THE FRONTSTRETCH NEWSLETTER
Presented by Frontstretch.com
The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!
Nov. 19, 2015
Volume IX, Edition CCX
Presented by Frontstretch.com
The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!
Nov. 19, 2015
Volume IX, Edition CCX
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What to Watch: Thursday
- Today is pull-in day for all three of NASCAR's National Series at Homestead. While inspection is ongoing for the Camping World Truck Series no on-track activity is scheduled.
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Thursday's TV Schedule can be found in Couch Potato Tuesday here.
Top News
by the Frontstretch Staff
Ty Dillon to Return to XFINITY Series, Looks to Add Full Cup Schedule
by the Frontstretch Staff
Ty Dillon to Return to XFINITY Series, Looks to Add Full Cup Schedule
During a teleconference Wednesday Ty Dillon statedhe plans to remain full-time in the XFINITY Series for the 2016 season. Dillon would like to compete full-time in Sprint Cup but does not have a program in place as of yet. Read more
Have news for the Frontstretch? Don't hesitate to let us know; email us at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com with a promising lead or tip.
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Editor's Note: Potts' Shots will not run this week.~~~~~~~~~~
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The Critic's Annex: Winning: The Racing Life of Paul Newman
by Phil Allaway
Last week, the documentary Winning: The Racing Life of Paul Newman was released on DVD. I wanted to see it during one of the few theatrical showings, but none of them were near where I live.
However, I did snag the DVD off of Amazon and gave it a nice viewing. What's it like? Let's find out.
The popular story with Newman is that he got into racing while doing the 1969 film Winning, in which he starred with wife Joanne Woodward. The reality is that Newman's interest had already been piqued by then. Mario Andretti describes meeting Newman at the long-since closed Bridgehampton Raceway in Long Island at a Can-Am race. Newman was sponsoring Andretti's car. The future World Champion took Newman for a ride and the man seemed to be hooked. Doing Winning gave Newman the opportunity to learn to race and do it without repercussions (along with co-star Robert Wagner).
Once Newman was hooked, he was hooked. But, compared to Patrick Dempsey, he started out small, racing a Datsun 510 in club races at places like Lime Rock Park (incorrectly identified as Lime Rock Raceway). Newman essentially went about it like any other driver would have that didn't have his means.
Plenty of footage of Newman racing his 510 is shown, including him having some issues. He was realistic about his abilities, which is rather refreshing when you think about it. File footage from the 1970's shows Newman claiming that he crashed at Road Atlanta because "I got too eager."
A significant amount of time was devoted to the late Jim Fitzgerald, who was an early racing rival, and later teammate of Newman's with Bob Sharp Racing. He's also one of the oldest men ever to start a race in what's now Sprint Cup, making his final start in a fifth entry from Hendrick Motorsports at Riverside in 1987. Two months after that race, Fitzgerald was killed in a crash during a Trans-Am race in St. Petersburg.
Newman was a giving man. Much like in other forms of racing, word of mouth can open doors for people. Newman's word effectively allowed Ribbs to race full-time in 1983 in Trans-Am. Here's the season finale, where Ribbs led flag-to-flag to take his fifth win of the year, while teammate David Hobbs won the title.
Newman also convinced Tom Cruise to get involved in racing while filming The Color Of Money. Aside from Cruise's turn as Cole Trickle in Days of Thunder, it's a bit of a forgotten fact that Cruise actually raced himself. He was competitive, but incredibly aggressive. Cruise's appearance in the "Star in a Reasonably Priced Car" on Top Gear is just one example of that. My guess is that that was part of the reason why Cruise did Days of Thunder. He wanted to drive. Insurance dudes wouldn't let him.
The real takeaway here is that Newman saw racing as a way to be a more common man. Didn't hurt that he greatly enjoyed doing it. He was a very private man, but one dedicated to his craft.
Overall, much of the focus on the film was on Newman's racing for Bob Sharp in his Datsuns and Nissan. While his Le Mans appearance in 1979 (restored actual car pictured above) will go down as possibly the greatest moment in his personal racing career (and it got it's due), his more rudimentary exploits got more time. His co-ownership of Newman/Haas Racing with Carl Haas did get time, but not really all that much. It was clear that the two of them were an odd mix at first.
Naturally, there's some things that are left out. Most notably, there was no mention of Newman's role as part of the GTS-1 class winning Ford Mustang at the Rolex 24 in 1995 (Newman was joined by Mike Brockman, Tommy Kendall and Mark Martin). Because of that, it makes me think that there could be some kind of Nissan bias, especially considering Carolla's own background racing Nissans and Datsuns (the Le Mans adventure is an exception to that rule).
Bonus features include uncut interviews that producer/director Adam Carolla did for the film, a trailer, and a feature on Carolla rebuilding Newman's former GT1 racer from the 1980's. There, Carolla chronicles the build briefly, then we see him race the car at the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. He did ok, until a slower Porsche 914 forced him into a spin.
I find the film to be enjoyable to watch, but a little narrow in focus. I think that the film could have been longer than 84 minutes with credits. Other than Winning, The Color Of Money and Cars, there was very little mentioning of Newman's movie career. Those three stand out. Winning and The Color Of Money for reasons mentioned above and Cars for Newman's racing-related role in it. Based on how Newman was portrayed in the film, I think he would have liked it that way.
The video footage in the film was interesting. Much of Newman's racing occurred during a period of time in which there really wasn't all that much sports car racing on TV. That goes doubly so for Newman's club racing. Still, there are a few of Newman's races available on YouTube (the Las Vegas race linked above is just one of them). The footage that we do get in the film is pretty good, though. I would recommend giving the film a watch. I enjoyed my viewing.
Hope you liked this look at Winning: The Racing Life of Paul Newman. We'll be back during the offseason with a number of various critiques to whet your appetite. Until next time, enjoy the action this weekend from Homestead.
Phil Allaway is the Newsletter Manager and a Senior Writer for Frontstretch. He can be reached via e-mail at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com. Phil also provided the picture of the Porsche 935 that Newman raced at Le Mans in 1979 (picture taken at the Rolex 24 in 2012).
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"I remember telling him, 'Listen, man, I'd love to come drive this car for you, believe me. But I've never driven these cars. I'd had a halfway decent year in Busch and that was it. I said, 'I need more experience. I need that full contract.' He offered me four years, and I said, 'I need to know I've got those four years. I don't want to get a year or two into this deal and then be gone.'" - Casey Mears, on his request for a guarantee from Chip Ganassi prior to the 2003 season so that he could improve his craft in Winston Cup
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TODAY AT FRONTSTRETCH:
by P. Huston Ladner
by Tom Bowles
by Aaron Bearden and Sean Fesko
by Toni Montgomery
by Beth Lunkenheimer
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FRONTSTRETCH TRIVIA:
Q: The early years of the Daytona Prototype formula saw underpowered prototypes and relatively low car counts. Despite that, hard racing was common. Homestead played host to one of the most spectacular races for the lead in recent memory back in 2004. What happened?
Check back Friday for the answer, here in the Frontstretch Newsletter!
Wednesday's Answer:
Wednesday's Answer:
Q: In the 2002 Ford 400 Jimmy Spencer qualified a strong third for the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway. However, after running fairly well, his day ended in spectacular fashion. What happened?
A: Spencer was running third with 80 laps to go when he started getting extremely loose. Spencer didn't know why that was happening but he had decided he was going to pit. Before Spencer got there, the right-rear tire went down resulting in a spin entering turn 1. Spencer backed into the wall hard, sparking a huge fire that briefly enveloped a credentialed photographer. The crash can be seen here.
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COMING TOMORROW
In The Frontstretch Newsletter:
We'll cover breaking news from Homestead and preview this weekend's action.
On Frontstretch.com:
Zach Catanzareti answers Four Burning Questions heading into this weekend's Sprint Cup season finale in Homestead
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©2015 Frontstretch.com
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Talk back to the Frontstretch Newsletter!
Got something to say about an article you've seen in the newsletter? It's as easy as replying directly to this message or sending an email to editors@frontstretch.com. We'll take the best comments and publish them here!
©2015 Frontstretch.com
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