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Ex Triumph Racer

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Simon TR4a

Simon TR4a

Jedi Knight
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Ex Triumph racer P.L. Newman competed at thr Rolex 24hrs. of Daytona last weekend.
After a fuel leak caused fire in practice, the four driver team was running well in the Daytona Prototype class, with a best lap just under 1:49, but retired in the 9th. hour after only 290 laps.
(Turning 54 this month and in awe of a man that age still racing at a professional level. Hope I'm more like him when I grow up!)
Simon.
 
Yes I agree (and I just turned 54 two weeks ago myself).

His original Triumph 2000 racing sedan was donated to a community college but is being restored for vintage racing.

I saw him driving his TR-6 plenty of times at SCCA regional events at Lime Rock. He's a very low key guy and often drove from his nearby home in an old-ish VW beetle convertible. Racers always treated him like one of the guys, which he obviously preferred.

He *started* racing at about our age, so there's still hope for us!

While we're talking about PLN, let me plug the EXCELLENT CHARITY that he started.

I'm also hugely impressed by "Team 16", a team of 16 year old boys who drove a Porsche to seventh place in the GT class.
Great Rolex24 photos HERE.
 
I saw him at VIR (VA International Raceway) back when he was driving for the Bob Sharp Datsun team. The guy can drive, no doubt.

He's also about as close to being a normal, everyday kind of guy as a mulimillionaire movie star could be. We met him at a pit party after the race, drinking Coors beers. VEry likeable fellow.

I don't know about racing at age 72 (I think that's his age), but I guess it's hard to say "no" to one of the owners!

One of a kind, Paul Newman.
 
He was introduced to racecars on the set of "Grand Prix" Before that he had never been in a racecar. The rest is history.
My father-in-law was a racer-turned-track worker in the 70s and he says Mr. Newman was very friendly so long as you were talking racing and treating him like a normal joe. As soon as you asked for an autograph or treated him like a star, outside the times that were for that kind of thing, he would excuse himself.
 
James Garner was in Grand Prix. He had a brief flirtation with auto racing after making the movie. The story itself was really dumb but the racing sequences are fantastic.
 
I agree about the great F1 racing scenes in Grand Prix (and yes that was James Garner.)

I haven't seen the other 2 big-star racing movies of that period, but I keep looking for them on cable... Seems like the plots are all similar though (as if that matters when there are good racing scenes).

"Winning", Paul Newman, Indy 500
"Grand Prix", James Garner, Formula 1
"Le Mans", Steve McQueen, Le Mans (obviously)
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/driving.gif
 
Oops.. Oh well I guess I better go back and watch that again. And maybe I should "research" a bunch of old racing movies. Yea.."reasearch" I must have been thinking of "Winning" thanks for puttin me straight.
 
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