Roger Penske

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File:PenskePC23.jpg

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

File:Roger Penske 2005.jpg

Penske in 2005

Roger Searle Penske (born February 20, 1937), also known as "the Captain", is an American auto racing team owner, businessman, and former professional driver. Penske is the owner of Team Penske, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, IndyCar, and other auto racing-related businesses. Penske is the founder and chairman of the Penske Corporation, a holding company for his various businesses. Penske is also a Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient.

Early life and education

Penske was born in Shaker Heights, Ohio, in 1937<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> into a devout Episcopalian family. He was heavily involved with his church as a boy, singing in the church's choir and serving in the ministry as an acolyte.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> His father Jay was a successful corporate executive for a metal fabrication company who encouraged his son to become an entrepreneur.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> As a teenager he bought older cars, repaired them and sold them at a profit from his family's home outside Cleveland, Ohio.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

After graduating from Shaker Heights High School in 1955, he matriculated at Lehigh University, where he was a member of the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity, and he graduated in 1959.<ref name= "Rich2">Template:Cite news</ref>

Racing career

Penske's first racing venture was in hillclimbing, but then ran road course racing at the Vineland Raceway in Vineland, New Jersey, as a member of the Philadelphia Region of the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) in Porsches.<ref name="DJD">Template:Cite web</ref> Penske made his first professional racing start at the now-abandoned Marlboro Motor Raceway in Upper Marlboro, Maryland.

Sports Illustrated named him SCCA Driver of the Year in 1961.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> He competed in two Formula One Grands Prix and won a NASCAR Pacific Coast Late Model race at Riverside in 1963. He never ran the Indianapolis 500: he was offered a rookie test at Indianapolis with the Dean Van Lines team.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Penske continued racing until 1965, when he retired as a driver, to concentrate on his first Chevrolet dealership in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.<ref name="RichList">Template:Cite news</ref>

Business career

During college, Penske worked at Alcoa as an intern, and joined them as a sales engineer in 1959 after graduating, while also pursuing a career in race-car driving where he met people involved in Chevrolet. In 1963, he left Alcoa to become a manager of a Chevrolet dealership in Philadelphia, which he bought a year later with a loan from his father.<ref name=":1">Template:Cite web</ref> He shifted his focus away from race-car driving to the dealership after the purchase.<ref name=":1" />

In 1969, he founded Penske Truck Leasing in Reading, Pennsylvania by purchasing a truck rental and leasing business with three locations serving eastern Pennsylvania.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Racing teams

Penske Racing debuted in 1966 at the 24 Hours of Daytona.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He developed one of the most successful teams in IndyCar Series and NASCAR racing. He is the most successful team owner at the Indianapolis 500 with 20 victories. He is known by his nickname of "The Captain".<ref name=aaw20130304>Template:Cite magazine</ref> Penske also served as a race strategist for his IndyCar team, most recently for driver Will Power.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Penske won his first NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship with driver Brad Keselowski on November 18, 2012.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

On September 16, 2018, driver Brad Keselowski won the South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, giving Penske his 500th race victory as an owner across all racing series. Later the same season, Joey Logano would clinch the championship at Homestead-Miami Speedway, winning Penske his second championship in the Cup series.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Penske Corporation

Penske is chairman of Penske Corporation, based in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. Some of the company's holdings include a significant stake in publicly traded Penske Automotive Group, an international company that operates automobile dealerships in the United States, Canada, and parts of Europe; Penske Truck Leasing, a truck sales, leasing, and fleet maintenance company; Penske Motor Group which operates auto dealerships in California and Texas. On November 4, 2019, Penske acquired the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, a 2.5-mile course in Speedway, Indiana, the Indianapolis 500 and IndyCar from the Hulman Family for an undisclosed amount.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Personal life

Penske was married to Lisa Stouffer, daughter of Gordon Stouffer,<ref name=":0">Template:Cite web</ref> with whom he had two sons, Roger Jr. and Gregory.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Gregory is vice chair of the board of Penske Automotive Group and CEO of Penske Motor Group,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and Roger Jr. owns several automotive dealerships.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Penske was later married to Kathryn Penske (née Hulbert),<ref name=":0" /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and the couple have three children: Jay, Mark, and Kathryn Blair.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Jay is the owner of Penske Media Corporation.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Roger Penske received a kidney transplant from his son Greg in 2017.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

As of October 2023, Penske's estimated net worth is $3.8 billion.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

File:The 2018 NASCAR Cup Series Champion Joey Logano Visits the White House (40783463503).jpg

Penske (right) with President Donald Trump (center) and racing driver Joey Logano (left) on the White House south lawn in 2019

File:The White House - 54442232245.jpg

Penske (left) with President Donald Trump (right) at The White House in 2025

Penske Racing donated $500,000 to Restore Our Future, Mitt Romney's Super PAC.<ref name=Romney>Template:Cite news</ref> He was discussed as a potential candidate for Mayor of Detroit but declined to run.<ref name=Mayor>Template:Cite news</ref> Penske endorsed Donald Trump in the 2020 United States presidential election after receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2019.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He contributed $45,000 to Donald Trump's 2020 presidential campaign.<ref name="Trump 2020 donors">Template:Cite web</ref> On April 9, 2025, Penske and his NASCAR, IndyCar and IMSA SportsCar Championship drivers and cars visited the White House.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Trump was invited to the 2025 Indianapolis 500 by Penske, but did not attend.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Awards and honors

Auto racing

• Six-time IndyCar Series Champion as owner (2006, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2022)<ref name = "RP" />
• Five-time NASCAR Cup Series Champion as owner (2012, 2018, 2022, 2023, 2024)<ref name = "RP" />
• 1990 Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 2018 Simeone Foundation Spirit of Competition Award recipient<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Halls of Fame

• 1995 Motorsports Hall of Fame of America inductee<ref name=MSHoF>Roger Penske at the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America</ref>
• 1998 International Motorsports Hall of Fame inductee<ref name = "RP">Roger Penske Drive</ref>
• 2002 Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame inductee<ref name = "RP" />
• 2015 Automotive Hall of Fame inductee<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 2019 NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee<ref name = "RP" />
• 2025 Trans-Am Series Hall of Fame inductee.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

National

• 2019 Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient<ref name = "RP" />

Motorsports career results

Complete Formula One World Championship results

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 Template:Small		NC	0
1962	Dupont Team Zerex	Lotus 24	Climax V8	NED	MON	BEL	FRA	GBR	GER	ITA	USA Template:Small	RSA	NC	0
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24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Template:Tooltip	Template:Tooltip
Template:24hLM	Template:Flagicon North American Racing Team	Template:Flagicon Pedro Rodríguez	Ferrari 330 TRI/LM	P +3.0	113	DNF	DNF
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12 Hours of Sebring results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Template:Tooltip	Template:Tooltip
1961	Template:Flagicon Brumos Porsche Company	Template:Flagicon Bob Holbert	Porsche 718 RS 61	S1.6	199	5th	1st
1962	Template:Flagicon Briggs Cunningham	Template:Flagicon Bruce McLaren	Cooper Monaco T57 Maserati	S3.0	190	5th	2nd
1963	Template:Flagicon Mecom Racing Team	Template:Flagicon Augie Pabst	Ferrari 250 GTO	GT3.0	203	4th	1st
1964	Template:Flagicon McKean Chevrolet, Inc.	Template:Flagicon Jim Hall	Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport	P+3.0	177	18th	4th
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Other events

• Puerto Rico Grand Prix

Bibliography

• Roger Penske - Sports Car Club of America

External links

• Penske Corporation
• Penske Racing
• Template:Racing-Reference owner
• Template:Racing-Reference driver