Men's Journal

Paul Newman became a professional race car driver at age 47. Photo credit: Corbis

By Mario Andretti, as told to Adam Spangler

I first met Paul back in 1967, in Bridgehampton, Long Island. All of a sudden I see big Paul Newman in front of the pace car I was driving. It had his name on it for a promotion; I remember clearly taking him around the track, a challenging road course, in a very high-powered Shelby Cobra Mustang. I noticed some white knuckling on his part.

It was his introduction to the racing world, and it intrigued him. A few years later he starred in the film Winning, about the Indianapolis 500, and then he embarked on his own racing career. He did really well from the start. He won several national championships, and as he delved into the professional side of it we had more and more contact.

Toward the end of 1982, I had just returned to the States from my stint in Formula One. I was unhappy with my team and looking at options. Paul had been trying to hire me to do some CAN-AM races, but I wanted to do Indy cars. I’m the one who brought Paul and his ferocious enemy, Carl Haas, to Indy Car. I suggested the partnership to Carl, and he went to Paul. It was a very unlikely fit, but sometimes opposites attract. I spent the better part of 12 seasons and retired from driving with them. That was the longest stint with one team in my career and by far my favorite. I really found my home.

I was asked in 1995 or 1996 to go down to Road Atlanta to do a test for Ford on a new Mustang Cobra. And I knew Paul liked to play with that sort of thing, so I invited him down. He had won a couple of national championships at Road Atlanta and knew the track well. He said, “Hot damn, let’s go!” We were comparing Mustangs to Camaros, which were chief competitors.

So I am doing some laps, as are the Ford test drivers. And then they invite Paul to drive. He went out there and blew away the test drivers. I’m not surprised. He is a very technical driver. They obviously didn’t take that lightly. And one of the test drivers went out there and tried to better Paul’s time and crashes the car. And we are listening to one of his supervisors really giving it to this guy because he is trying to be a hero, but Paul just sat there, matter of fact. He had that capability.

He would always be willing to take a crack at anything. He was always interesting. Some years ago we were at my place in the Poconos. There is a lake, and we have every imaginable toy. Paul and Joanne are enjoying their books and staying out of the sun, but he is mixing it up with all of us. One of the toys that very few people master is this surfboard I have with an engine on it. Very few people just wander on to this thing because we have had several injuries. But Paul of course wants to tackle it first. And he is out there on that lake until he is late for dinner.

We were laughing as he dumped it time and time again. The bow of the board came up and put a gash on his forehead. But he stayed out there until he mastered it. And he did. He came out of the water covered in blood. He was game for anything. You might think he was real reserved and doesn’t want to be bothered, but he was not afraid to make a fool of himself — I am like that! But Paul just says, “Nope, whatever you want. Let’s do it.” It was fun up at the lake house. It just tells the kind of guy he was.

This article originally appeared in the December 2008 issue of Men’s Journal.

Read Neal Gabler’s article looking back at Paul Newman’s life.

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