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Roger Penske
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Roger 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.
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.
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Encyclopedia
Roger 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.
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 the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity.
Penske family
Roger Penske has five children with wife Kathy: Roger Penske Jr, Gregory Penske, Blair Penske, Mark Penske, and Jay Penske.
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 team first competed in the Indianapolis 500 in 1969, winning that event 14 times between 1972 with driver Mark Donohue and 2006, 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, David Stremme and Sam Hornish Jr.. They also operate an Indy Racing League team composed of Helio Castroneves and Ryan Briscoe. 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 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 of space encompassing . 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)
Racing awards
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
- 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 GmbH - Lighting Manufacturer
See also
External links
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