One to Buy: ex-Paul Newman 1995 Daytona 24 Hours GTS-1 class-winning Roush Ford Mustang Cobra
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Arguably the three biggest Hollywood icons to have taken up motor racing in their spare time were James Dean, Steve McQueen and Paul Newman.
While Dean’s promising track career was cut short owing to a fatal accident en route to an SCCA event in 1955, both McQueen and Newman went on to compete at the top level.
Despite also recording a couple of SCCA National wins, the highlight of Steve McQueen’s time behind the wheel came at the 1970 Sebring 12 Hours. Alongside Peter Revson and driving with one leg in a cast, McQueen clinched second overall and a class victory with his Solar Productions Porsche 908/02 that was subsequently used to collect race footage for the genre-defining Le Mans movie.
As for Paul Newman, he accumulated by far the most extensive motor sport resume of the three men, taking in over 100 races between 1966 and 2005. Driving everything from GT cars to fully fledged Sports Prototypes, Newman won several national championships and scored outright victories in Trans-Am plus a class win at the Daytona 24 Hours and a class podium at Le Mans.
On September 26th, the GTS-1 Roush Ford Mustang Cobra driven by Newman to that 1995 Daytona 24 Hours class victory will be going under the hammer at Mecum’s sale in Nashville as part of the Roush Automotive Collection.
Based around a tubular steel spaceframe and powered by a 750bhp Roush-prepared six-litre Ford V8 hooked up to a five-speed manual transmission, chassis 23 was sponsored for its Daytona outing by Paramount Studios to promote Newman’s recently released film, Nobody’s Fool. Allocated number 70 in celebration of Newman's birthday (he turned 70 ten days before the race), the car would also be driven by Tommy Kendall, Mark Martin and Michael Brockman.
Having qualified 15th, chassis 23 went on to finish a remarkable third overall and won the GTS-1 class which meant Newman became the oldest driver to be part of a winning team in a major sanctioned race.
According to Mecum: “Following the race, chassis 23 was fitted with the unused spare body panels before it was placed on display at the Daytona USA museum (now the Motorsports Hall of Fame). The original race-worn body panels were placed on a truck and delivered to Roush’s Livonia, Michigan, headquarters, where they have been carefully preserved ever since. They have recently been refitted to the car, pleasingly returning it to its immediate post-race patina; the “show” body panels are included with the car.”
