FA: Newman to run Atlantics team in '06.

After more than 20 successful seasons as a team owner in the Champ Car World Series, Paul Newman has decided to branch out and run a team in the supporting Formula Atlantic series from 2006.

The actor will team up with long-time friend, and former racer, Eddie Wachs to form Newman/Wachs Racing, which intends to field a two-car effort in the new-look 2006 Champ Car Atlantic Championship presented by Yokohama.

Newman met Wachs when both men were racing in the Can-Am series in the early 1980s, and the pair have remained close friends over the years before deciding to form their own team to develop young racing talent in the open-wheel development series. Joining Newman and Wachs on the team will be former F5000 competitor Michael Brockman, SCCA Trans-Am legend Horst Kwech and former Atlantic engineer and team owner Ove Olsson. Between them, the racing veterans bring nearly 200 years of experience on the track.

"This effort is an opportunity for all of us to give something back to the sport in the development of a new class of drivers," Wachs explained, "There's a lot of knowledge on this team and we want to be able to share that knowledge and pass on the torch to some up-and-coming racers."

Newman/Wachs Racing will be headquartered on Chicago's north side and Olsson, whose Olsson Engineering team competed for six seasons in the Atlantic championship between 1996-2001, will serve as team manager.

"This is an exciting time in the Atlantic series and we're happy that our team can be a part of it," Newman admitted, "We'll obviously be focused on driver development, bringing a keen interest and an expressed desire to train and groom the next generation of champions in our sport."

Newman/Wachs Racing is currently scouting young racing talent and the squad expects to start testing prospective drivers in January. The team will run Swift 014.a chassis in off-season testing before taking possession of its two new Swift 016.a cars in early March.