Dick Barbour left his mark on sportscar racing as both a driver and, over two spells, as a team owner, but the American, who has died aged 85, is arguably best remembered for giving movie legend Paul Newman a chance to race at the Le Mans 24 Hours in 1979. That’s because in a story that was probably too outlandish for Hollywood, they very nearly won the race sharing a Porsche 935 with Rolf Stommelen.
Keen amateur racer Newman had driven for the same Ferrari team as Barbour at the Daytona 24 Hours in 1977 and then joined Dick Barbour Racing for the traditional US sportscar season-opener two years later. Their assault on the American enduro with a 935 was conceived as a lead-in to Le Mans. The French enduro, the team owner recounted to this author more than 20 years ago, “was something Paul really wanted to do, something he was very excited about”. Newman, who would go on to win both an Oscar and a couple of Trans-Am races, reckoned he didn’t drive very well at Le Mans, but at one brief moment of the race it looked as though the 54-year-old was going to win the thing.
