Newman & Donohue--Penske Racing and Engineers
We went to the Champion's Breakfast in Daytona this morning after a long day and short night recounting the victory of one Ryan Newman, who, the books will say, was the winner of the 50th Daytona 500. Newman is a complex individual, with many more facets to his personality and his interests than what appears in a six second sound bite or short quote in a race story. He graduated from Purdue (the home of Gene Keady and Joe Tiller) with a 2.06 GPA (something to do with a lot of racing in the junior and senior years). The parallel between Newman and Penske's first racing engineer, Mark Donohue is apparent. Newman says the greatest thing he took from Purdue was the ability to manage time and solve problems--which puts his in good stead with Roger Penske and crew chief Roy McCauley. The win was Newman's first since September, 2005 in the second NASCAR Chase for the Championship (81 races).
The "Captain" hopes his IndyCar series drivers (Ryan Briscoe and Helio Castroneves) can help him achieve his goal of a Daytona 500 and Indianapolis 500 victory in the same year.
We're heading back to the office and will post as events dictate.
