2A · WEDNESDAY,MAY 24, 2006 · USA TODAY As NASCAR dominates, Newman won’t budge from Champ Car series

Continued from 1A ing operating costs. Cars brings together animation, racing Newman says everyone in open- “I have no quarrels with NAS- wheel racing “is surviving,” and he CAR,” Newman says. “That would Disney/Pixar’s latest animated insists Champ Car is “getting be silly. It’s racing, and it’s good rac- feature Cars is set for national re- stronger.” He is quick to add, how- ing. Why would I quarrel with it?” lease June 9, but it will get a ever, “it’s not strong enough.” Besides, says Humpy Wheeler, unique unveiling Friday night at the president of Lowe’s Motor Lowe’s Motor Speedway near ‘Dedicated, passionate’ Speedway, who better than New- Charlotte. Four huge screens are man to voice “Doc Hudson,” a cur- being erected at one of the He’s done his best to change that. mudgeonly 1951 Hudson Hornet? track’s turns, and a special sound Starting in late 2004, Newman Doc turns out to be a former racing system is being set up for a went from car owner to the series’ champion and eventually mentors crowd of 30,000. No. 1 advocate after telling report- young hotshot “Lightning Mc- “We are going to be looking ers he’d been an “absentee land- Queen,” voiced by Owen Wilson. back 25 years from now and see lord.” He’s traveled the nation in at- Newman’s racing résumé in- this as a milestone moment not tempts to keep and put new races cludes being part of the winning only for the speedway but for Pixar Animation via Reuters on Champ Car’s schedule, even four-driver GTS-1 class team in NASCAR,” track President Coming soon: “Doc Hudson,” helping produce a DVD shown to 1995 in the prestigious Rolex 24 at Humpy Wheeler says. the car Paul Newman voices in prospective promoters in Asia. Daytona, a 24-hour endurance Wheeler is one of several mo- the Disney/Pixar film Cars . Champ Car’s co-owners, Kal- race. At 70 years, 10 days, Newman tor sports personalities with Universal/The Kobal Collection khoven and Gerald Forsythe, have became the oldest driver to win the voice roles in the film. Drivers shooting. All it took was a ride to Acting then: Paul Newman as an Indy driver in 1969’s Winning. spent millions to keep the series vi- grueling event. Richard Petty, Darrell Waltrip aNew York sound studio from able after seizing control in bank- Wheeler says Newman as a wise, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. are among his home in Westport, Conn., to ruptcy court in January 2004, but old car is “the perfect combination. the NASCAR representatives. lay down the voice for his first How an actor became a racer there probably wouldn’t have been You feel like (he) knows what he’s Mario Andretti and Formula One Pixar film. much to save had it not been for talking about when he uses his champion Michael Schumacher Instead of paying him a large u Interest in racing piqued by race. Won second of four SCCA Newman’s loyalty. mentoring voice.” also have small roles. salary, Disney/Pixar is making a playing an Indy-car driver in the national titles the same year. “He’s a huge asset to the Champ Says Newman, “I figured (Doc) Paul Newman says there are sizable donation to Newman’s 1969 film Winning. u Highlight of racing career Car World Series,” Champ Car was Southern and he was old — I advantages to doing animated Hole in the Wall Camps for kids. u Drove Lotus Elan to his first came in the 24 Hours of Daytona President Steve Johnson says. “He’s dove right in.” features over regular motion pic- career victory at a track in in 1995. He co-drove a Ford the most dedicated, passionate Newman says he never owned a ture roles. There’s no location By A.J. Perez Thompson, Conn., in 1972. Mustang to a GTS-class victory, person there is. We owe a large Hudson, although he will ride in a u Won first Sports Car Club of becoming the oldest driver to thanks to Paul Newman. All open- replica of the car at Friday’s pre- America national title and win the race. wheel racing does.” miere. His tastes off the track are more environmental- Newman talks racing SCCA’s top amateur honor, the u Car caught fire testing for Newman could easily take his ly friendly — he owns both a hybrid car and a hybrid President’s Cup, in 1976. Turned the 2005 24 Hours of Daytona. passion, his time, his resources to SUV, sharing his love for all causes environmental with Paul Newman discusses drivers as athletes and pro in 1977. He escaped unhurt and raced the what has become the more lucra- his longtime friend Robert Redford. Joanne Woodward’s tolerance of his racing at u Raced the 24 Hours of Le- Daytona prototype, finishing 51st tive NASCAR world he will visit this So will Butch and Sundance get back together for motorsports.usatoday.com Mans, the most prestigious en- after mechanical problems. At week. But that wouldn’t be him. one more? “We’re working on it,” Newman says. durance race in the world. His 80, he was the oldest to compete “I have the highest esteem for Planning has never been a strong suit for Newman. owner Kevin Kalkhoven say no offer to merge has team came in second in the 1979 in the race. anybody who gets into a race car,” “As long as I keep things spontaneous, things work been made by either side. he says. “I don’t care what it is. But out better,” Newman says. “That’s the motto of the Newman has been unwavering in his support of it’s OK for me to have a preference. food company: If we ever have a plan, we’re screwed.” Champ Car, even as the series has lost some of its most pocketbooks. Even for a famous actor with a team that My preference is really for road racing, open-wheel That motto hangs in the offices of Newman’s Own, prominent teams — including those owned by Bobby has won six titles — including two Champ Car season racing. I extend my loyalty to that preference rather the Connecticut-based brand of products ranging from Rahal and David Letterman, Roger Penske and Chip titles in a row by Sebastien Bourdais — there is a fi- than somewhere else because the money looks good.” salad dressing to lemonade to snack food that started Ganassi — to the IRL. nancial burden. Only one of the team’s two cars has Just don’t count on him watching the Indy 500 on in 1982 and now funds 1,400 charitable organizations. His loyalty has come at a cost to his and Haas’ full sponsorship. Newman and Haas cover the remain- TV. “I don’t know,” he says. “If I have time, I will.” (The brand’s official slogan: Shameless exploitation in pursuit of the common good.)

Driving overtakes acting

Newman has been true to his spirit of spontaneity when it comes to his driving career. (Just don’t confuse his love of racing with some notion of his having great mechanical gifts. “Sometime next week,” he says, “they are going to teach me how to get the messages off my cellphone that I’ve had for three years. I don’t know if I’m going to make it.”) Newman played an open-wheel driver in Winning. Robert Wagner was his on- Cover and off-track rival. Joanne Woodward played the wife who feared for New- story man’s welfare. She hasn’t stopped playing that role in real life. “She’s been patient beyond almost anything,” Newman says moments before showing a gift she gave him — a Rolex with the words “Drive slowly” inscribed on the back. “She’s said she married an actor. She had no idea he’d spend his weekends at racetracks.” Last year, he says, Woodward had threatened to di- vorce him if he raced in 2006, but it appears to be a hollow threat. He plans to run his next sports car race in June at Lime Rock Park, a road course not too far from his home in Westport, Conn. “I’m running out of steam,” Newman says. “I’ll keep driving as long as I’m competitive and as long as I don’t embarrass myself. And so long I don’t dissolve into a tub of sweat. Those cars get awful hot.” His racing career has slowed over the last decade, but not as much as his acting. “They were in parallel for a long time, and one just kind of disappeared,” Newman says. Cars is his only movie in the pipeline.

Two series divided

Once the USA’s most popular form of auto racing — highlighted by the Indy 500 — open-wheel competi- tion used to be confined to one circuit, known as Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART). That’s what Newman and his partner, Chicago- based businessman Carl Haas, bought into in 1983 — a time when A.J. Foyt, Al and Bobby Unser, Mario An- dretti and Rick Mears were motor sports’ dominant stars, still overshadowing NASCAR’s top names, Rich- ard Petty, Dale Earnhardt, Bobby Allison and Cale Yarborough. But open-wheel racing endured an internal schism in the mid-’90s that divided its teams, diluted the 500 and opened a door through which NASCAR charged. Open-wheel racing remains split into two circuits, each of which uses its own type of cars. To the casual observer, the machines look the same. But the en- gines, chassis and tires are different on each circuit. One holds most of its races on ovals; one holds most of its races on temporary city-street courses. The Indy 500 is part of the oval-dominated Indy Racing League (IRL) IndyCar Series, so it’s essentially off limits to the Newman-backed Champ Car World Series teams. (Champ Car teams have raced in, and even won, the Indy 500 since the split, but because they have to buy cars that meet the IRL series’ specifi- cations, most don’t bother with it.) Newman’s adversary in the rivalry is Tony George, whose family bought Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 1945 and brought the 500 to prominence. Upset about his lack of influence over CART’s drift toward more street races and non-U.S. venues, George used the 500’s prestige as a lever to create the IRL. There have been talks about a merger of the circuits since Decem- ber. But nothing is imminent, and feelings remain raw on both sides. Newman hasn’t attended the Indy 500 since 1995, even though his team has been in it twice. With a smirk and his signature, gravelly deadpan, Newman explains, “I have a problem with the management.”

Staying the Champ Car course

George, who remains Indianapolis Motor Speed- way’s CEO, gently counters that Newman “always has been a big fan of Champ Car and what Champ Car was. CART was a diversified series with top drivers and top teams. I’m clearly biased, but that’s what the IndyCar Series represents and what a unified series would rep- resent. I don’t know why he would have a problem (with IndyCar or a merged series).” As far as a merger goes, Newman sees George as a hindrance. “Listen, I’m just like Fox News. I’m fair and bal- anced,” he says, playfully mocking Rupert Murdoch’s cable network. “But for this merger to occur, Tony must first think about what is fair and realistic. He can’t load the gun, point it at us and expect us to make a deal. I know what the offer was, and it was neither fair, nor balanced.” Newman didn’t go into detail, but he would be un- happy to see a merged circuit abandon newer street races in San Jose, Calif., and Edmonton. “Over a whole year we averaged 150,000 people per race weekend,” he says. “I would challenge rivals to make any such statement without going straight to hell.” IRL spokesman Fred Nation and Champ Car co-

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