Newman team back in the pits

SURFERS PARADISE, Australia - One of the most successful teams in auto racing is back in the pits this week for its first race since team founder and actor Paul Newman died last month.

During Friday's practice session, the Newman/Haas/Lanigan cars of Justin Wilson and Graham Rahal will feature small decals honoring Newman's life. They include a logo with "PL," a nickname by which most of his racing friends knew him, and a reference to him being a "true friend" of racing.

"We have just a few little things on the cars," general manager Brian Lisles told The Associated Press in an interview in the team compound at the Indy Racing League's Indy 300 on Thursday. "Paul was a very low-key person. We've paid our respects in our own private way, and that's the way we wanted to do it."

And the Newman/Haas/Lanigan team, which has won 107 races, 107 pole positions and eight driver titles, will continue for 2009 and beyond - without a name change.

"Purely on the business side, arrangements were made beforehand, that the team name would continue," Lisles said. "That was talked about by all the partners in the event of any of them no longer being part of the team. Of course, none of us would have it any other way."

The team was formed when Newman and Carl Haas, competitors in the Can-Am series, began investigating the possibility of entering a team in the old CART series. It was created in 1982, with Mario Andretti as its driver, and Mike Lanigan joined the team at the start of its 25th season in 2007.

"The biggest thing was (Newman) was dedicated to the team," said team manager John Tzouanakis, who has been with the team since the beginning. "And he could come and be left alone. People were always chasing him, wanting pictures of him, autographs.

"It was his kind of country club, to get away from the hustle-bustle of his life and come to the race track and watch the team perform."

Newman's last race was at Milwaukee in June, and Lisles said most on the team knew the prognosis wasn't good for their longtime friend.

"We were well aware of the situation with Paul," Lisles said. "He came to see us a few times during the past year, and everybody pretty much knew what was going on and what the end game would be."

Newman never traveled to Australia with the team, which has six wins, seven poles and 10 podium finishes in 17 years of racing Down Under.

The American Rahal would like to make it seven Sunday, when organizers plan a special video tribute to Newman and a minute's silence in his honor.

"It's obviously a different atmosphere not having Paul with us," Rahal said at a driver breakfast Thursday. "Everybody on the team looked at him as a friend more than a team owner. Certainly he is missed, and we are going to be giving it our all for him this weekend."