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Topic starter
08/12/2025 11:00 am
No, it's not his salad dressing. It's his 1977 Ferrari 365 GTB/4 V12 Group 4 Competition Daytona race car. In the '70s, actor Paul Newman dove headfirst into auto racing. I looked at him as Steve McQueen 2.0 (or, perhaps, James Dean 3.0). Paul Newman's driving prowess did result in some significant successes. He drove Nissans, Porsches and even Olds Cutlasses and raced in prestigious events including Le Mans. In 1977, he drove this Ferrari, debuting at Le Mans, to 5th overall and 1st in class. In 1979 he reprised the event with a 3rd place finish in class. He later provided the voice of Dr Hudson in the "Cars" movie series (even after his death in 2008).
Model by Kyosho:
08/12/2025 11:13 am
I always associate him with datsun/nissan. I was living in Texas at the time of the 1st Dallas Grand Prix, April 29th to May 1st., 1988. Me and 3 buddies got ourselves great seats and pit passes. I was taking video and Newman was getting ready for the Trans-Am race that was also featured there in Fair Park. The pits were crowded and I was unable to video much of him as he passed right by me in the crowd, brushing his head across my upper chest; I only filmed him turning around once, facing the camera, putting on his helmet and entering the Newman-Haas car.
08/12/2025 12:16 pm
@perrone1 I can only assume that you never washed your shirt after that encounter.
08/12/2025 12:36 pm
What a cool model! Kyosho rarely disappoints!
I remember reading an article about an interview with Paul Newman about his racing. He said that he regretted not starting his racing career earlier in his life. Indeed, if he had to make a choice between acting and auto racing, he would have selected auto racing. And I understand his sentiment.
In my younger years, I used to drag race and do Gymkhana (Today, it's called autocross) in my Mach 1 Mustang and my Kawasaki 500 motorcycle. I absolutely loved it! More recently, I attended the 2-day Ron Fellows Corvette Performance Racing School class. I have found auto racing to be the most fun I've had with my clothes on!
08/12/2025 12:44 pm
@perrone1 - Very cool! Interestingly, I had an eerily similar experience with Paul Newman AND Mario Andretti at the Long Beach Grand Prix in the late '80s (possibly early '90s). Paul Newman was a 50% owner of the Newman/Hass Indycar racing team that Mario and Michael drove for. They were walking together in a crowd in the pits, and I passed by both of them. My reaction was "Oh shit!" and my jaw hit the ground at the reality of the living icons I came within breathing distance of.
08/12/2025 1:03 pm
@perrone1 Maybe not what you would have liked Tony, but none the less a great memory.
08/12/2025 1:06 pm
@marty-johnson Thanks for sharing this memory with us Marty and something you will always have.
08/12/2025 1:47 pm
@marty-johnson My wife and I also met the pair in 1994 in Cleveland Ohio for the PPG Indy Car World Series. My son in law was a manager at the Dirt Devil plant at that time and got us all tickets and VIP passes. We got to chat with them, but Mr. Newman refused to give my wife an autograph, even after much pleading. He respectfully stated that he never gave autographs. It was still an amazing experience, so much so that I held onto the pit pass for all these years.
This post was modified 5 months ago by kevins
08/12/2025 2:00 pm
08/12/2025 2:02 pm
+1; I found that very cool indeed!@marty-johnson Thanks for sharing this memory with us Marty and something you will always have.
08/12/2025 4:08 pm
It's a great looking model Rich - still amazed by your photography. Those crisp close-ups, WITHOUT dust, are nothing short of amazing! 😳
OK, here's my Paul Newman story:
- Hope you enjoyed it. 😀
08/12/2025 5:50 pm
It's a great looking model Rich - still amazed by your photography. Those crisp close-ups, WITHOUT dust, are nothing short of amazing! 😳
OK, here's my Paul Newman story:
- Hope you enjoyed it. 😀
Amazing, I had the same story.
08/12/2025 7:32 pm
Always a fan of Paul Newman and his racing. Never got as close to him as several of you but felt he was a serious racer. I knew about his no autograph policy. Too distracting when he need to concentrate on the race, I heard him say in an ABC? Interview. Never had his salad dressing but I would love a model of that Ferrari. Thanks for the fine model images Rich, and everyone else for the memories.
Topic starter
08/12/2025 8:25 pm
@chris As far as 'dust' and unwanted reflections go, they're mostly edited out. Sometimes when I get resin model prototypes to shoot, they look pristine until I look at my pics and it looks like they have a dusting of snow on them. Then, depending on the colors of the finish, the question is: 'Clean up and reshoot, or spend a few hours in "Paint". A lot of the hand-builds are so frigging fragile with parts falling off when you look at them, it's safer to bite the bullet and edit them out.
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