this legends race car doesn't come with any guarantee that Paul ever drove it, it's description says that he acquired it to sponsor young drivers https://rmsothebys.com/en/auctions/pn23/high-speed--paul-newman-s-racing-legacy/lots/r0004-1997-legends-racing-car/1344464
https://rmsothebys.com/en/home/lots/pn23
A bit of a ramble here, but long ago I was treasurer (and unofficial handyman) of a little nursery school called "The Children's School of Lime Rock." One of the fundraising efforts was a lemonade stand that volunteers ran at the race track where Newman fronted, if I recall, the Datsun team. After a few years, the track owners decided to cancel the agreement and started selling their own lemonade, but theirs was artificial, and not ours (which was real). Many drivers, prominent among them Newman, I'm told, boycotted the track lemonade, and demanded the return of the Children's School. And back we came.
ReplyDeleteWe also had to move our quarters, and in attempting to refit the building to meet codes, I followed up on a lead, and ended up buying some stuff from a defunct local camp, run by a dance instructor named Joe de Jesus, who, it turned out, was an old friend of Newmans, having, among other things, coached him for his moves in The Towering Inferno. Some time later, after a huge hike in insurance premiums. the school ran into fatal financial trouble, and I wrote a letter to the Hole in the Wall fund, asking if we might get some help, at least to finish out the year. In addition to the lemonade link, I was able to throw in a greeting from Joe. They came through on that, and though we were not able to keep going, we were able to finish the year and pay the teachers. It was A.E. Hotchner rather than Newman who wrote the check, but hey, all the same as far as I'm concerned.
The tldr upshot: I'm a Newman fan.
Great story! I'll share that!
DeleteHotchner was the co-founder of the charity food company Newman's Own. I had no idea there was a co-founder...