Roger Penske’s ready to roll at Indy 500
Racing and the Indianapolis speedway are distinctive to Penske. He to start with attended the Indy five hundred at age 14 with his father. That yr, in 1951, Penske was in a position to sit in a show car and have his image taken.
The race ignited a passion for the activity as he took to driving. In 1961, Sports activities Illustrated named Penske the Sports activities Car Club of America’s Driver of the Year.
His time behind the wheel was short-lived, even though. By the mid-nineteen sixties, when he was requested to choose a driver’s take a look at to race in the Indy five hundred, he had to pass due to the fact he was working as a Chevrolet dealership in Philadelphia. But he didn’t shy absent from the activity.
As a race crew owner, Penske entered his to start with car in an Indy five hundred in 1969. 4 a long time later on, he won his to start with Indy with driver Mark Donohue. His drivers have continued to rack up record-creating Indy wins.
“The history speaks for itself. We’ve won it eighteen moments now considering that our to start with race in ’69,” Penske explained. “So we have had a wonderful run there.”
The Captain, as he’s recognized, explained racing remains his passion and is woven all through Penske Corp. His business empire, centered in Bloomfield Hills, Mich., involves some fifty six,000 staff and a quantity of transportation-connected and motorsports racing companies. Aspect of Penske’s conglomerate is publicly traded Penske Automotive Team Inc., rated by Automotive News as the second-biggest dealership group in the U.S. centered on 2020 new-automobile product sales.
In 2019, President Donald Trump awarded Penske the nation’s top civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Independence.