name is actually

in among the leaves.

And so, we figure she's the

most reproduced fine artist

in the history of the world.

The second that someone

said, "the only way

you're gonna make this work"

is to put your face

on the label, that's the second

the money went to charity.

I think that you have a choice

about what you're gonna

do your life with success.

Some people want to further

it or you want to stop

and say, "look,

I don't need that much."

I would get more satisfaction

if I can create some

kind of a mechanism

to give other people an

opportunity they may not have.

Paul chose the camp for sick kids.

We have five in the United States.

We have one in Ireland,

one in France,

one in the south of England.

I think this year,

we had 13,000 kids in camp...

All of it free.

Paul was precise.

So was Jim.

I mean, these are two very

professional road racers,

and both wanted to beat

each other with a passion.

There were times

when Fitzy would dive-bomb Paul.

There was also times

where "honor the senior friend

who helps all of this happen."

So it wasn't an, "after you,

Alphonse," kind of a deal.

Yet I think Paul would put

together more consistent laps

to have a little bit

of an edge on Fitzy.

The battle shaping up... Paul

and Fitzy battling for the lead.

He's got Fitzgerald

right on his tail.

And, sure,

Paul knows and likes Fitzy.

Theirs is one

of the oldest friendships

in the sport.

Last lap... the pace

has not slackened.

Jim Fitzgerald has pushed

hard the whole way,

but Newman hasn't faltered,

nor has his car.

It looks like he's going

to win this one the way

he won his last national

championship back in '79...

Wire-to-wire.

I mean, I never heard him lord

over people, "I won this race."

He would say,

"I was very lucky."

You know, "when we were doing this,

I was fortunate enough

to have this crew..."

Whatever it might be.

I wouldn't see him today

tweeting out victories

or sending Facebook pictures.

You know, it just makes me laugh.

It's that sort of

stoic, American way.

I like the kind of racing

where there's no spectators.

That seems like

a rather sour thing to say,

but that's when I have the most fun.

Just flip it up,

and it'll take a little less

drain off before you start it.

Paul had a desire

to go out to tracks

and run cars during periods

when he was making films.

When Paul did "The Color

of Money" with Tom...

Pretty damn good.

Not bad for a blind man.

After days of filming,

he would go find

some little 1/8-of-a-mile dirt

track or something

and take a few laps

to blow off the steam.

He had so much fun, he said,

"hey, Tom, why don't you come on

out with me and have some fun

running around this

little racetrack?"

Well, Tom had a ball.

So Paul called me up,

and he said, "do you think

Nissan would make a showroom

stock car available for Tom?"

The demographic for Tom for all

of our sponsors was terrific.

So, absolutely,

Nissan was interested.

He's been up in F-15s

so he knows what that...

You know, what the big

roller coaster is like.

I think he was probably

more excited by the driving

than he was by the flying.

Of course, that car

had a sudden death

at Watkins Glen

at about 80 miles an hour

into the guardrail.

Tom wanted to win immediately,

and I did everything I could.

I had a lot of fun with Tom,

but I tried to get

him to have the patience,

and many times, you know,

he was racing against

people who had

ten years' experience on him.

Well, Tom won a couple

of races during the year,

so he had the potential

of doing very well.

But he'd tried to cover up

a mistake immediately,

which often got him

into a bigger mistake.

He's off the track.

He's trying to correct.

It's 90% mental, 10% physical.

The discipline, you know,

plays such a key part.

That's the most challenging,

definitely.

I really haven't had the amount

of time

that I need to really form

a relationship with the car

and understand what it's gonna

do under extreme conditions.

Paul pulled him aside.

We sent him to Fitzy

a half a dozen times

down to Road Atlanta,

'cause here's the chief

instructor uncle Fitzy,

And Fitzy loved Tom.

They got along very, very well.

And we put together his showroom

stock two different classes,

which led to Tom doing the film,

"Days of Thunder."

The second year, at Pocono,

Tom got into a problem

on the bow

and instead of spinning the car,

he corrected,

and it went into the guardrail

at about 130 miles an hour.

I think that was maybe the time

when Mimi and Tom had a discussion

that maybe the two years

of racing was enough.

In a way, we were sorry

to see Tom not stay with racing,

but we have also were happy

to see him retire unhurt.

Whoo!

There was no doubt who the star

of the 1986 Valvoline road

racing classic was.

It's Newman's fourth

national championship.

I guess he's on a bit of a roll.

Newman, who's known

as a serious racer driver,

won the Road Atlanta GT1

national championship.

So, I'm getting a little long

in the tooth.

It's nice.

The young princes are coming up.

And it's time to let somebody

else sit on the chair up here.

Paul Newman, the winner.

The popcorn's a winner.

Maybe he'll get an Oscar this year.

The pressure

to win grew as he did win,

and people expected him to win again,

and he had to force the

issue quite a few times.

When I went to the Road Atlanta

for the runoffs my first year

is when I first met Paul Newman.

He was clean most of the time,

but it just seemed

that there were times

when he didn't qualify

well that he didn't deal

with that very well, and he knew

he had a very fast car.

So there were times when he would sort

of give it a real charge

at the start

and try to maybe "pass more cars

before turn 1" kind of a thing.

That's usually

where the problems happened.

And here comes a thundering

herd with Newman in front.

- Newman on the inside.

- Oh!

Newman and Herb here tangle

and try out a tire barrier.

And there as Herb tried to turn

into the corner, there was Newman.

But I'm not convinced either

one would've made the turn.

I guess our paths really

crossed in an official capacity

when we were both racing

professionally in the '80s

in the Trans-Am series.

And to literally say

our paths crossed,

it was when we kind of

crashed into each other.

But he remembered it,

because when he gave me

a ride on his scooter

on the way to our cars

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