(Editor's Note: Ken Vrana, President and CEO of 1 in 8 Motorsports, interacted with Paul Newman while working for PPG/Indycar in the 90's.)

I worked around Paul Newman for nearly six years as part of my duties as a
PPG/Indycar Official, and while he tended not to be too chatty on race
weekends, we did have the opportunity to talk a few times. One time, I
remember speaking to him about our mutual friend, the late actor, Jack
Lemmon, but as I was a writer and producer myself, I was fascinated that
he had little interest in discussing the film industry at the track.
While he never said so, I always got the feeling that he also felt his
Hollywood career helped him fund his racing activities and not the other
way around.

I was also struck by his honestly at the track. While other race teams seemed more than willing -- some on a weekly basis -- to bend the rules when they thought they could get away with it, Paul and the Newman/Hass Team -- then racing with the Andrettis -- seemed to want to win based solely  on the preparation of their teams and equipment and the skill of their drivers. In all the years I worked as a Tech Official, whose responsibility it was to make sure no one's car was bending the rules, I  don't remember every catching one of Paul's cars doing that.

I do remember once, too, mentioning to him how his marriage to his wife seemed to have outlasted most other Hollywood marriages and I asked him  if he had any suggestions. He smiled and said the reason he and his  wife got along so well was that they seldom saw each other. Like ships  passing in the night, I believe was his phrase. "She does her thing and  I respect and support it. I do my thing and she respects and tolerates it . . . and then when we happen to be in the same place at the same time,  every once in a while, it's always like a first date. Also, you're far  less likely to get into fights when you see each other so seldom."