All raced in anger at one time or another, and eight of them played a part in championship seasons.
- Newman/Haas Racing, one of the winningest teams in Indycar history, is selling 42 of its race cars at team headquarters in Illinois Oct 29. RM Sotheby’s will handle the sale.
- The number of cars offered is unprecedented. If you ever thought you might want a modern Indycar, now is the time to bid.
- What can you do with one of these? You could race it at the Brickyard Vintage Racing Invitational, in any of the five Vintage Indy Registry events.
Over the course of its 28 years in CART and Indycar competition, Newman/Haas won 105 races and eight championships, among the best records in racing. The team featured such luminaries as Mario and Michael Andretti, Nigel Mansell, Sebastien Bourdais, and many others. Mario and Michael each brought the team one title, Nigel Mansell and Cristiano da Matta one each, and Sebastien Bourdais a remarkable four championships, all but one of the above in the Lolas Carl Haas used to sell.
But the team hasn’t run a car in 11 years, since 2011 when Oriel Servia got a third at Milwaukee and two seconds—in New Hampshire and Baltimore—on the way to a fourth-place finish for the season. Teammate James Hinchcliffe ended the year in 12th position in a season dominated by Ganassi and Penske. The next year Carl Haas said the team would not run due to the economy and its effect on sponsorships. “The economic climate no longer enables Newman/Haas to participate in open-wheel racing at this time,” team co-founder Carl Haas said in a brief statement at the time, and the once-dominant Newman/Haas Racing team never came back.
Team co-founder Paul Newman passed away in 2008, Carl Haas himself died in 2016, and the cars have been in storage ever since.
Newman, right, and Haas, left, founded their team in 1983 and went on to win eight championships.
Dan R. Boyd
Now Newman/Haas racing is selling a remarkable 42 Indycars in a big auction at the team’s headquarters in Lincolnshire, Illinois. RM Sotheby’s will handle the auction, which takes place Oct. 29.
“Highlights of the legendary collection include multiple cars driven by Mario and Michael Andretti including a 1984 Lola-Cosworth T800 and a 1991 Lola-Chevrolet T91/00, both championship-winning cars,” RM Sotheby’s said in announcing the auction. “Alongside the Andretti-driven racing machines are cars piloted by the iconic Nigel Mansell. While driving a 1993 Lola-Cosworth Ford T93/00, Nigel Mansell became the only person in history to have won back-to-back championships in Formula 1 and IndyCar series in the same year.”
Haas and the ever-present cigar.
Dan R. Boyd
But the biggest question might now be, what can you do with one of these? You could race it at the Brickyard Vintage Racing Invitational, in any of the five Vintage Indy Registry events, or in numerous vintage racing organizations’ events. You could also just rent out a track on your own, if it’s within your budget. That’s all assuming you can find an engineer or two who can start it up.
If not, if you were Havoline (still exists) or Kmart (still has nine stores!), you could buy a few to hang on a wall somewhere. Or you could just buy one yourself and hang it up in your garage. Not many neighbors will have one of these and your racing buddies will be impressed.
More information on the auction can be found here. With 42 cars being sold in total, who knows what the highest bids will be? There just might be a few of these that are downright affordable.
Keyword: Newman/Haas Racing Is Selling 42 Indycars at One Big Auction Oct. 29