[Fot] Paul Newman

[Richard Taylor]

Ten years or so ago, I was sitting with a group of racers in the lobby of
that Holiday Inn-type hotel at the northeast corner of Daytona International
Speedway. In comes Newman and plops down on a sofa in a friendly-exhausted
sort of way and starts bench racing right there. In a few minutes he and I
go over to the temporary bar set up for cocktail hour. He orders a Budweiser
and I order a Heinekens. Newman digs into his pocket to pay for his beer and
the bartender says, "That's okay Mr. Newman, it's on the house."

 

The bartender then looks at me. So I say "Well, do you know who I am?"   He
says, "No, who are you?"

 

I tell him, "I'm Richard Taylor from Atlanta"

 

The bartender thinks a second then says, "That's great. That'll be $3.50."

 

Newman, still standing there, chuckles. While I am waiting for my change he
takes his free beer over to our group and tells them the story; to which
they all laugh their collective asses off. 

 

Of course there was no escaping the aura of his celebrity, but somehow it
never eclipsed the camaraderie of our spontaneous little group of racers.

 

If one can make a judgment of a man by an antidotal moment, in my mind
Newman exhibited class in its noblest unrefined form. 

 

Richard

 

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