Gray Newell drives an Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT in the SRO GT America Series. I met Newell at the 50th Anniversary of the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach where I was looking at the Aston Martin Valkyrie GTP car. He happened to be standing there in his Aston Martin shirt and I asked him some questions about that car. I also asked him what his role was and he responded that he was a driver for the Heart of Racing Team in the SRO series. At that point, I asked if he had time for an interview sometime during the weekend. In quite the serendipitous way, besides saying “yes” he also won the pole for his race. Immediately following his press conference, he came to the FastLane Racing School booth in the Expo and we conducted the interview live in front of race fans. A super cool guy with a real thoughtful process for his driving, Newell was a real crowd-pleasing guest. Enjoy!
By Larry Mason
Copyright © 2025 Larry Mason
Interview and photos Copyright © by Larry Mason (unless otherwise noted)
photo by Matt Treglia
Gray Newell is a real thinking man’s racer. Here he’s shown contemplating a question to make sure he gives a thoughtful answer.
Raceschool.com Podcast host Larry Mason asks Gray Newell a question at the FastLane booth in the Expo at the 50th Anniversary Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach.
A big thumbs up from the assembled fire marshalls shown to Gray Newell as he leads the rest of the field as pole-position driver behind the pace car.
Newell’s Aston Martin Vantage is resplendent in the SoCal sun and helped make his earning a podium (third) a bright day at the 50th Anniversary of this iconic race in Long Beach.