Roger Penske never made it big as a race car driver. As a businessman, however, he regularly leaves the competition in the dust.
Referred to in racing circles as “The Captain,” Penske is the most successful team owner in Indy car racing history and his automotive empire includes hundreds of car dealership franchises, a truck leasing business and a successful NASCAR team.
Now the 72-year-old Penske is taking on perhaps the biggest challenge of his career: turning around the Saturn passenger car brand after reaching a tentative agreement to buy it from General Motors. Given Penske’s competitive streak and record of success, people who have worked with him and raced against him expect he’ll pull it off.
“If anybody can do it, he can do it,” said former NASCAR champion and Penske driver Rusty Wallace. “More seamlessly than anybody. That guy doesn’t do anything unless he’s already got the team in place.”
Rival racing team owner Chip Ganassi voiced strong support for Penske’s latest project.
“It’s very refreshing to know the entrepreneurial spirit is still alive in this country,” Ganassi said. “We need more entrepreneurs and less bureaucracy. Roger has a way of cutting to the chase, and that’s what the car industry needs right now.”
Texas Motor Speedway president Eddie Gossage says having a strong, respected private businessman such as Penske running Saturn — instead of the federal government — should greatly increase the company’s chances.
Gossage has known Penske 25 years. And in all that time, he can’t recall them ever sharing a laugh together.
“You don’t joke with him,” Gossage said. “It’s all business, no small talk.”
Gossage says Penske has a reputation as a hands-on manager, despite the wide scope of his business interests. And he expects Penske to take the same approach with Saturn.
“Even though it’s a big company, his personal touch will be felt from top to bottom,” Gossage said.
In addition to his racing success — Penske’s racing team has won the Indianapolis 500 a record 15 times since 1972, including Helio Castroneves’ victory last month — Penske has quietly become a major power broker in the U.S. auto industry.
Penske Automotive owns the second-largest U.S. automobile retail chain by sales and consistently scores high in customer satisfaction surveys. The company distributes Daimler AG’s Smart subcompact car line and has several other auto-related business interests. Penske also played a leading role in Detroit’s successful bid to host the 2006 Super Bowl.
“Clearly, he’s one of the great businessmen and sportsmen and industrialists of my generation,” said Indianapolis Motor Speedway CEO Tony George. “He’s done a great job of building his brand, and he’s made some very astute and strategic business decisions. I think this is another example of him just finding a really great fit.”
Still, racing remains Penske’s biggest passion.
He achieved some success as a sports car racer and even drove in two races in the elite Formula One racing series, but stopped driving in the mid-1960s to concentrate on running his team and a car dealership.
In an interview with The Associated Press before last Sunday’s race at the Milwaukee Mile racetrack, Penske politely declined to answer questions about the state of the auto industry or his then-rumored interest in Saturn. But he was more than happy to talk about his racing team’s recent success.
Settled in a chair toward the back of the high-end motorcoach he uses as his headquarters on race weekends, Penske still was savoring Castroneves’ Indy 500 win — an emotional victory for the Brazilian, who returned to racing with Penske’s support after being acquitted of major tax fraud allegations earlier this year.
Penske also noted that his NASCAR team is thriving.
“Overall, I would say at this part of our season, we’re really enthused,” Penske said.
Gossage says Penske has a spotless reputation for ethics but will do whatever it takes to get ahead within the rules.
In the 1980s, before teams had access to real-time weather radar in the pits, Gossage recalls Penske dispatching a private plane to fly over the racetrack and send a secret signal if an approaching weather front threatened to end the race early.
“He’ll do anything to win,” Gossage said. “And I don’t mean that in a bad way.”
AP Auto Writer Tom Krisher contributed to this report from Detroit, AP Sports Writer Michael Marot contributed from Indianapolis and AP Auto Racing writer Mike Harris contributed from North Carolina.
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