Roger Penske

Roger Penske

Roger Penske at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for Carb Day for the 2009 Indianapolis 500
Born	(1937-02-20) February 20, 1937
Formula One World Championship career
Nationality	American
Active years	1961 - 1962
Teams	Non-works Cooper and Lotus
Entries	2
Championships	0
Wins	0
Podiums	0
Career points	0
Pole positions	0
Fastest laps	0
First entry	1961 United States Grand Prix
Last entry	1962 United States Grand Prix

1994 Indy 500 winning Penske PC23 driven by Al Unser, Jr.

Roger Penske in 2005.

Roger S. Penske (born February 20, 1937, in Shaker Heights, Ohio) is the owner of the automobile racing team Penske Racing, the Penske Corporation, and other automotive related businesses. A winning racer in the late 1950s, Penske was named 1961's Sports Car Club of America Driver of the Year by Sports Illustrated. Retiring from driving a few years later he created one of the most successful teams in IndyCar Series and NASCAR racing.

He also is one of the corporate directors at General Electric and was chairman of Super Bowl XL in Detroit, Michigan. He was previously on the board of Home Depot and Delphi Automotive before resigning to chair the Detroit Super Bowl Committee. He has an estimated net worth of $1.4 billion. He is a 1959 graduate of Lehigh University in Pennsylvania where he was also a member of the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity.

Early life

Penske's father was a corporate executive for a metal fabrication company and encouraged his son to become an entrepreneur. As a teenager he bought older cars, repaired them and sold them at a profit from his family's home in Cleveland, Ohio. In 10 years, Penske raced and sold about 32 cars.

Racing career

Starting in 1958, Penske purchased, raced and sold race cars, and was very successful both financially and on the track. Penske made his first professional racing start at the now-abandoned Marlboro Motor Raceway in Upper Marlboro, Maryland.

By 1960, he was a well known race car driver (Sports Illustrated SCCA Driver of the Year), winning prestigious races until 1965, when he retired as a driver, to concentrate on his first Chevrolet dealership in Philadelphia, PA. He subsequently began his now famous Penske Racing in 1965 as well. Interestingly enough, although Penske competed in two Formula One Grands Prix, and won a NASCAR Pacific Coast Late Model race at Riverside in 1963, he never ran the Indy 500. In fact, he was offered a rookie test at Indianapolis but turned it down for business reasons. Rookie Mario Andretti stepped in for Penske to take that test at Indianapolis.

His team first competed in the Indianapolis 500 in 1969, winning that event in 1972 with driver Mark Donohue, and their first NASCAR win was in 1973. His teams have won many races in the subsequent years. He closed his 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 Kurt Busch, Brad Keselowski and Sam Hornish, Jr. They also operate an Indy Racing League team composed of Hélio Castroneves, Ryan Briscoe, and Will Power. 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. After many years of trying his team won the Daytona 500 in 2008 with Ryan Newman driving.

In 2005, Porsche set the stage to make a comeback in sports car racing in the United States and chose Penske Racing to run in the LMP2 class of the American Le Mans Series (ALMS). The Penske Porsches took center stage in 2006 winning immediately, including victories at Mid-Ohio finishing 1-2 ahead of Audi (competing in a higher classification) and the annual Petit Le Mans, a 10-hour showcase event held at Road Atlanta. His team scored an overall victory in the 12 Hours of Sebring in 2008.

Penske also ran a Pontiac Riley Daytona Prototype in the 2008 Rolex 24 at Daytona, with Kurt Busch, Ryan Briscoe, and Hélio Castroneves driving. The car was run in conjunction with Wayne Taylor's SunTrust Racing. They finished 3rd overall.

For 2009, Penske has suspended his participation in the American Le Mans Series, switching to Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series for the full season. They are using a Porsche-powered Riley with Timo Bernhard and Romain Dumas driving.

Penske recently purchased the old Matsushita air conditioning plant in Mooresville, NC and reconditioned it to consolidate his racing empire. Now, all of Penske's racing operations are under one massive roof with his IRL, NASCAR, and ALMS teams sharing over 424,000 square feet (39,400 m²) of space encompassing 105 acres (42 ha). The shop includes all the necessary pieces to compete on the highest level in all of his racing endeavors, including a state of the art, in-house, wind tunnel. To complete the facilities, Penske imported over one million tons (250,000 pieces) of Italian marble.

Roger Penske is also an avid car collector, and owns many rare American and European automobiles, including a Ferrari FXX, of which only 30 were made.

Complete Formula One World Championship results

(key)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	WDC	Points
1961	John M Wyatt III	Cooper T53	Climax Straight-4	MON	NED	BEL	FRA	GBR	GER	ITA	USA 8		NC	0
1962	Dupont Team Zerex	Lotus 24	Climax V8	NED	MON	BEL	FRA	GBR	GER	ITA	USA 9	RSA	NC	0

Racing awards

• In 1998, Penske was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame.
• He was inducted in the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 1995.

Penske Automotive Group

While CEO of Penske Automotive Group in 2008, Roger Penske earned a total compensation of $2,706,388, which included a base salary of $1,000,000, no cash bonus, stocks granted of $1,680,005, and no options granted. He was involved in an attempt to purchase the Saturn Corporation, makers of Saturn cars. On September 30, 2009, his Penske Automotive Group announced that the deal to purchase Saturn had fallen through.

Personal life

Roger Penske has five children with wife Kathy: Roger Penske Jr, Gregory Penske, Blair Penske, Mark Penske, and Jay Penske.

Business interests

• Penske Racing - Marlboro Team Penske (IRL), Penske South (NASCAR), Penske Motorsports (ALMS)
• Penske Automotive Group - (PAG:NYSE - a 40+% stake) 151 United States Car Dealerships and 101 International Car Dealerships. It is the second largest dealership group in the world.
• Penske Motor Group - Owns and operates automobile dealerships in California.
• Penske Truck Leasing - Joint venture with GE Equipment Management
• Penske Logistics - Transportation Logistics
• VM Motori S.p.A. - Owns 51% stake and 49% DaimlerChrysler Group, Truck-Lite, and Davco (transportation component manufacturing).
• Truck-Lite - Lighting Manufacturer for Heavy trucks (18 Wheelers)
• QEK Global Solutions - provider of integrated support services to vehicle manufacturers, tier-one suppliers, as well as to other businesses.
• Davco - Manufacturer of Class 8 Heavy Duty Diesel powered truck fuel/heater water separators and filter systems.
• Ilmor - Engine builder
• Deer Valley Ski Resort - Part owner
• Internet Brands - Early investor in CarsDirect. Director since May 2000.
• Universal Technical Institute - Board of Directors. Nationwide provider of technical education training for students seeking careers as professional automotive, diesel, collision repair, motorcycle and marine technicians. NASCAR Technical Institute is located in Mooresville, North Carolina.
• FER Fahrzeugelektrik - Lighting Manufacturer

See also

• Penske Truck Leasing (Penske Truck Leasing is a joint venture with General Electric, a company on whose board Roger Penske sits).

External links

• Penske Corporation
• Penske Racing
• Roger @ The International Motorsports Hall of Fame
• Penske Automotive Group
• Velocity Services Inc
• Penske Truck Leasing
• Penske Motor Group
• VM Motori S.p.A.
• Truck-Lite
• Davco
• Penske profile @ Hoovers
• Forbes