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.
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 is a 1959 graduate of Lehigh University in Pennsylvania where he was also a member of Phi Gamma Delta.
Penske family[]
Roger Penske has five children with wife Kathy: Roger Penske Jr, Gregory Penske, Blair Penske, Mark Penske, and Jay Penske.
(Roger, Jr. and Greg are sons from 1st marriage to Lisa.)
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 Cadillac* 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 Grand 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 1st auto dealership in Phila.,PA was Chevrolet...not Cadillac.]
His team first competed in the Indianapolis 500 in 1969, winning that event 15 times between 1972 with driver Mark Donohue and 2009, 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, Sam Hornish Jr., Justin Allgaier and his development drivers Dakoda Armstrong and Parker Kligerman. They also operate an Indy Racing League team composed of Helio 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.
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 LeMans Series (ALMS). The Penske Porsche's 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 LeMans, a 12-hour showcase event held at Road Atlanta.
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 Template:Convert of space encompassing Template:Convert. 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.
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 |
- | 0 | |
| 1962 | Dupont Team Zerex | Lotus 24 | Climax V8 | NED |
MON |
BEL |
FRA |
GBR |
GER |
ITA |
USA 9 |
RSA |
- | 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.
Business Interests[]
- Penske Racing - Marlboro Team Penske (IRL), Penske South (NASCAR), Penske Motorsports (ALMS)
- Penske Automotive Group - (UAG: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 - QEK Global Solutions is a provider of a wide range of integrated support services to vehicle manufacturers, their tier-one suppliers, and other businesses outside the automotive sector.
- 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
- 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 GmbH - Lighting Manufacturer
See also[]
- Penske Corporation
- Penske Racing
- Penske Truck Rental
All of these companies are owned by Roger Penske (Penske Truck Rental is a joint venture with General Electric, a company on whose board Roger Penske sits).
Roger Penske's United Auto Group will be marketing the Daimler-Chrysler Smart Car in the United States.
On July 2, 2007, United Auto Group will change names to Penske Auto Group and the stock symbol will change from United Auto's UAG to PAG on the New York Stock Exchange.