Hollywood Royalty Paul Newman Once Kept Pace With Regular NASCAR Drivers During a Test at Daytona

Recently, rumors broke that actor Frankie Muniz was in talks to make his ARCA Series debut on a full-time basis. This comes on the back of an ARCA Series test at the Daytona International Speedway in January 2022. Of course, he is not the only Hollywood actor to try and enter the NASCAR arena. The late Paul Newman was well-known as a racing driver and even competed in the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Back in 1999, Newman had a chance to take Mike Skinner’s Richard Childress Racing car for a spin. The best part was that this test was at the iconic Daytona International Speedway. To make matters even better, Newman was able to reach speeds of up to 183 mph, which was pretty impressive. Mostly because that kind of speed was on par with several other seasoned NASCAR drivers. Additionally, he was within a tenth of a second behind the other RCR cars.

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How has Paul Newman performed in his racing career?

Between 1973 and 2002, the actor/driver competed in the SCCA National Championship Runoffs. During that time, he snatched four wins, all of which came at Road Atlanta. However, all of them were with different cars, namely the Triumph TR6, Nissan 280ZX, and the Nissan 280 ZX Turbo. Then in the 1979 24 Hours of Le Mans, he teamed up with Rolf Stommelen and Dick Barbour to win the IMSA+2.5 class. To make matters even better, the three drivers guided the Porsche 935 to 2nd place overall.

In 2009, he was posthumously inducted into the SCCA Hall of Fame. Additionally, he managed to get a section of the Lime Rock Park race track named after him. From an acting standpoint, he is best known for Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, The Hustler, Hud, Butch Cassidy, and Sundance Kid, and many more. He even voiced the Pixar character Doc Hudson in the movie, Cars. Furthermore, he was the narrator for a 2007 documentary about the late great Dale Earnhardt.

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What do you make of the legacy left behind by the iconic Paul Newman? Let us know your views in the comments section.