There were many facets to Paul – those of us who follow auto racing also knew him as an exceptionally skilled driver.
Someone in one of the car mags wrote a wonderful account of his early racing days – listed as “P.L. Newman” in the schedule it was an unwritten rule that drivers wouldn’t hassle him about autographs, talk movies – just let him drive.
This worked for a few years until it got to the point every time he left his trailer there would be throngs of people wanting something or another.
I knew someone who was a pit drew in the early days of the Can Am and one evening at Laguna Seca he, Newman and other crew/drivers just all went out to dinner together. Paul liked being treated as “one ofthe guys” and it least for the first few years got his wish.
