Roger Penske Sports Car Driver of the Year

On May 30, 1951, Jay Penske and his son, 14-year-old Roger, watched Lee Wallard win the Indianapolis 500 from their seats on the outside of Turn 4. That experience would change the course of his life. After the trip to Indianapolis, all young Penske could dream about was becoming a race car driver.
 
During his teenage years in Shaker Heights, Ohio, Penske rebuilt and sold 34 cars. Already interested in auto racing, Penske would ride his bicycle to the stock car races in Cleveland to watch Mike Klapac, his favorite driver.
 
While a freshman at Lehigh University, studying engineering and business, Penske used his allowance for drivers school. He spent weekends honing his craft racing in Corvettes and a Porsche Spyder. The call of fast speeds was very strong… even to the point of participating in a race on a frozen Naomi lake in the Pocono mountains in February 1958 where, driving a Corvette, he placed second. As spring turned to summer, weekends found Penske hauling his 1957 Corvette to races, and soon he became one of the top drivers. He won the one-mile Corkscrew Hill Climb at Bellefontaine, Ohio.
 
By the next summer, Penske began to show his racing prowess. Driving a 4-cylinder Porsche RS, he won a climb at East Springtown Hill, edging the previous chair year's champion, Jim Dietrich. The same weekend, he also won a modified class race. Two weeks later, Penske finished third in the 5th annual President's Cup sports car race at the Marlboro Motor Speedway in a Porsche RS. In July, he beat Fred Windridge by four car lengths in a 25-lap feature race at Marlboro. As the summer continued, Penske won the Giants Despair Hill Climb in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. At nearby Berwick, Penske won two races—a 20-miler in a mixed field and the 20-lap feature race. In mid-August, Penske teamed up with Charles “Skip” Callahan to win the third annual Little Le Mans 8-hour endurance race at Lime Rock, Connecticut, driving Franklin D. Roosevelt Jr.'s Fiat Abarth.
 
Penske and Harry Blanchard appeared to win a 500-mile race at Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, in mid-September, crossing the finish line about a minute ahead of a car piloted by Ed Crawford and Walt Hansgen. The Crawford/Hansgen duo had the race well under control before a rear axle broke about eight miles from the end, and they crossed the finish line second. A subsequent lap-by-lap review of the race showed that they were two laps ahead when the axle broke, and they were declared the winners. In mid-October, Penske won a 30-mile sports car race at Vineland Speedway. Within a week, he logged the fastest official practice lap and preparation for the Formula Libra race at Watkins Glen at 93 mph on the 2.3 mile course.
 
By the spring of 1960, Penske, who had a wife and child, had dropped out of school and was working as an aluminum salesman for Alcoa. At the Fiesta National Sports Car Race, Penske showed his mettle. He was leading when he was hit by a Jaguar sending him into the “boondocks.” He returned to the track in last place and fought back to retake the lead. He finished second after hitting some pylons, handing the win to Gaston Andrey.
 
In mid-April 1960, Penske broke the Marlboro Motor Raceway time trials course record with an average speed of 65.83 mph. He won the 20-lap President's Cup sports car race at Marlboro, becoming the youngest driver ever to win the President's Cup. Before the race, Penske had gotten his sports car competition license and was eligible to participate in the national points championship. Penske won the 300-kilometer Carling Trophy, his first international race, and established a new track record. By moving his seat to the middle of the car, Penske won the race at Harwood as a pro and earned $1000.
 
The sports car racing circuit returned to the Vineland Speedway, where Penske easily won the 15-lap feature race, lapping every car but one in a 15-car field and setting a new race record. Earlier, in the process of winning a 10-lap race, he established a new speed record. In late June 1960, Penske won three preliminary races and the 20-lap feature in the Central Florida Sports Car Races at Daytona. He crossed the finish line more than two miles ahead of his nearest competitor. Impressively, in the field were several cars with more powerful engines.
 
Penske teamed with Peter Ryan to win the six-hour Sundown Grand Prix in early October. Driving Ryan's Porsche RS 60, they finished a little more than a minute ahead of the field. In mid-November, Penske, driving a Porsche RSK with the engine half the size of his competitors, finished third to Augie Pabst in the Sports Car Club of America championship race. The 3rd place finish tied him with Pabst for the overall SCCA championship. As 1960 came to a close, Penske was among the highest vote getters in a nationwide poll to select the “Motor Sportsman of the Year,” which was won by Stirling Moss of England.
 
The 1960 racing season ended at Nassau, where Penske finished fourth in the 112.5-mile Governor's Cup. A week later, he finished fifth in the International Trophy Race. The winner was Dan Gurney in a Lotus. Penske won the SCCA national championship.
 
At Fernandina Beach in early March 1961, Art Huttinger won the two preliminary races, with Penske finishing second. In the 20-lap feature race, when Huttinger’s transmission failed, Penske took advantage of the situation for the victory.
 
The team of Penske and Bob Holbert was among the favorites to win the 12-hour Sebring endurance race. While the top four spots were won by Ferraris, Penske and Holbert finished fifth. Using a handicap formula, the duo placed first in their class.
 
Returning to Vineland, New Jersey, Penske won a 20-lap race to earn his third consecutive victory at the track. Penske barely beat Jim Hall in a 100-mile race at Elkhart Lake, setting a new track record.
 
Penske won the SCCA national championship and was named the “Sports Car Driver of the Year” by Sports Illustrated.
 
In 1962, Penske moved up to the United States Auto Club (USAC) road racing division. It seemed like he could not get a win despite setting speed records. In the Sebring 12-hour endurance race, he and Bruce McLaren finished fifth. In the Louisiana Grand Prix, he lost both heats to Dan Gurney in a Lotus Climax. Gurney was never challenged in the first heat. The second heat was a little more competitive, with Penske leading from lap 13 until lap 29, when he had to pit to fix a broken shift lever. He finished second. At Mosport Park in mid-June, Penske was beaten by Masten Gregory by nearly two minutes in a 200-mile international sports car race. A week later, he was leading in the 38-lap Road America race on lap 12, when he was forced to drop out after a 15-cent plastic piece broke off of his distributor. Before being felled by the broken part, he had established a new track record of 89.274 mph.
 
At the Hoosier Grand Prix at Indianapolis Raceway Park, things seemed to turn around for Penske when he won the 1st 100-mile heat in a 2.7-liter Cooper. Unfortunately, in the second heat, he was foiled when a spark plug failed after 25 miles.
 
He won his first race of the 1962 season in mid-October and the 200-mile Grand Prix at Riverside, California, coming back after losing an early lead. He won the Grand Prix de Puerto Rico, covering 150 miles in the two-hour endurance test. Penske’s winning streak continued with a victory in the 112.5-mile Nassau Tourist Trophy Race. The two victories at the end of the season, combined with three second place finishes, resulted in Penske winning the USAC road racing division. He was named the “North American Driver of the Year” by the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times.
 
The 1963 season started on a familiar note. At the second annual Daytona Continental Road Race, he lost to Pedro Rodriguez. While the race wasn't close—Rodriguez crossed the finish line 64 seconds ahead of Penske—a pit violation by Rodriguez dropped the official margin to 14 seconds. Penske paired with Augie Pabst to finish fourth in the 12-hour Sebring endurance race.
 
Penske's first win of the 1963 season came at a 250-mile event at Riverside, California, but the race was not sanctioned by the FIA, resulting in a short term suspension by USAC. Returning to racing, he finished fourth in a 200-mile sports race at Mosport. Penske and Rodriguez, driving a Ferrari, were in second place in the 1963 Le Mans after the first hour, but an accident ended their day of racing on lap 114.
 
In early August, Penske’s American Zerex Special overwhelmed the field in a 132-mile race at Brands Hatch, England. In the 50-lap race, his margin over the rest of the field increased at an average of one second per lap.
 
In the final race of 1963, Penske had nothing but difficulty. Driving the Xerox Chevrolet in the 250-mile Nassau Trophy race, he took the lead on the first lap. A broken water hose clamp cost him four minutes and dropped him to 7th place. After returning to the race, the engine cover flew off the car. Returning to the pits, Penske discovered that his engine had been damaged by overheating when the water hose broke, putting him out of the race.
 
It wasn't until October the Penske won his first race of the 1964 season, at the 202-mile Monterey Grand Prix at Laguna Seca, driving his Chaparral Chevrolet. On his way to victory, Penske won both heats.
 
Penske returned to the Bahamas for the final three races of the year, expecting tough competition from A. J. Foyt and John Mecom Jr.'s 521-horsepower car. In the opening salvo, Penske won the 100-mile Nassau Tourist Trophy Race. Penske won the pole for the Governor's Trophy, driving a Chaparral Chevrolet and establishing a new track record. Unlike the previous year, when his racer was beset with problems, he won the 112.5-mile race. Penske made a trifecta, winning the 250-mile Nassau Trophy Race in a borrowed car. He had gone out of the race after knocking over a course marker, which broke his suspension rod. He then jumped into the car of teammate Hal Sharp and piloted to victory. Only Bruce McLaren, driving the McLaren Special, finished on the same lap.