Roger Penske is synonymous with Indianapolis 500 success

As a young sports car racer Roger Penske envisioned he would one day compete in the Indianapolis 500, an opportunity that came in 1965 when he was invited to take part in a rookie test at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Facing a crossroads of whether he wanted to continue racing or devote his attention fully to a business career, Penske retired with the test going to another emerging driver named Mario Andretti. But Penske’s Indianapolis dream would come to fruition in another way, as he returned to the speedway in 1969 in the capacity of team owner.

Fifty years later Team Penske is far and away the most triumphant organization in Indianapolis history. Penske-owned cars have won a record 16 Indianapolis 500s, including last year’s event with Juan Pablo Montoya. The next-best mark is five, held by Lou Moore. And just as Penske’s dominated on the track, he’s done so as well in the boardroom, amassing a net worth of $1.5 billion according to Forbes through his various business interests.

“I had to make a pretty good business decision: Do I continue racing or do I go into business?” Penske said. “I think I made the right decision, because I was able to have the experience as a driver, understood what it meant to have reliable and great cars, and was able to bring that into our team a few years later. From that point we never looked back.

“It was a hard decision, but an easy decision. My dad had loaned me some money out of his savings account to get going and I had to pay him back. I couldn’t do that from the race track for sure.”

Penske’s quest to race at Indianapolis has not waned through the years -- if anything, it’s intensified. He will pursue a 17th victory on Sunday with a formidable four-driver lineup that features two-time and defending race-winner Montoya, three-time winner Helio Castroneves, former IndyCar Series champion Will Power and Simon Pagenaud, who’s won the past three IndyCar Series events.

He may not have done it as a driver, but Penske has become as synonymous with Indianapolis as anyone. That sterling record made the 79-year-old an easy choice to lead the field of 33 to the green flag as the honorary pace car driver for the 100th running of the Indianapolis 500.

“When you think about an owner, there’s not a more important owner than Roger Penske,” IMS president Doug Boles said.

Known for his keen attention to detail and relentless pursuit of the unfair advantage -- a term coined by former Penske driver Mark Donahue -- Penske runs his race team and businesses with a similar mindset. He believes in offering his employees, which totals 50,000 worldwide, every tool they need to be successful while demanding professionalism and absolute commitment.

In addition to his IndyCar operation, Penske also fields multiple NASCAR teams and over the past 50 years has competed in myriad sports car races and owned Formula One teams.

“Working with Roger Penske has been a thrill for me,” said Brad Keselowski, who won Penske’s lone Sprint Cup Series title in 2012. “I would say that Roger is one of those guys that has given me a tremendous opportunity in life. Perhaps even greater than that is the perspective that he has given me on so many different things: business, life in general, approach. I value all of those things and feel very lucky to have the change to drive for him.”

That admiration extends beyond just Penske employees, but those he competes against.

Chip Ganassi Racing is Penske’s IndyCar rival, the one team that consistently and regularly beats Penske. Ganassi owns four Indianapolis victories, all of which have come since the turn of the century, and won six of the past eight series championships compared to Penske’s one title with Power in 2014.

But as great Ganassi is in its own right, Penske remains the measuring stick of excellence -- how a team should operate on the track and off.

“A lot of respect, a lot of,” Chip Ganassi said. “He’s still the one that sets the bar and sets the height of the bar, if you will. It’s at a high level, I can tell you.”

And nowhere is that bar higher than at Indianapolis, the race Penske fell in love with as a 14-year-old when his father took him to the 500 for the first time. His dad scored free tickets to the 1951 race and the experience transfixed Penske. It’s an impression still being felt to this day.

“The speed here, the sensation of the track, and if you love cars like I did in those days, it was a place you wanted to be part of,” Penske said.