I heard the news of Paul Newman's, passing this morning while watching the practice for this weekend's Singapore Grand Prix, and somehow that seemed fitting.
Of course I first became aware of Newman as an actor, but over the last twenty years or so I've associated him with racing first, his charity work second, and acting a distant third.
The guy was a racer's-racer. He loved to race and be around racers. He was a multiple National champion and if he had found racing before acting he may have been a World Champion. He was still racing and competitive as recently as 3 years ago - at aged 80.
Although I never met Newman, I sort of got to know him second hand when working on F1 and IndyCar champion Nigel Mansell's "autobiography" project. Newman was Mansell's co-team owner in IndyCar, and I heard a lot about how much a gentleman (in the truest sense of the word) he was from a variety of people who interacted with him at the track. He didn't bring the Hollywood Newman (not that there ever really was one) to the track side. He was always about racing - and how he could use his good fortune and fame to help others.
Given the comics project I'm currently working on, I've been listening to his voice a lot recently for reserach, and "Doc Hudson" will always remain a personal hero.
