The world knows Paul Newman as an Academy Award winning actor with a fifty-plus year career as one of the most prolific and revered actors in American Cinema. He was also well known for his philanthropy; Newman’s Own has given more than four hundred and thirty million dollars to charities around the world. Yet few know the gasoline-fueled passion that became so important in this complex, multifaceted man’s makeup. Newman’s deep seeded passion for racing was so intense it nearly sidelined his acting career. His racing career spanned thirty-five years; Newman won four national championships as a driver and eight championships as an owner. Not bad for a guy who didn’t even start racing until he was forty-seven years old.
Special Features: Adam Carolla interviews with Mario Andretti, Patrick Dempsey, Jay Leno, Graham Rahal, and Bob Sharp / Adam Carolla restores Paul Newman’s 1985 GT-1 Championship Car / Trailer
“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/“
Paul Newmann
Porsche 356: 75th Anniversary relates the full story of Porsche’s original sports car from the first Gmund coupe to today’s beloved collector car.
Ferdinand Porsche was a brilliant engineer who, prior to World War II, had been involved in a variety of significant automotive engineering developments including the first hybrid drive vehicles. From the early 1900s, Porsche was developing racing cars including the Mercedes SSK and the mighty Auto Union Grand Prix. During this period, Porsche also developed the groundbreaking Volkswagen, which would prove critical to his postwar, namesake automobile manufacturer.
The Typ 356 was developed by Ferdinand’s son “Ferry” Porsche and introduced in 1948. Though the rear-engine layout was based on the Volkswagen, most similarities ended there. The 356 had a unique chassis, higher performing engine, and a handsome wind-cheating body. Little known outside Germany initially, by the early 1950s the 356s were lauded for their excellent handling, build quality, and growing volume of competition successes.
Porsche’s 356 evolved over its 17-year life through four distinct series: pre-A, A, B, and C, with coupes, cabriolets, Speedsters, Hardtops, and Roadsters among the many body variations. Equipped with the “Carrera” 4-cam engine, the 356 was a force in sports car racing. Dedicated competition models were developed beginning in 1953, and the Rennsport Spyders dominated road racing, endurance, and hill climb events for over a decade.
The 356 story includes a cast of fascinating characters, from those engineers who designed the cars, to race drivers who built the “giant-killer” mystique, to owners like James Dean and Janis Joplin who fell in love with the little bathtub-shaped sports cars. From titled European gentlemen in the 1950s to movie stars like Paul Newman and Steve McQueen in the 1960s, the first Porsches attracted enthusiasts and racers alike. Today, the car has an even wider following among collectors including Porsche fans like Jerry Seinfeld and Jay Leno. “356 Fascination” continues with ongoing restoration efforts, vintage racing, and an “Outlaw” movement, all enhanced by large-scale events that celebrate the car’s history.
Porsche 356 75th Anniversary tells the in-depth story and is a must-have book for anyone that loves Porsche and sports car history.
Stock-car racing star, country singer, and sports broadcaster Kyle Petty shares his familial legacy, intertwined with NASCAR’s founding and history, in Swerve or Die―written with Pulitzer Prize-winner Ellis Henican, the New York Times bestselling coauthor of In the Blink of an Eye.
“Born into racing royalty. The only son of NASCAR’s winningest driver ever. The grandson of one of the sport’s true pioneers. The nephew of our very first Hall of Fame engine builder. It’s quite a family to represent, and through it all, I’ve somehow managed to keep being Kyle.”
Kyle Petty won his very first stock-car race, the Daytona ARCA 200, in 1979 when he was eighteen. Hailed as a third-generation professional NASCAR racer, he became an instant celebrity in circles he had been around all his young life. Despite being the grandson and son of racing champions Lee Petty and Richard Petty, Kyle didn’t inherit innate talent. Working in his family’s North Carolina race shop from an early age, he learned all about car mechanics and maintenance long before he got behind the wheel. And although Kyle continued the family business, driving “Petty blue” colored cars emblazoned with his grandfather’s #42―a number once used by Marty Robbins―his career took a different route than his forebears’.
In Swerve or Die: Life at My Speed in the First Family of NASCAR Racing, Kyle chronicles his life on and off the racetrack, presenting his insider’s perspective of growing up throughout the sport’s popular rise in American culture. In between driving and running Petty Enterprises for thirty years, Kyle took some detours into country music, voiced Cal Weathers in Pixar’s Cars 3, and started his annual motorcycle Kyle Petty Charity Ride Across America. And when his nineteen-year-old son Adam, a fourth-generation racing Petty, tragically lost his life on the track, Kyle founded Victory Junction, a camp for children with chronic and serious medical conditions in Adam’s name―with help from Academy Award-winning actor and motorsports enthusiast Paul Newman.
Filled with NASCAR history, stories of his family’s careers, and anecdotes about some of stock-car racing’s most famous drivers, Kyle’s memoir also tackles the sport’s evolution, discussing how welcoming diverse racers, improving car and track safety features, and integrating green technology will benefit NASCAR’s competitors and fans in the future.
Sam Posey raced a huge variety of sports cars, saloons and open-wheel machines in numerous racing arenas — Can-Am, USRRC, Trans-Am, IMSA, Indy, NASCAR, Formula 5000 and Formula 1 — against rivals and friends such as George Follmer, Parnelli Jones, Mark Donohue, Peter Revson, Dan Gurney, David Hobbs and Brian Redman. Sam’s Scrapbook gives a first-hand account of a romantic era in racing, through pictures no one has seen and stories no one has heard. Running alongside the images, Posey’s commentary is fascinating and thoughtful, and in turns both amusing and emotional.
- Sam’s early days: racing around his mother’s house on a farm in Connecticut against his friend John Whitman.
- The start of his career: driving at Lime Rock, his local track, under the mentorship of John Fitch; a ride as the then-youngest American at Le Mans, with a Bizzarrini in 1966.
- Can-Am: racing against John Surtees, Bruce McLaren and Jim Hall in this famous “anything goes” sports car championship with a car he and Ray Caldwell designed and built.
- Trans-Am: competing in this spectacular saloon series during its golden age, first for Roger Penske and then as a factory driver for Dodge, against George Follmer, Parnelli Jones and Swede Savage.
- Later years at Le Mans: finishing third overall in a Ferrari 512 M with the North American Racing Team (NART) team in 1971; driving the first BMW 3.0 CSL ‘Art Car’ in 1975, featuring a paint scheme by American sculptor Alexander Calder.
- Open-wheel racing: a duel with Dan Gurney in the USAC Championship, finishing fifth at Indy in 1972; two drives for John Surtees in Formula 1; battling his friend and rival David Hobbs on the track and off in Formula 5000.
- Even more variety: three years of off-road adventures in the Baja 1000; rides with the BMW factory team at Sebring and Daytona; and his late career in the IMSA championship with actor Paul Newman and Brian Redman.
This is an unusual and engaging memoir by one of America’s best-loved racing heroes and will appeal to all motorsports enthusiasts.
Indy Split is a fascinating, authoritative and overdue account of the big money battle that nearly destroyed the sport of Indy car racing.
In the new book, long-time motorsports reporter John Oreovicz dives deep into the divisive battle between CART and the Indy Racing League. With insightful reporting, Oreovicz recounts the political infighting within the industry which climaxed with a 12-year “Split” from 1996 to 2007 between competing forms of Indy car racing and prevented the sport from achieving its potential.
The book traces the roots of Indy car racing’s dysfunction, which began in 1945 when Tony Hulman rescued the Indianapolis Motor Speedway from potential redevelopment. Over the next 75 years, the Hulman-George family used the stature of the Speedway to carve out a powerful position in American auto racing that sometimes resulted in conflict with Indy car competitors. A volatile period in the late 1970s sparked the formation of Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART), and tensions ramped up even more when Hulman’s grandson, Tony George, assumed power in 1990.
In unprecedented detail, Indy Split uncovers how the Split forced Indy car fans, sponsors, broadcasters and participants to choose sides. The book brings to light the confusion and animosity which caused unnecessary damage to the sport, and covers how negotiations driven by legendary racer Mario Andretti and actor/racer Paul Newman ended the Split in 2008, only to have George to walk away less than three years later. The long struggle for stability was finally resolved in 2020 when Roger Penske acquired IMS and the IndyCar Series, securing a bright future for the Speedway, the Indy 500, and the sport.
Longtime motorsports reporter John Oreovicz began attending the Indianapolis 500 as a teenager in the late ‘70s, allowing him to witness the sport’s growth as an avid fan before documenting its decline as a journalist. With a foreword by Motorsport Hall of Fame inductee Robin Miller, arguably Indy car racing’s most vocal advocate, this is the real story of The Split from one of the sport’s most respected voices
Summer 2019
Sir Stirling Moss
Ferrari 166 Inter Stabilimenti Farina Cabriolet 0063S
Paul Newman’s race cars
The bare-metal D-type
The Brumos Collection
Inside the Alvis Car Company
COMING IN JUNE
Nissan Z: 50 Years of Exhilarating Performance is the Nissan-official chronicle of Z history, from Datsun’s planning for the new model in the late 1960s through the latest 50th anniversary Nissan 370Z.
The Datsun 240Z revolutionized the sports car industry and demolished established assumptions about Japanese automakers. With the Z, Datsun gave the world a sleek, sexy, fast product—one that forever banished the idea that Japanese manufacturers could only build economy cars.
Over the past 50 years, six generations of the Z car have generated a massive, devoted following. More than 1.5 million cars have been sold worldwide. The retro-inspired 350Z reinvigorated the Z’s fortunes in the 21st century, and the latest incarnation, the 370Z, continues the tradition of high-performance in a modern, affordable package.
In addition to a complete history of the Z, this handsomely illustrated book examines the car’s significant racing history with successes in IMSA and SCCA sports car racing, including extensive racing by Paul Newman for Bob Sharp and John Morton with Brock Racing Enterprises. Special attention is devoted to the cult of Z-fans around the world who have supported Nissan’s sports car through thick and thin and the early car’s emergence as a rapidly appreciating collector car.
The story is told by author Pete Evanow, who has enjoyed a long relationship with Nissan. His insights into the history of this automotive icon provide a fresh, compelling perspective on the five decades of the Z that no enthusiast will want to miss.
“This generation of Americans has a rendezvous with destiny,” said President Franklin D. Roosevelt of the young Americans who grew up during the deprivation of the Great Depression and later served during World War II. The 23 described in this book went on to make their mark on the racetrack.
Ken Miles and Vasek Polak were not Americans during the war but later went on to become citizens. Carroll Shelby was not only a great driver but also created cars that are still manufactured. John Von Neumann and Vasek Polak were instrumental in helping to establish Porsche as a marque in the U.S. John Fitch, Ed Hugus, Chuck Daigh, Bill Stroppe, Max Balchowsky, Jay Chamberlain, Jim Peterson and Paul Newman were heroes in the war before succeeding in businesses and motorsports.
This book captures the uniquely American atmosphere of the Detroit Grand Prix and a bygone era in Formula 1 racing. With the landmark Renaissance Center as a backdrop, Rogert Hart’s complelling black-and-white photographs and accompanying recollections convey the relaxed camaraderie among drivers and a sense of fun that is hard to imagine in today’s more intense paddock area. The photographs show a Detroit paddock filled with glamourous guests and popular drivers who competed in support races: Paul Newman driving in the Trans-Am; Michael Andretti starting out his professional career advised by his legendary father, Mario; supermodel Christie Brinkley relaxing on the pit wall with her boyfriend, the driver and champagne heir Olivier Chandon. These intimate and revealing character studies, punctuated by exciting race action, evoke a strong sense of nostalgia for teams and drivers from an era that will never be repeate
The book the world has been waiting for; Bob Bondurant – America’s Uncrowned World Driving Champion. Bob’s racing history in pictures and written by renowned racing author; Phil Henny. This is a must have not only for every Bondurant fan, but every race fan. An introduction by Dan Gurney and a foreword by Carroll Shelby. Quotes by Phil Hill, Paul Newman, Jackie Stewart and James Garner make this book one to collect. Get yours, and keep it safe, because everyone is going to want it. A lavish volume with superb photography. Strongly recommended.
“Bruce McLaren. Denny Hulme. Peter Revson. Johnny Rutherford. Mario Andretti. Niki Lauda. Ayrton Senna. Lewis Hamilton. Tyler Alexander has worked with some of the greatest drivers in racing history, as well as such influential figures as Roger Penske, Bernie Ecclestone, Carl Haas, Paul Newman, and Adrian Newey.
In A Life and Times with McLaren, Tyler Alexander tells the story of his remarkable four-decade career. In 1964 he helped found the McLaren racing team along with Bruce McLaren and Teddy Mayer. As a mechanic, engineer, and team manager, Alexander played a key role in the development of McLaren’s cars and the team’s early successes in Formula One, the Indianapolis 500, and the Can-Am series.
After scoring Indianapolis 500 victories with driver Johnny Rutherford in 1974 and 1976, Alexander left McLaren in the early 1980s to join the new Mayer Motor Racing team. A decade later he returned to McLaren—in time to participate in the team’s run of success in the late 1990s with drivers Mika Hakkinen and Kimi Raikkonen. In 2008, his final year with the team saw McLaren score its most recent Formula One championship with brilliant newcomer Lewis Hamilton.
A Life and Times with McLaren tells what it was like to work with some of the greatest names in motorsport, and reveals the technical ingenuity, hard work, and luck required to sustain a successful team. The book is fully illustrated with hundreds of photographs, and includes testimonials and contributions from old friends like Mario Andretti, Roger Penske, and Jackie Stewart.
Bruce McLaren and the racing team he created have been the subject of many books, but none told in such detail from the inside. Required reading for McLaren fans, the book also covers Alexander’s years with other teams, such as Mayer Motor Racing, Carl Haas’s FORCE F1 team, and Newman/Haas Racing.
Universally respected within the racing community for his experience, work ethic, and honesty, Tyler Alexander deserves to be better known to a wider audience of fans. In A Life and Times with McLaren, Tyler tells his own story in his own unique style.
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