| Body Measurement | – |
| Body type | Normal |
| Height | 5 Feet 6 inches |
| Weight | 70 Kg |
| Hair Color | Grey |
| Eye Color | Black |
| Shoe Size | – |
| Full Name | Roger Searle Penske |
| Nickname | Roger Penske |
| Gender | Male |
| Date of Birth | February 20, 1937 |
| Age | 87 Years |
| Profession | American professional auto racing driver, team owner and businessman |
| Roger Penske Net Worth | $3.7 Million |
| Education | graduate of Lehigh University |
| Nationality | American |
| Birthplace | Shaker Heights, Ohio, U.S. |
| Hometown | Shaker Heights, Ohio, U.S. |
| Religion | Christian |
| Zodiac Sign | Pisces |
| Father | Jay Penske |
| Mother | Martha Penske |
| Spouse | Kathy Penske |
| Children | Jay Penske, Blair Penske, Gregory Penske, Mark Penske, Roger Penske Jr. |
| Siblings | David Penske |
| Official Website | Penske Corporation |
| Penske Racing | Penske Racing |
Childhood & Early Life
In 1937, Penske was born in Shaker Heights, Ohio. Penske was raised in a pious Episcopalian home and participated actively in church activities as a young man, serving as an acolyte and singing in the choir.
Jay, his father, supported his son’s entrepreneurial endeavours as a prosperous corporate executive for a metal fabrication company. He purchased older vehicles as a youngster, had them fixed, and then sold them for a profit from his Cleveland, Ohio, family’s house.
He was a member of the fraternity Phi Gamma Delta while attending Lehigh University, where he graduated from Lehigh Heights High School in 1955.
Penske’s most well-known properties are Team Penske, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, IndyCar, and many enterprises associated with car racing. Penske founded and serves as chairman of the Penske Corporation, which serves as a holding company for all of his companies. Penske has also been awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
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Career
After dabbling in hillclimbing, Penske joined the Philadelphia Region of the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) and began competing in Porsche road course races at Vineland Raceway in Vineland, New Jersey. In Upper Marlboro, Maryland, at the now-closed Marlboro Motor Raceway, Penske made his debut in professional racing.
He was selected as the 1961 SCCA Driver of the Year by Sports Illustrated. In 1963, he won a NASCAR Pacific Coast Late Model race at Riverside and participated in two Grands Prix of Formula One. Despite being offered a rookie test in Indianapolis with the Dean Van Lines team, he never took part in the Indianapolis 500.
Penske continued racing until 1965, when he retired as a driver, to concentrate on his first Chevrolet dealership in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
At the 24 Hours of Daytona in 1966, Penske Racing made its debut. He built one of the most prosperous NASCAR and IndyCar Series teams. With 20 victories, he is the Indianapolis 500’s most successful team owner. He goes by “The Captain” as his moniker. Penske was also a racing strategist for his IndyCar squad, which included driver Will Power most recently.
November 18, 2012, marked Penske’s first NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship with driver Brad Keselowski.
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.
Penske is the chairman of the Bloomfield Hills, Michigan-based Penske Corporation. Among the company’s holdings are a sizeable portion of the publicly traded Penske Automotive Group, a global business that runs car dealerships across the US, Canada, and some parts of Europe.
Penske Truck Leasing, a business that sells, leases, and maintains fleets of trucks; and Penske Motor Group, which runs car dealerships in Texas and California. IndyCar, the Indianapolis 500-mile event, and the 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana were purchased by Penske from the Hulman Family on November 4, 2019, for an unknown sum.
Mitt Romney’s Super PAC, Restore Our Future, received a $500,000 donation from Penske Racing. Although he was considered as a possible mayor of Detroit, he decided not to run.
Penske, who was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2019, supported Donald Trump in the 2020 US presidential election. He gave Donald Trump’s 2020 presidential campaign $45,000.
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Major Work/Filmography
- Roger Penske was a successful driver before turning car dealer/racing team owner. He bought a wrecked Cooper Formula One car, cleverly turned it into a two-seat sports car, and equipped it with the engine Jack Brabham used in the 1961 Indianapolis 500. Penske beat the world’s finest drivers en route to winning the Times GP at Riverside.
- Penske Racing was formed in 1966 to compete in the United States Road Racing Championship and Can-Am series.
- In May 1960, Penske and his mechanic Karl Kainhofer raced at Mosport on Saturday and Bridgehampton on Sunday, and then attended the Indianapolis 500 on Monday.
- Bobby Unser stole the headlines with an incredible 196-mph pole speed and Penske teammate Gary Bettenhausen led the most laps, but it was Donohue who came through to win after a troubled month of practice. His 163-mph race average was a record that stood for more than 20 years.
- High off his Indy 500 win, Donohue’s world came tumbling down when a bodywork failure on the Porsche 917-10 caused him to crash heavily at Road Atlanta and sustain serious leg injuries.
- Donohue could only stand retirement for a year; he made a comeback in late 1974 to spearhead Penske’s entry into Formula One. The PC1 chassis was not successful, so Penske bought a March. Donohue was driving the March when a tire failure caused him to crash at one of the Osterreichring’s fast corners in August 1975.
- Rick Mears failed to qualify in his first two years at Indianapolis, but he ran well elsewhere and caught the eye of Roger Penske. He hired Mears in 1978 to sub for Mario Andretti when Mario had F1 commitments during his world championship season.
Awards & Achievements
- Six-time IndyCar Series Champion as owner (2006, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2022)
- Four-time NASCAR Cup Series Champion as owner (2012, 2018, 2022, 2023)
- 1990 Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement
- 2018 Simeone Foundation Spirit of Competition Award recipient
- 1995 Motorsports Hall of Fame of America inductee
- 1998 International Motorsports Hall of Fame inductee
- 2002 Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame inductee
- 2015 Automotive Hall of Fame inductee
- 2019 NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee
- 2019 Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient
Roger Penske Net Worth
Penske is known for his philanthropic efforts and has served on the boards of Delphi Automotive, General Electric, and The Home Depot. He has an estimated net worth of $3.8 billion.
Controversy
Roger Penske has bounced back with an incredibly impressive feat of fortitude and tenacity. His IndyCar team was discovered to have an unlawful advantage in an April cheating incident that put the Penske brand in danger of long-term harm.
It happened at the same time when the owners of other teams were publicly criticising Penske’s management of the IndyCar Series, which he and Indianapolis Motor Speedway purchased in 2020. His NASCAR team was having the same kind of trouble winning as the other Ford teams.
The way Team Penske responded demonstrated the strength of the company he founded.
Three of the five IndyCar races since the unlawful push-to-pass software was found have been won by Team Penske. During that run, Will Power ended a two-year losing trend and took over the IndyCar title standings in Wisconsin after securing the top row in qualifying for the Indianapolis 500, which Josef Newgarden won for the second time in a row.
His sports car team secured the pole position at Spa and a victory at Laguna Seca. Moreover, Penske did not win the 24 Hours of Le Mans over the weekend, but one of his three cars began from the pole position. This was the first time since Penske’s driver lineup in 1963 that a Penske car had started from the pole at the most renowned endurance race in the world.
10 things you didn’t know about Roger Penske!
FAQs
– What is Roger Penske known for?
Roger Penske is best known for his success in motorsports as the owner of Team Penske, which has achieved numerous victories in NASCAR, IndyCar, and sports car racing, including multiple Indianapolis 500 wins.
– What is Penske Corporation?
Penske Corporation is a global transportation services company with businesses ranging from automotive and truck leasing to logistics, transportation component manufacturing, and professional motorsports.
– What other businesses does Roger Penske own?
Apart from Penske Corporation, Roger Penske has interests in automotive dealerships (Penske Automotive Group), truck leasing (Penske Truck Leasing), and other related services in the transportation industry.
– Has Roger Penske won the Indianapolis 500?
Team Penske, under Roger Penske’s ownership, has won the Indianapolis 500 multiple times. His team is one of the most successful in the history of the race.
