Need for speed: when Tom Cruise was a racing driver for Paul Newman
Most actors would be happy to just do the acting and enjoy the benefits of stardom that come attached, but Tom Cruise seems determined to master as many new skills as possible and use them in his movies.
There’s barely a mode of transport he doesn’t have a licence to operate, with the long-time superstar vastly experienced in not only automobile and motorcycle stunts, but piloting both private and commercial aircraft, helicopters, and boats of various sizes.
He’s never met a challenge he couldn’t match, either, with Cruise also a veteran skydiver, parasailer, and stunt performer in general, who doesn’t mind riding motorbikes off the side of cliffs, strapping himself to the outside of planes during take-off, or careening around the world’s tallest building for shits and giggles.
He even has a real estate licence for some reason, although it would be safe to assume people don’t show up for viewings in his local area only to be greeted by the Mission: Impossible frontman waxing lyrical over the amount of storage space. He used to be a race car driver, too, but studios eventually put the kibosh on that when the insurance premiums started getting a little too high.
Cruise’s passion for burning rubber on the race track came from Paul Newman, whom he first met when they starred opposite each other in Martin Scorsese’s legacy sequel The Colour of Money. Famously, the legendary actor was one of Hollywood’s most avid gearheads, owning his own team and regularly competing in races until he was in his 80s.
During the Sports Car Club of America’s 1987 season, Newman enlisted Cruise to become a part of the squad. Driving a Nissan 300ZX, the Top Gun headliner won an admirable four of his 16 races, a decent return considering he was nowhere near a professional. Three years later, Cruise was the driving force behind the NASCAR drama Days of Thunder, which may not have happened were it not for Newman’s influence.
So bitten by the bug, Cruise sought to do as many of his own racing sequences as possible in Tony Scott’s box office smash hit, with Newman’s well-known adoration for putting the pedal to metal going on to have a much greater impact and influence on his one-time scene partner than anyone could have imagined.
These days, Cruise’s reputation as such is that nobody batted an eyelid when he piloted a helicopter in a tuxedo to arrive at the premiere of Top Gun: Maverick because that’s just the kind of thing he does. However, back in the late 1980s, the prospect of seeing him suited, booted, and flying around the track as part of a Newman-sponsored driving team was a most curious sight.
