Roger Penske

Roger Searle Penske (born February 20, 1937) is a retired American professional auto racing driver and businessman. Penske is most known for his ownership of Team Penske, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, 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. His father, Jay, was a successful corporate executive for a metal fabrication company and 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 in Cleveland, Ohio. He graduated from Shaker Heights High School in 1955 and is a 1959 graduate of Lehigh University, where he was a member of Phi Gamma Delta. Racing career Penske's first racing venture was in hillclimbing, but then ran road course racing in Porsches. Penske made his first professional racing start at the now-abandoned Marlboro Motor Raceway in Upper Marlboro, Maryland. Sports Illustrated named him Sports Car Club of America 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, but turned it down. Rookie Mario Andretti stepped in for Penske to take that test.