David Letterman, a popular late night TV talk show host here in the US shared some memories of Newman. Letterman owns/owned a winning Indy race car team and Newman made numerous appearances on his TV show. Letterman saluted him for donating over $250,000,000 to charity and ran a short clip of his appearances. He remembered that Newman had a VW Rabbit that he drove around town, and that he had a Porsch engine installed just for fun. Some time later, Newman called Letterman to say he was having a car built and did Letterman want one too? It was a Volvo station wagon with a formula race track engine installed - with a 'puffer'. Letterman said it was a legitimate 170 mph car that eventually burned up - literally! Regards, Bob S.
On Thu, Oct 2, 2008 at 10:35 PM, Doug Franklin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > John Francis wrote: > >> In the mid-80s he had a kick-ass Datsun Maxima. It was a project car for >> one of the car mags, and they fitted the engine from a 280Z, and added a >> turbocharger (or supercharger). I know this because at the time we had >> an '83 Maxima wagon. It was quite capable off the showroom floor - it >> basically used the engine from a 240Z. I can only imagine what it would >> be like with a whole lot more power (and better suspenson & brakes). > > I did a quick internet search and found: > > From 1973 to 2002, entered as "PL Newman" he made 14 appearances at the SCCA > Runoffs (the annual national championships for amateur road racers). > > He won four amateur national championships at the Runoffs: > > D Production in 1976 > C Production in 1979 > GT-1 in 1985 and 1986 > > He started his pro racing career in 1974 in the Trans-Am series at Lime > Rock. After an 8 year hiatus, he came back to pro racing and won his first > outing in a Newman-Sharp Nissan 280Z Turbo at Brainerd. Career best finish > in the Trans-Am Championship standings was eighth in 1985. > > As a pro, he also was on the winning team at one Rolex 24 at Daytona and on > the second place team at the 24 Hours of Le Mans once. > > His final race as a driver was an SCCA (amateur) GT-1 race at Watkins Glen > in 2007 at the age of 82. He qualified on the pole but his cool suit > malfunctioned and he ended up fourth by the end of the race on a hot day. > From an article on carracing.com, "After the race, he told an Elmira [NY] > Star-Gazette reporter, 'I wish I was 81 again.'" > > He made his final laps in a race car Aug 13, 2008, at Lime Rock in an SCCA > GT-1 car. The laps were taken in private and were his chosen "goodbye" to > the sport. > > --- > > I've worked corners at several races at Road Atlanta in which PLN competed, > and I've heard many stories about him from other amateur race volunteers > (grid workers, corner marshals, etc.) that worked "his" events. By my own > experience and all accounts, he was a very private person, an > extraordinarily polite competitor, and an overall nice guy. He was also a > top-notch race driver, even into his 70s, though he obviously slowed down a > bit as he got older. > > As a side note, at least for the last few years, he always ran his age as > his car number. The last one I worked he was running number 81 or 82. > > This week and weekend is the annual Petit le Mans race at Road Atlanta. > Tuesday, while working corners, we noticed that they replaced one of the > trackside billboards with a sign simply saying "PLN" in black on a white > background. Though nothing has been announced yet, I expect some tribute to > him come race day this Saturday. He was highly respected within the racing > community. > > -- > Thanks, > DougF (KG4LMZ) > > -- > PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > [email protected] > http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net > to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and > follow the directions. > -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
