Grand Prix of St. Petersburg

Penske still aims for lofty goals

By BRANT JAMES
Published April 3, 2005

Sometimes the nickname just fits the man. Roger Penske wears "The Captain" well. There's his sprawling $14-billion a year business empire and 34,000 employees. There's 250 victories, 18 national championships, and of course 13 Indianapolis 500 victories. Oh, and a 254-foot yacht named Detroit Eagle docked in the South Basin (for the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. Penske, who also owns a two-car Nextel Cup team, speaks with authority on all topics racing.

Are large, multi-car teams the only ones who will be able to compete in the future?

I think that what has happened is the larger teams that have had success have been able to attract sponsors. With the better sponsors, you're able to invest more in technology. To me, we all started in the same place. No one ever said you can't knock on someone's door and try to get a sponsorship. I look at fellows like (NASCAR's) Rick Hendrick and Jack Roush who've been able to multiply their racing success into business. We've tried to do exactly the same thing and I think they tie well together. I think having multiple-car teams, you gain information faster and there's a benefit. Because at the end of the day when you're running a NASCAR team, you're going to run 36 races, having two horses and you get the cross-pollenization of the sponsors, you really give the sponsor a couple bites of the apple, which is so important. But it's not only the numbers or the names or what's on the race car, it's what you do for the sponsors.

Ironically, Ray was a race driver in New Jersey and we hired him to run our IROC program, so he worked for IROC for a number of years so I think he learned how to be a good manager there and did a terrific job and then he had the opportunity to go down south and he had the opportunity to hook up with Hendrick, and you know the history there. Then when our friends at Chrysler decided they wanted to get into the (NASCAR) business, they picked Ray to be the factory team and I think that's just a result of being at the top of his game. He's just a good operator and he's obviously astute from a financial standpoint, and I think a lot of people like to work for him and that makes a difference.

I don't know what amuses me. I guess listening to (driver Helio) Castroneves and some of his antics are interesting at times.

I guess sometimes, whether it's in business or it's in racing, sometimes you don't have a level playing field and if you don't like the rules, fine, you don't have to show up. But overall, whether it's in racing or in a business situation I really try to look at the positives. I'm a glass-half-full guy, not half-empty, and I think that's one of our trademarks. I'm looking at how we can go forward, ... and that kind of attitude, I think, has helped penetrate through our whole organization, and that's why we've been successful.

What I'd really like to do is win the Indy 500 on the same day we win in Charlotte (at the Nextel Cup Coca-Cola 600). We've come close, but we haven't gotten that one done.

[Last modified April 3, 2005, 00:10:19]