At Long Beach a few years ago, three rather, um, older plus-sized women were almost apoplectic upon spotting Cool Hand Luke sitting in his hospitality area. They wanted a picture, so I informed PLN his participation would be an extension of his overall goodwill towards humanity.

He waved the girls in, put his arm around them and smiled. Their life was complete. After they left, Newman turned and said: "I use to get that a lot from pretty young women, but it's been a different audience since I turned 78."

During the past decade, he always wore the same nondescript outfit of all white -- shirt, pants and tennis shoes. That wardrobe brings us to my favorite personal story and illustrates why PLN felt so anonymous at a race track. We were at Sebring, Fla. and Newman had flown down to watch Junqueira's first test since being seriously injured at Indianapolis.

It was lunchtime, so we drove into downtown Sebring to grab a burger. As we were leaving the cashier pointed to Paul and asked me: "Is that who I think it is? Paul Newman?"

I laughed and said no, he was just a painter at the track. When informed of his new identity, Newman laughed for five minutes and he talked about that every time I saw him for the next six months. He truly loved not being Paul Newman sometimes.

About the only thing he used his celebrity for was his benevolence to those not as fortunate. His salad dressing became a million-dollar business and 20 years ago he launched a camp for teminally ill children called The Hole in the Wall Gang. He'd contributed nearly $200 million before he passed away Friday night.

Andretti, who put Newman and Haas together back in 1983, spoke to his old friend for the last time a few days ago. Naturally, they talked about racing and how well Bourdais had been running at Spa.

Although Nigel Mansell, Michael Andretti, Cristiano da Matta, Justin Wilson, Graham Rahal, Oriol Servia, Junqueira, Tracy and Bourdais all brought success to to this team, it was Mario who got Newman excited about and into Indy cars.

And it's Mario who can put Newman's life and death into perspective,

"Here's this guy who was bigger than life in another life and he truly, truly loved motor racing," said Mario, who won the first CART title for Newman/Haas in 1984. "A couple years ago he and I started talking seriously about what we could do in the future to try and put open wheel back together.

"The first meeting at my house there was Kevin Kalkhoven, Paul Gentilozzi, Tony George, Brian Barnhart and Paul. I think when Tony saw Paul putting out that olive branch, it was huge and that was a big factor in bringing this thing together."

Of all their victories, Newman/Haas never won Indianapolis but PLN returned last May on pole day and clearly enjoyed the sight of everyone back together in Gasoline Alley.

"Paul was a character and an icon and he contributed so much to our sport and so much to life itself," continued Andretti. "Losing an individual like him is irreplaceable and I know I'll miss him greatly.

"He touched my life in a very positive way."

As he did for so many people, for so many years from so many angles.


The opinions reflected herein are solely those of the above commentator and are not necessarily those of SpeedTV.com, FOX, NewsCorp, or Speed Channel
The opinions reflected herein are solely those of the above commentator and are not necessarily those of SPEED.com, FOX, NewsCorp, or SPEED