(Editor's Note: Mitch McCullough has had an interesting career. Currently the Editor of New Car Test Drive, which publishes online car reviews at NewCarTestDrive.com, he went from working for seat time at the Jim Russell Racing School to getting a job at Bob Thomas & Associates where he got a close-up look at Paul Newman during the summer of 1988 as a young PR guy. At that point, Mitch's job was to represent Nissan and the Newman Sharp Nissan 300ZX at SCCA Trans-Am races.)

He says, "Although Paul would sometimes talk to the motorsports correspondents he knew and trusted, Newmie largely avoided the press and rarely did interviews, so part of my job was politely fending off the local media. I'd gather quotes from Newman and the team and run them up to journalists in the pressroom and make sure our press materials were readily available. Getting quotes from Paul could be tough . . . and he wasn't a fan of editorial license."

As a bit of insight into the operation, Mitch says, "Bob Sharp ran the team, and his son, a young up-and-coming driver named Scott, was there."

Mitch also had to deal with Oscar Koveleski, a real character in and around racing, a driver himself . . . and a promotional genius. "As the representative of Planter's Peanuts, Oscar Kovaleski was there -- often trying to persuade me to put on his Mr. Peanut suit and wave at people. I preferred the more professional appearance of my Nissan-issued Polo shirt, but Oscar never failed to make me laugh."

Of course, being with the team meant a total immersion. "It was a great summer. It was fun going out to dinner with the team. Waitresses always got a kick out of Paul. He packed it in early each evening and ran first thing in the morning, often through neighborhoods. We joked about people running into the house after picking up their newspaper and saying, 'Honey! I SWEAR I just saw Paul Newman running out in front of our house!'"

In a pressure-packed sport, there is always a need for a release . . . and humour does that most effectively. Mitch says, "Newman had a reputation as a practical joker and the jokes he and Scott Pruett played on each other were legendary. While walking up to the team's paddock area one time, he called out my name, said, 'Here, catch!' and threw me a ball of clay-like muck about the size of a baseball, which -- naturally -- I caught, to his great amusement. I laughed, feeling I'd been accepted!"

As a star attraction, the focus was most emphatically on Paul at racetracks. Mitch says, "Paul would become progressively and understandably reclusive inside the motor home through the race weekend as larger crowds of spectators circled his paddock area and he (and we) would joke about throwing sweaty T-shirts and dirty laundry out the window. At the same time, Newman was very serious about racing: He worked hard at it, and often qualified on the pole against the best Trans-Am drivers in the country.

I can remember Joanne Woodward telling the story about how she'd overheard a little boy as he walked by who said, 'Look, Mom! There goes Paul Newman. He's a race driver!'

Joanne said it would have pleased her husband to have heard that."