Penske, Roger
Auto Racing
b. Feb. 20, 1937, Cleveland, OH
One of the most powerful figures in auto racing, Penske began driving sports cars shortly after graduating from Lehigh University in 1959. He won four Grand Prix races and was named driver of the year by the New York Times in 1962. The following year, he won the only NASCAR Grand National race he ever entered, the Riverside 250.
Penske left driving in 1965 to operate an auto dealership in Philadelphia. The following year, he founded Roger Penske Racing Enterprises with engineer/driver Mark Donohue to compete in the U. S. Road Racing Championship (USRRC) and Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) races. Donohue was the USRRC champion in 1967 and 1968 and the SCCA Trans-Am champion in 1968, 1969, and 1971.
The team entered the Indy 500 for the first time in 1969 and won it in 1972. Donohue and Penske also won the 24 Hours of Daytona in 1969 and the Can-Am championship in 1973.
Unhappy with USAC management, Penske teamed with another owner, U. E. "Pat" Patrick, to form Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) in 1978. USAC and CART briefly merged into the Championship Racing League in 1980, but the partnership broke up before the year was over. CART organized an eleven-race schedule in 1981 with more prize money than USAC had ever offered.
Donohue was killed during practice for a Formula One race in 1975. The following year, his replacement, John Watson, won the Austrian Grand Prix. Penske then pulled out of Formula One racing to focus on CART and NASCAR. The team won three straight CART points championships, 1977-79. Among the Penske victories in that string was the 1979 Indy 500, with driver Rick Mears.
Another Team Penske driver, Bobby Unser, won at Indy in 1981. The team also won there with Mears in 1984, 1988, and 1991, with Danny Sullivan in 1985, and with Al Unser in 1987. Mears retired in 1992. Legendary Formula One driver Emerson Fittipaldi took his spot on the team and brought Penske its ninth Indy victory in 1993.
The team had an incredible 1994 season, winning 10 pole positions and 12 of 16i races. Its three drivers, Al Unser, Paul Tracy, and Fittipaldi, finished 1-2-3 in five races and Unser won the Indy 500 and the CART points championship.
However, Penske failed to qualify a car the following year and then stayed away from Indy for five years because of the dispute between CART and the Indy Racing League. In 2001, Penske returned to the Indy 500 and won it for the 11th time, this time with Helio Castroneves driving. He won again in 2002 and Gil de Ferran made it three in a row in 2003.
To date, Penske Racing has won 13 Indy 500s, 11 Indy-car national championships, 119 races, and 140 pole positions, all records. In addition, the team has had 30 wins in NASCAR's Winston/Nextel Cup series.
Penske has built a transportation empire as well as a racing empire. The Penske Corporation, which he founded in 1969, oversees operations of the United Auto Group, Penske Truck Leasing Corporation, Penske Automotive, Penske Logistics, Truck-Lite, DAVCO, and Penske Racing. Penske also owns the California Speedway, Michigan Speedway, North Carolina Motor Speedway, and Nazareth Speedway.