Roger Searle Penske (born February 20, 1937), also known as "the Captain", is an American auto racing team owner, businessman, and former professional driver. Penske is the owner of Team Penske, the

Indianapolis Motor Speedway The Indianapolis Motor Speedway is a motor racing circuit located in Speedway, Indiana, United States, an enclave suburb of Indianapolis, Indiana. It is the home of the Indianapolis 500 and the Brickyard 400, and and formerly the home of the U ...

, IndyCar, and other auto racing-related businesses. Penske is the founder and chairman of the Penske Corporation, a holding company for his various businesses. Penske is also a Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient.

Early life and education

Penske was born in Shaker Heights, Ohio, in 1937 into a devout Episcopalian family. He was heavily involved with his church as a boy, singing in the church's choir and serving in the ministry as an acolyte. His father Jay was a successful corporate executive for a metal fabrication company who encouraged his son to become an entrepreneur. As a teenager he bought older cars, repaired them and sold them at a profit from his family's home outside Cleveland, Ohio. After he graduated from Shaker Heights High School in 1955, matriculated at

Lehigh University Lehigh University (LU), in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, United States, is a private university, private research university. The university was established in 1865 by businessman Asa Packer. Lehigh University's undergraduate programs have been mixed ...

, where he was a member of the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity, and he graduated in 1959.

Racing career

Penske's first racing venture was in hillclimbing, but then ran road course racing at the Vineland Raceway in Vineland, New Jersey, as a member of the Philadelphia Region of the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) in Porsches. Penske made his first professional racing start at the now-abandoned Marlboro Motor Raceway in Upper Marlboro, Maryland. ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with a circulation of over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellen ...

'' named him SCCA Driver of the Year in 1961. He competed in two Formula One Grands Prix and won a NASCAR Pacific Coast Late Model race at Riverside in 1963. He never ran the Indianapolis 500: he was offered a rookie test at Indianapolis with the Dean Van Lines team. Penske continued racing until 1965, when he retired as a driver, to concentrate on his first Chevrolet dealership in

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

Racing teams

Penske Racing debuted in 1966 at the

24 Hours of Daytona The 24 Hours of Daytona, also known as the Rolex 24 At Daytona for sponsorship reasons, is a 24-hour sports car racing, sports car Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance race held annually at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Flo ...

. He developed one of the most successful teams in

IndyCar Series The IndyCar Series, officially known as the NTT IndyCar Series for sponsorship reasons, is the highest class of American open-wheel car racing in the United States, which has been conducted under the auspices of various sanctioning bodies sinc ...

and

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. It is considered to be one of the top ranked motorsports organizations in ...

racing. He is the most successful team owner at the Indianapolis 500 with 20 victories. He is known by his nickname of "The Captain". Penske also served as a race strategist for his IndyCar team, most recently for driver Will Power. Penske won his first NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship with driver Brad Keselowski on November 18, 2012. On September 16, 2018, driver Brad Keselowski won the South Point 400 at

Las Vegas Motor Speedway Las Vegas Motor Speedway (track complex formerly known as Las Vegas Speedway Park from 1993 to 1996, Las Vegas Speedway in 1992, Las Vegas International Speedway from 1990 to 1992, as the Las Vegas International Speedrome from 1972 to 1990) is a ...

, 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 Corporation

Penske is chairman of Penske Corporation, based in

Bloomfield Hills, Michigan Bloomfield Hills is a city in Oakland County, Michigan, Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. A northern Metro Detroit, suburb of Detroit on the Woodward Corridor, Bloomfield Hills is located roughly northwest of downtown Detroit, and is ...

. Some of the company's holdings include a significant stake in publicly-traded Penske Automotive Group, an international company that operates automobile dealerships in the United States, Canada, and parts of Europe; Penske Truck Leasing, a truck sales, leasing, and fleet maintenance company; Penske Motor Group which operates auto dealerships in California and Texas. On November 4, 2019, Penske acquired the

, a 2.5-mile course in Speedway, Indiana, the Indianapolis 500 and IndyCar from the Hulman Family for an undisclosed amount.

Personal life

As of October 2023, Penske's estimated net worth is $3.8 billion. Penske Racing donated $500,000 to Restore Our Future,

Mitt Romney Willard Mitt Romney (born March 12, 1947) is an American businessman and retired politician. He served as a United States Senate, United States senator from Utah from 2019 to 2025 and as the 70th governor of Massachusetts from 2003 to 2007 ...

's Super PAC. He was discussed as a potential candidate for

Mayor of Detroit This is a list of mayors of Detroit, in the U.S. state of Michigan. The current mayor is Mike Duggan, who was sworn into office on January 1, 2014. History of Detroit's executive authority During the earliest part of its history, Detroit was a ...

but declined to run. Penske endorsed

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

in the

2020 United States presidential election United States presidential election, Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 3, 2020. The Democratic Party (United States), Democratic ticket of former vice president Joe Biden and California junior senator Kamala H ...

after receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2019. He contributed $45,000 to

's 2020 presidential campaign. On April 9, 2025, Penske and his NASCAR, IndyCar and IMSA SportsCar Championship drivers and cars visited the White House. Trump was invited to the 2025 Indianapolis 500 by Penske, but did not attend.

Awards and honors

Auto racing *Six-time

Champion as owner (2006, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2022) *Five-time

NASCAR Cup Series The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the NASCAR, National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR), the most prestigious stock car racing series in the United States. The series began in 1949 as the Strictly Stock Division, ...

Champion as owner (2012, 2018, 2022, 2023, 2024) *1990 Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement *2018 Simeone Foundation Spirit of Competition Award recipient Halls of Fame *1995 Motorsports Hall of Fame of America inducteeRoger Penske
at the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America *1998 International Motorsports Hall of Fame inducteeRoger Penske Drive
/ref> *2002 Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame inductee *2015 Automotive Hall of Fame inductee *2019 NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee *2025 Trans-Am Series Hall of Fame inductee. National *2019 Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient

Motorsports career results

Complete Formula One World Championship results

24 Hours of Le Mans results

12 Hours of Sebring results

Bibliography

Roger Penske - Sports Car Club of America

References

External links

Penske Corporation

Penske Racing
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Penske, Roger Living people 1937 births Penske Corporation 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers People from Shaker Heights, Ohio Racing drivers from Ohio American automobile salespeople American billionaires American Formula One drivers Auto racing crew chiefs Culver Academies alumni Formula One team owners Formula One team principals IndyCar Series team owners NASCAR team owners Lehigh University alumni General Electric people Michigan Republicans Ohio Republicans International Motorsports Hall of Fame inductees World Sportscar Championship drivers Sportspeople from Cuyahoga County, Ohio Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients American Magic NASCAR Hall of Fame inductees Team Penske