Preston Lerner

Winner of International Automotive Media Gold Award 2010 For all his fame as one of Hollywood's great actors, a world-class humanitarian, and the proprietor of a natural food empire, the late Paul Newman had another intriguing facet that was less known and perhaps closer to his heart than all the rest of his well-chronicled life. He was an avid, successful and well respected car racer and team owner. This book tells that story--from Newman's racing career, begun in earnest at an age when many race car drivers contemplate retirement; to the partnership he formed in 1983 with Chicago racing entrepreneur and team owner Carl Haas; to the impressive stable of automobiles he owned, from the Porsches and Ferraris to quirkier modified VWs and Volvos. This is the tale of a life full of passion and skill, of someone who entered the 24 Hours of Daytona at the age of 70 and made his last professional race outing at 82; whose roster of drivers for Newman/Hass reads as a who's who of open wheel racing; and whose interest in cars extended from the likely suspects to old trucks and new hybrids. And then there's the charming pal who, when the incorrigible prankster Robert Redford had a miserably wrecked Ferrari dropped at his front door, returned the favor by having the car, crushed into a cube, delivered to Redford's living room. The anecdotes, the races, the cars--all are here, adding up to what for many would be a full life, but for Paul Newman was simply another side of a man of talent, conviction, and enduring spirit. See Motorbooks author Matt Stone interviewed by Jay Leno on JayLenosGarage.com: http://www.jaylenosgarage.com/video/jays-book-club-matt-stone/1164286/