Penske (car racing team)

Roger Penske has been associated with IndyCar Racing since 1968, exhibiting an Eagle car whose pilot was Mark Donoghue . The team first competed in Indianapolis in 1969, the first success came three years later, Mark Donoghue won the race in 1972. In 1978, Roger Penske, along with Pat Patrick, Dan Gurney, and other team owners who participated in the USAC, Champ Cars and IndyCars create the Championship Auto Racing Teams ( CART ).

The Penske team currently has four cars:

• # 12 Will Power
• # 2 Juan Pablo Montoya
• # 3 Elio Kashtruneves
• # 22 Simon Page

Elio Castronevez won the Indianapolis 500 three times (2001, 2002 and 2009), as well as other CART and IRL races with the Penske team. Sam Hornish Jr. won the Indianapolis 500 in 2006 and the 2006 IndyCar Series Championships.

Victories in the Indianapolis 500 Mile Race:
1972 - Mark Donoghue (McLaren / Offenhauser)
1979 - Rick Mirs (Penske / Cosworth)
1981 - Bobby Anser (Penske / Cosworth)
1984 - Rick Mirs (March / Cosworth)
1985 - Danny Sullivan (March / Cosworth)
1987 - Al Anser (March / Cosworth)
1988 - Rick Mirs (Penske / Ilmor-Chevrolet)
1991 - Rick Mirs (Penske / Ilmor-Chevrolet)
1993 - Emerson Fittipaldi (Penske / Ilmor-Chevrolet)
1994 - Al Anser Jr. (Penske / Ilmor-Mercedes-Benz)
2001 - Elio Castronevez (Dallara / Ilmor-Oldsmobile)
2002 - Elio Castronevez (Dallara / Chevrolet)
2003 - Gilles de Ferrand (G-Force / Toyota)
2006 - Sam Hornish Jr. (Dallara / Ilmor-Honda)
2009 - Elio Castronevez (Dallara / Ilmor-Honda)

Penske Racing debuted NASCAR in 1972 on the Riverside International Raceway. Marc Donoghue piloted the factory sponsored red-white-blue American Motors Matador. Nicknamed the “flying brick” thanks to its square aerodynamics. Donahue finished thirty-ninth due to mechanical problems. The next few years the team spent an incomplete season with various racers driving her cars, including Donoghue, Dave Marcis, Donnie Ellison, and Bobby Ellison. The team spent the first full season with Bobby Ellison in 1976 with a new, more aerodynamic machine, four times got into glasses. Roger Penske sold his cars to the Elliot family in 1977 and left NASCAR.

In 1991, Penske Racing returned to NASCAR. In early 2008, he won the 500 Mile Daytona race with Ryan Newman .

In 2012, Brad Kaselowski became the NASCAR Sprint Cup champion behind the wheel of a Dodge # 2. In 2013, Penske Racing changed Dodge to Ford.

In 1971, Roger Penske sponsored the McLaren-Ford team at the Canadian Grand Prix , where Marc Donoghue took third place at the US Grand Prix . Roger Penske liked the idea of ​​auto racing, and after 3 years his team called “Penske-Ford” made their debut in the “Royal Auto Racing” at the end of the 1974 season at the Canadian Grand Prix on their own PC1 car with Ford Cosworth engine DFV and Hewland gearbox . In the debut race, Mark Donoghue took 12th place. After two races, the team took 15th place without scoring points. In 1975 , the Penske team spent a full season on a car with a PC1 chassis. Donoghue took fifth place at the Swedish Grand Prix , earning 2 credits. Starting from the French Grand Prix, Penske Ford put up a new car with the March 751 chassis, on which Donoghue again won fifth place at the British Grand Prix , but the scored 2 points did not go into the overall standings of the designers cup. At the Austrian Grand Prix, Mark Donoghue had an accident, and later died from his injuries. Penske Ford missed the race in Italy, returning to the American Grand Prix , abandoning March 751 in favor of PC1, the car was driven by John Watson . At the end of the season, the team took 12th place with two points. In 1976 , Penske, having signed a sponsorship agreement with Citibank, came out with a new PC3 car. The only pilot in the team was Watson. At the Grand Prix of South Africa, Watson took fifth place. Starting with the US Grand Prix, the PC3 car gave way to PC4, which was much more competitive, which allowed Watson to win two podiums in France and the UK and win the first and only victory for Penske in Formula 1 at the Austrian Grand Prix . At the end of the season, the team won 6th place with 20 points. But despite the success, Roger Penske decided to leave Formula 1 and focus solely on Indycar racing.

In 2002, the Penske Racing Museum opened in Scottsdale , Arizona at the Penske Automotive Group. On its territory there are about 20 historically significant cars of the Penske Racing team, as well as trophies, artwork, engines and other memorabilia.

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