Roger Penske (born February 20, 1937 in Shaker Heights, Ohio) is the owner of a very successful automobile racing team Penske Racing, the Penske Corporation, and other automotive related businesses.
Starting in 1958, Penske purchased, raced and sold race cars, and was very successful both financially and on the track.
By 1960, he was a well known race car driver (Sports Illustrated Driver of the Year), winning prestigious races until 1965, when he retired as a driver, to concentrate on the business of owning and running a successful race car team.
His team first competed in the Indianapolis 500 in 1969, winning that event 13 times between 1972 and 2003, and their first NASCAR win was in 1973. His teams have won many races in the subsequent years. He closed in European based Formula One business in 1977. In 1982, he became the Chairman of the Penske Truck Leasing Business.
Penske Racing now operates a NASCAR team comprising Rusty Wallace, Ryan Newman and Travis Kvapil . They also operate an Indy Racing League team composed of Helio Castroneves and Sam Hornish, Jr. Previously, they ran cars in the CART series that included some of the best drivers of the time, including Gary Bettenhausen , Tom Sneva , Mario Andretti, Bobby Unser, Al Unser, Al Unser, Jr., Emerson Fittipaldi, Rick Mears, Danny Sullivan, Paul Tracy and Gil de Ferran.
In 1998, Penske was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame.
Penske is now (as of 2004) working on a variety of business interests, and is in charge of making arrangements for Super Bowl XL which will be played in his home city of Detroit, Michigan in 2006.
External Links
