Paul Newman's presence was felt in NASCAR community
Bob Pockrass
Bob Pockrass began covering NASCAR in 1992, primarily covering short-track racing and events. He has worked for Street & Smith's Motorsports Group since 2003.
KANSAS CITY, Kan. – When Paul Newman visited Lowe’s Motor Speedway for the premiere of the movie “Cars,” he was asked his advice after 81 years of life.
“It’s useless to put on the brakes when you’re upside down,” the actor and part-time racer quipped on that day in May 2006.
I’ll be the first to admit that I have not seen some of Newman’s greatest movies. But I did see the wonderfully filthy movie “Slap Shot” at a young age, much to my parents’ chagrin.
But you didn’t need to see Newman’s movies to understand his impact on racing and on the country. When I worked for the Daytona Beach newspaper, every time Newman practiced for or competed in the Rolex 24 At Daytona sports-car race, it was a huge deal. Every editor I had wanted to know what Newman was doing all the time. Dale Earnhardt couldn’t even compare, it seemed, to generate the interest that Newman could.
Not only did people want to see and know about Newman’s racing, but his philanthropic efforts always seemed to be talked about along with his racing efforts. One of his Hole in the Wall camps, Boggy Creek, is about 50 miles from Daytona and had inspired Adam Petty to pledge to build a similar camp in North Carolina. That pledge turned into reality with the creation of the Victory Junction Gang Camp after Petty’s death.
While Newman wasn’t heavily involved in NASCAR, he certainly had an impact on the NASCAR community. And for that, we can all be grateful.
