Roger Penske (right) and his IndyCar Series team meet with the media. [Russ Lake Photo]
Roger Penske never raced at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, but the successful young sports car driver transitioned to being a team owner in 1966, first on the road race circuits that he knew so well, and finally to Indy car racing in 1968.
Mark Donahue drove for Penske in USRRC and Can-Am events , winning several championships along the way, but the lure of USAC Champ Car racing brought the pair first to USAC road racing in 1968, and finally to the Indianapolis 500 a year later.
That move has worked out pretty well for the Charlotte, NC-based Team Penske organization that today fields cars in both NASCAR and IndyCar events.
In its 47 years on the circuit, Team Penske has become the most successful Indy car team in history. With drivers such as Donahue, Rick Mears, Mario Andretti, Danny Sullivan and Emerson Fittipaldi, the organization has scored 169 race wins, 12 Indy car national championships and 215 pole positions to go along with 15 Indy 500 wins.
Today, “The Captain” fields cars for Will Power, Helio Castroneves and Juan Pablo Montoya and he’s hoping for continued success here at Indianapolis as qualifying for the 98th 500 begins on Saturday; and qualifying is one item on the minds of all concerned.
“We talked last night, Helio and I did; you have to be in that top nine tomorrow for Sunday (qualifying). I think that’s critical to get our three cars in that Fast 9. We have a meeting after this (press conference) to go over specific rules,” said Penske, whose first IndyCar Series championship as an entrant was in 2006 with Sam Hornish Jr.
“For these guys, they’ll make a run once, twice. They’ve done it before. You’ll take our time down, go out and run again. The way the cars are this year, we’re ready to go.”
And so is three-time 500 winner Castroneves, who thinks that the new qualifying rules will be at the very least different from the past.
“With any new format, it will be interesting. Understanding really what your shot is here is really what you have to do. You have to understand if you have a shot for the pole-is that realistic? And if you don’t,” noted the tenth three-time winner of the 500, “do you have a shot for the Top 9? Your goals change throughout the day. That changes your strategy and how much risk you take.”
Current IndyCar point’s leader Will Power doesn’t seem to be bothered with the new qualifying format, but in response to a question, the Australian who now resides in Charlotte, NC, talked about the close racing he expects during the race.
“Yeah, they’ll be a little faster because of the engines. It punches such a big hole (in the air), that no one really wants to lead.
“It created this whole pack where you have to really understand how to run very close to cars, because that’s what you’ll be doing all day no matter where you are in the field,” said Power, who has finished in the top eight in the four IndyCar races run so far this season. “You can’t get away.”
And the chase for the series’ championship looks close for the leader as well, and he is also thinking about strategy during his qualifying run.
“This point spread is really close between positions. You would expect the championship contenders would be pretty close. I’m sure if you were the one with the fast cars at the front, competing for the championship, you would definitely go back out to gain some points.”
Former Indy car, Formula One and NASCAR pilot Juan Pablo Montoya has something else to think about this season; adapting to the new breed of Indy cars that are different from cars he raced when he won the CART championship in 1999-and definitely far removed from his NASCAR experience.
“Coming back to open-wheel is something I already did. It was just readjusting to the car-understanding the car, the tools I had to get myself and the team on the same page on what I want out of the car,” the native of Colombia said. “There were certain things we tried earlier in the car that we couldn’t try because I was uncomfortable; that’s way better now. As time goes on I’m definitely getting more comfortable.”
And leave it to team-leader Penske to have the final word, and take a jab at the sometimes over-comfortable Montoya.
“I think winning the Indy 500 is at the top of any driver or team owner’s list. The double points (at Indy, Pocono and California) I think is good. If you execute these 500-mile races, you should get more points,” said the 77 year- old team owner.
And as for Juan’s move to the often regimented Penske team for this season?
“He’s pushing the guys. There was a great cross-pollination of information getting Juan to where he wants to be. We didn’t start thinking of running a third car till the end of last year. When that asset came available, it was a matter of, ‘let’s go’. We’re very happy to have him on the team.”
And did the team change the sometimes casual Colombian?
“Look at him,” Penske laughed. “We had to change his whole outfit when he showed up. He’s got his black shirt on.”
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