LONG BEACH — When the inductees were announced Friday for the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America class of 2024, late actor Paul Newman was among the seven that included IndyCar star Scott Dixon and NASCAR star Jimmie Johnson.
Newman as co-owner of Newman/Haas Racing had eight driver championships under the team’s umbrella with CART/Champ Car. One of those titles came from Mario Andretti in 1984. The last four were from Sebastien Bourdais from 2004-07.
He also raced competitively into his 80s before passing away at the age of 83 on Sept. 26, 2008.
In his final professional race, Newman took the pole at Watkins Glen International.
Jim Michaelian, CEO of the Grand Prix Association of Long Beach, knew the man well and he marveled about Newman’s induction, which will take place next March in Daytona Beach, Fla.
“You know what? It’s as cool as Paul Newman was cool. It really is,” Michaelian said. “When you think about what he accomplished in his life, in addition to all his artistic talent, he was still racing at Daytona when he was 80 years old. And competitive, too. That’s remarkable.
“I was there those years when he was running and I saw his times.”
Newman as a driver won four SCCA national championships between 1979 and 1986. At 70, he had a class victory at the Rolex 24 at Daytona with Mike Brockman and fellow Hall of Famers Tommy Kendall and Mark Martin.
“He was just a special talent,” Michaelian said. “And, quite frankly, if you knew him, he was so unpretentious. He just wanted to be a driver when he was there. He didn’t care about anything else and I admired him for that. He was a good guy.”
Historic F1
The first of two Historic F1 races took place Saturday morning. Most of the cars on the grid were used here when Formula 1 was the main event at the Grand Prix of Long Beach from 1976-83.
Patrick Long of Westlake Village finished first in a 1983 Williams FW 08C, Cal Meeker of Oceanside was second in a 1979 Tyrrell 009 and Steve Romak was third in a 1976 march 761.
Long, known mostly as a sports car racer, loved the experience put on the Historic Motor Sports Association.
“Yeah, I mean, there’s a blend of competition and respect for the cars, for the competitors,” said Long, 41.Cris (Vandigraff) from HMSA does a great job; he’s hands on. We get the emails from him leading up and he really curates a great group of people and cars. He doesn’t just let anybody run.
“And you have to do honor to the cars and not forget that’s it not all about the driver and the mindset of a professional. So I’ve been doing a lot of vintage racing in the retirement of my full-time professional career and it allows me to keep fit and keep focused, but it also doesn’t demand the same amount of time that I used to spend on the road.”
The second race will take place Sunday at 10:45 a.m. It is slated for 20 minutes.