9/2/2023 0 Comments Roger penske car collection![]() Under Penske's applied pressure, a compromise was reached. Weeks ago, it still looked as if there might be no fans for May. That number was reached because Penske and his team met with local and state health and government officials, again and again. Even limited to 40% capacity by local pandemic ordinances, the sellout crowd of 135,000 will be the largest gathering of human beings on Earth since the planet was closed in March 2020. Now, Penske will get to experience his first Indy 500 as the man in charge - in May - with fans. He was robbed of his first May Indy 500 last year by COVID-19, as the race was postponed to August and run without a single fan in the stands. This Sunday will be the 105th and Penske's first "real" 500 as the boss. That was the 35th running of the Indy 500. In fact, it was exactly 70 years ago this Sunday when he sat in the stands with his father and watched Lee Wallard's roadster roll into the winner's circle. That kid-turned-man is Roger Penske, the business titan and racing junkie who now owns and operates this place and this race that he has loved since that May Sunday 70 years ago. The Indianapolis Motor Speedway, this is a big place." "I thought I knew every inch of this place. "I have been coming here since I was 14," says the 84-year-old, who as he talks starts to sound 14 again. and the bathrooms where the men and women who build and dial in those cars go between practice laps and wrench turns. and in the offices and garage stalls where those cars are built and dialed-in. and every level of the 13-story pagoda that towers above it. Your products should be riding along at a much slower pace, on the wrist and counting the steps of the distinguished, starched-shirted gentleman who can be spotted endlessly walking the grandstands that surround that straightaway. And I don't mean slapping a sticker on any of the 33 race cars that will be roaring down the frontstretch at 230 mph. INDIANAPOLIS - Dear smart watch and pedometer manufacturers: I don't want to tell you how to run your business, but you're missing out on a sponsorship opportunity during Sunday's Indianapolis 500. He’s in a league by himself, and he says it never gets tiring.Īll told, Team Penske - the open-wheel portion of which was based in Reading from 1973-2006 - has collected more than 500 auto racing victories with four Ind圜ar Series championships and two NASCAR Cup Series championships.You have reached a degraded version of because you're using an unsupported version of Internet Explorer.įor a complete experience, please upgrade or use a supported browserįinally, Roger Penske gets first 'real' Indianapolis 500 as the man in charge Roger Penske has been there 16 more times since that first one. The result: Team Penske celebrated in Victory Lane. Jerry Grant appeared on his way to victory, but he illegally took on fuel from another team’s pit tank and was penalized out of the lead.ĭonohue, who started third, led the final 12 laps after having been in front for only one of the first 188. But a hairline crack in water tank ended the run. In 1972, Gary Bettenhausen, a United States Auto Club veteran who was paired with Donohue as a Penske entry at Indy, led the 500 for 138 laps. Penske went back to the people at Sunoco, asking for another year at Indy in 1972. Led by super chief mechanic Karl Kainhofer, who had been Penske’s first hire when he began racing in 1966, Donohue’s car was rebuilt in time for the first Schaefer 500 at Pocono and Donohue put it on the pole and led 126 laps to deliver the first Indy-car win for Team Penske. Ind圜ar driver Mark Donahue (left) with team owner Roger Penske at Pocono Raceway circa 1971.īut Penske Racing didn’t quit. Meanwhile, Mark Donohue didn’t cause a lot of stir after earning Rookie of the Year honors with a seventh-place finish, 10 laps behind the winner, in the 1969 Indianapolis 500. Despite a torrential downpour that undoubtedly affected the crowd, more than 30,000 attended the parade Andretti won a 100-lap race on Nazareth National Speedway Dee Ann Andretti gave her husband the perfect gift – a baby girl – and all of America and beyond was focused on the Lehigh Valley. A testimonial dinner had to be moved to Allentown to accommodate the large crowd. Except in Nazareth, where an estimated 25,000 people turned out for a parade more than two months later to honor the resident, Mario Andretti’s third-place finish in the 1965 Indianapolis didn’t cause a lot of stir.Īll the attention nationally was given to Scotsman Jim Clark and the first rear-engine car ever to win the Memorial Day Classic.įour years later, now 50 years ago, Nazareth celebrated Mario Andretti week after Andretti’s historic Indy victory. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |