Emerson Newton-John is out to show that desires don’t have an age restrict or an expiration date.
“I’m out to make a f****** assertion,” Newton-John instructed Motorsport.com.
At 51 years younger, the British-born California native’s path in motorsports has been about as treacherous because the roads of Hollywood Hills.
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As soon as a promising upstart within the junior system classes, his profession was despatched right into a tailspin after actual world tragedies abruptly halted monetary assist. As a substitute of a possible run at Champ Automotive (now the IndyCar Collection) in 2002, he spent the subsequent decade-plus piecing collectively occasional alternatives in hopes of discovering his approach again. There have been random one-offs within the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Collection and even ARCA, together with a few temporary probabilities in Indy Lights (now Indy NXT).
Whereas this description builds up like real-life Sonny Hayes from “F1: The Film,” the 2025 blockbuster movie that gained an Oscar for Finest Sound, that is merely the beginning.
Alongside staff proprietor Marc Austin, he’ll co-drive a Mercedes-AMG GT4 in a collaborative effort by fellow Texas-based squad Lone Star Racing. Austin lately claimed a third-place end result – and Bronze Cup honors – within the GSX class of IMSA’s VP Racing SportsCar Problem at COTA in February courtesy of an entry engineered by Lone Star Racing.
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The enterprise got here collectively via Newton-John’s enterprise associate, who additionally has a relationship with Austin. After some conversations, he was put to the check, actually, at Motorsport Ranch in Cresson, Texas, some 25 miles southeast of Fort Price.
“It went past completely and we grew to become mates and that is how that sort of morphed into operating this COTA race collectively,” Newton-John stated.
“So far as the race itself and the importance of it, I am at a spot proper now man the place if I can run in a fairly excessive stage championship in a very cool automobile like that AMG, particularly one which’s engineered by a staff pretty much as good as Lone Star, that is an enormous factor.”
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Emerson Newton-John
Emerson Newton-John
It’s a exceptional scenario contemplating that, though Newton-John examined a Radical SR10 in 2024, he hasn’t competed in a race since 2015. With two vital gaps in his profession of 10 years (2003-12) and 7 years (2016-2025) are the plain “what if” in relation to shedding his monetary backing, notably after the tragic occasions on September 11, 2001. At this level, although, it’s a part of his story and one thing he wears on his sleeve.
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“I have been requested concerning the gaps 1,027 instances,” stated Newton-John, who practically gained in his Formulation Holden debut in 2001 and completed fifth within the title race regardless of lacking 4 races within the fallout of switching groups 3 times after his preliminary outfit, NRC Racing, was being bought.
“So it is this most straightforward and simple reply: there’s been no cash. That is it. I might by no means have stopped racing for a day on the finish of 2001 had I had monetary backing.
“I imply, going testing something over mid-level even with a buddy low cost, you are taking a look at $20,000 for the day. Something vital like GT3 you are taking a look at $50,000 or extra for the day. Then add insurance coverage and the deductible on prime of it, that’s not a factor for me. That’s simply not an possibility.”
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For some, an absence of cash may appear to be an excuse for the nephew of the late Olivia Newton-John, a world icon in her personal proper as an actress, singer, and songwriter. The truth of it, although, is that she was the beloved aunt that Newton-John regards as “pure as Snow White” and, merely put, not his mom.
“She was like a mother, completely, particularly the primary half of my life after I was younger however she wasn’t my mother,” stated Newton-John. “Possibly if she was I might have retired 5 years in the past from 20 seasons of IndyCar. I’ll by no means know that, nevertheless it wasn’t her duty to foot the invoice.”
Given the circumstances that led Newton-John down an unconventional journey, it’d be comprehensible for anybody in that scenario to turn out to be considerably bitter or perhaps a little jaded. Being so near a lifelong dream and having it swept away like sand in a mud storm resulting from elements past management is a difficult factor to grasp.
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“I used to be extraordinarily emotional about this sport,” he stated. “It is so embarrassing however a variety of my youth, in all probability up till I used to be perhaps 14 or 15, I might get truly teary-eyed on the pre-engine startup for the Indianapolis 500.
“I bear in mind as a child like after I was 10 or 12 I might placed on a helmet, sit on my mattress and watch the 5 minutes when the drivers had been getting within the vehicles and everybody was getting them prepared, after which the parade left; that was extremely emotional to me and to a level it nonetheless is. I believe the emotion continues to be there, I’m only a lot higher at channeling it.”
Emerson Newton-John
Emerson Newton-John
That isn’t to say, although, that if his return on the finish of this month leads in the direction of one thing larger, similar to an opportunity to compete within the Rolex 24 At Daytona, the crown jewel for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, these suppressed feelings wouldn’t come speeding again.
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“As an example all of it works out for me and I get to run the Daytona 24, I’m in a class-winning automobile and we win it, assure I will cry,” Newton-John stated.
“I’ll even get to that time if I simply lock in a sponsor. On the first race weekend, I would in all probability be like, ‘Holy s*** I pulled this off. That is insane.’ I believe that in all probability would be the case.
“And undoubtedly, if larger and higher issues occur it is gonna blow my thoughts. However proper now, I’ll sound calm, cool and picked up as a result of that is the place I put myself. I gave a lot emotion, mind energy and simply all the pieces you could possibly give to this sport, and a variety of that was after I wasn’t racing. The racing half is straightforward. Driving a race automobile is straightforward, attending to the race automobile is the problem.”
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For Newton-John, who has been known as “a pure” by a revered motorsports veteran that spent a number of many years within the IndyCar paddock for his skill to be immediately fast no matter how a lot time was missed, the tenacity demonstrates how a lot, even after all the pieces he’s been via, the fireplace for racing nonetheless glints as wildly as ever.
It begs the query, although, for a man that was named after the legendary Emerson Fittipaldi and grew up admiring Nigel Mansell’s bravery, what’s the endgame?
“My pipe-dream situation is to not solely return racing at a excessive stage full time and inform this story of mine, nevertheless it’s additionally to do it as a staff proprietor,” Newton-John stated.
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“I wish to be a staff proprietor. It will be a class clearly, that I might race in. I might like to be an IMSA staff proprietor and undoubtedly be driving full time on the identical time. To me, that is a professional approach to spend ‘your cash’ since you’re actively taking part with a approach to create a monetary stream. If in case you have a staff proprietor, you may herald sponsorship, you may herald different paid drivers after which you could have a professional enterprise. That I am all about.”
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