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MOORESVILLE, North Carolina (Ticker) - Danny Sullivan knows as well as anybody why Roger Penske is the most successful team owner in Indy car racing history, a captain of industry and business leader.
"In the game of musical chairs, Roger Penske always has a seat when the band stops playing," said Sullivan, who drove one of Penske's cars to victory in the 1985 Indianapolis 500.
Penske's historic racing career will reach another milestone Sunday at Kansas Speedway when drivers Gil de Ferran and Helio Castroneves make Penske Racing's 999th and 1000th open-wheel starts in the Kansas Indy 300.
It all began on June 15, 1968 at Mosport in Canada, when the late Mark Donohue climbed into the driver's seat, marking the team's first start. Donohue finished fifth, but Penske Racing would continue to succeed for the next three-plus decades.
In 35 years, Penske Racing has 115 victories, 11 championships, 13 Indianapolis 500 wins, 12 Indy 500 poles, 141 total poles, 44 wins from the pole, 32 1-2 and 1-2-3 finishes, 24 500-mile race wins and 50 1-2 starts.
In comparison, Patrick Racing of CART is a distant second with 777 starts, including 45 victories, three Indianapolis 500 wins and two championships.
With the exception of his team's dreadful slump in CART from 1995-1999, Penske usually has been ahead of the curve with a keen eye on what is best for his business.
He was one of the first team owners to leave the United States Auto Club and form CART in 1979. He also was one of the big-name teams to pull out of CART and join the IRL at the end of 2001. In doing so, Penske made a bold prediction that within 24 months, there would be one major open-wheel racing series in the United States - the IRL.
Penske still holds firm to those convictions.
"As we appraise the current situation in the IRL, 18 months ago we didn't have Michael Andretti's team, we didn't have Bobby Rahal's team, we didn't have Adrian Fernandez's team, so some good teams have migrated to the IRL," Penske said. "These teams came on their own. The real crunch time will come at the end of 2003, when CART has to make a decision about their future."
Penske believes that CART's current business situation - which has the organization financially propping up teams - will lead to its potential downfall.
"Right now, they have elected to be a series that has mostly international venues with road races," Penske said. "They had also been supporting the teams through the capital base of CART and that can only go on so long. One of the worst things we found in any business that is subsidized can't stand on its own two feet. At some point, you ended up hitting the wall. It took time to divide this sport and it will take time to bring it back together. I think it's obvious where they need to be."
Penske said a public sale of CART could be a solution. He stressed that he is not interested in any involvement in the rival series, either as an owner or a participant.
"I made it clear many months ago what my position was when I moved to the IRL," Penske said.
Penske thinks the IRL does not need to add many more races. He believes the series should stop at 16 races. If that includes road races, those need to be near major markets for the sponsors and fans. He also feels the IRL needs to evaluate its options in terms of speedways.
"I don't see any type of merger between the IRL and CART, because right now, CART has Mexico with two races, they are in Germany and England, and I think that would be problematic for our sponsors, and costs would escalated for our teams," Penske said. "If CART is going to be part of another series, then the IRL needs to stay the course. From what I understand from the IRL people is they want to support the tracks that have supported them from the beginning and that is the key."
Penske pointed out how ovals have helped NASCAR increase its fan base. He said it is more expensive for teams to run on road courses than ovals because of the gearbox, brakes and suspension as well as different wing packages that would require two different setups for oval and road courses.
"If CART continues on its road, there is no place in that for the IRL," Penske said. "If CART goes away, then the IRL may need to add a few road courses."
Penske was impressed with Saturday night's crowd of 50,000 at Richmond International Raceway - deep in the heart of NASCAR country - and believes that is a very positive sign for the IRL. The race was not part of any season-ticket package, which is used at several new speedways such as Kansas Speedway and Chicagoland Speedway.
"I was surprised to see how many people were out in the campers waiting to come to the race," Penske said. "Something was going to happen here. ... These are new fans, too. We've only had three races here. When NASCAR had its first three races here, they probably didn't have the number of fans that we had here tonight.
"If we can start drawing 50,000 or 60,000 fans regularly, then I think open-wheel racing can be in good shape."
Date equity is very important in promoting the IRL product. And, with the Indianapolis 500 as the anchor to the series, Penske believes that is one of the reasons why the IRL appears to have a steady future, while CART is attempting to survive.
He stressed it is vital that Indy car racing survive for the good of all motorsports.
"You can't have these $200 million speedways and have only one NASCAR race; you have to have another series," Penske said. "From the economics, there is no other way to survive. You can't have a little sports car race because you don't make enough money to even open the track."
Penske's IRL team is set with Marlboro as its sponsor through 2006, when the final part of the Master Tobacco Settlement between States Attorneys General comes into effect and all tobacco sponsorship will have to cease.
Penske is aware that he will need to find a replacement sponsor over the next three years and has already begun exploratory searches with potential sponsors. Regardless, he sees the sport of auto racing continuing to grow even in a sluggish economy.
"Auto racing has such a core group of fans, I don't see anything driving it out of existence," Penske said. "There are so many short tracks and people like to go fast and want to race. I see it as the best entertainment medium for a company today. You can bring more people to a race and they are closer to the drivers and closer to the pit crews. In stick and ball sports, you never see those guys. You have to hang out the back gate for that. In auto racing, you have pit tour after pit tour after pit tour.
"I've built my companies by using auto racing as the common thread."
"In the game of musical chairs, Roger Penske always has a seat when the band stops playing," said Sullivan, who drove one of Penske's cars to victory in the 1985 Indianapolis 500.
Penske's historic racing career will reach another milestone Sunday at Kansas Speedway when drivers Gil de Ferran and Helio Castroneves make Penske Racing's 999th and 1000th open-wheel starts in the Kansas Indy 300.
It all began on June 15, 1968 at Mosport in Canada, when the late Mark Donohue climbed into the driver's seat, marking the team's first start. Donohue finished fifth, but Penske Racing would continue to succeed for the next three-plus decades.
In 35 years, Penske Racing has 115 victories, 11 championships, 13 Indianapolis 500 wins, 12 Indy 500 poles, 141 total poles, 44 wins from the pole, 32 1-2 and 1-2-3 finishes, 24 500-mile race wins and 50 1-2 starts.
In comparison, Patrick Racing of CART is a distant second with 777 starts, including 45 victories, three Indianapolis 500 wins and two championships.
With the exception of his team's dreadful slump in CART from 1995-1999, Penske usually has been ahead of the curve with a keen eye on what is best for his business.
He was one of the first team owners to leave the United States Auto Club and form CART in 1979. He also was one of the big-name teams to pull out of CART and join the IRL at the end of 2001. In doing so, Penske made a bold prediction that within 24 months, there would be one major open-wheel racing series in the United States - the IRL.
Penske still holds firm to those convictions.
"As we appraise the current situation in the IRL, 18 months ago we didn't have Michael Andretti's team, we didn't have Bobby Rahal's team, we didn't have Adrian Fernandez's team, so some good teams have migrated to the IRL," Penske said. "These teams came on their own. The real crunch time will come at the end of 2003, when CART has to make a decision about their future."
Penske believes that CART's current business situation - which has the organization financially propping up teams - will lead to its potential downfall.
"Right now, they have elected to be a series that has mostly international venues with road races," Penske said. "They had also been supporting the teams through the capital base of CART and that can only go on so long. One of the worst things we found in any business that is subsidized can't stand on its own two feet. At some point, you ended up hitting the wall. It took time to divide this sport and it will take time to bring it back together. I think it's obvious where they need to be."
Penske said a public sale of CART could be a solution. He stressed that he is not interested in any involvement in the rival series, either as an owner or a participant.
"I made it clear many months ago what my position was when I moved to the IRL," Penske said.
Penske thinks the IRL does not need to add many more races. He believes the series should stop at 16 races. If that includes road races, those need to be near major markets for the sponsors and fans. He also feels the IRL needs to evaluate its options in terms of speedways.
"I don't see any type of merger between the IRL and CART, because right now, CART has Mexico with two races, they are in Germany and England, and I think that would be problematic for our sponsors, and costs would escalated for our teams," Penske said. "If CART is going to be part of another series, then the IRL needs to stay the course. From what I understand from the IRL people is they want to support the tracks that have supported them from the beginning and that is the key."
Penske pointed out how ovals have helped NASCAR increase its fan base. He said it is more expensive for teams to run on road courses than ovals because of the gearbox, brakes and suspension as well as different wing packages that would require two different setups for oval and road courses.
"If CART continues on its road, there is no place in that for the IRL," Penske said. "If CART goes away, then the IRL may need to add a few road courses."
Penske was impressed with Saturday night's crowd of 50,000 at Richmond International Raceway - deep in the heart of NASCAR country - and believes that is a very positive sign for the IRL. The race was not part of any season-ticket package, which is used at several new speedways such as Kansas Speedway and Chicagoland Speedway.
"I was surprised to see how many people were out in the campers waiting to come to the race," Penske said. "Something was going to happen here. ... These are new fans, too. We've only had three races here. When NASCAR had its first three races here, they probably didn't have the number of fans that we had here tonight.
"If we can start drawing 50,000 or 60,000 fans regularly, then I think open-wheel racing can be in good shape."
Date equity is very important in promoting the IRL product. And, with the Indianapolis 500 as the anchor to the series, Penske believes that is one of the reasons why the IRL appears to have a steady future, while CART is attempting to survive.
He stressed it is vital that Indy car racing survive for the good of all motorsports.
"You can't have these $200 million speedways and have only one NASCAR race; you have to have another series," Penske said. "From the economics, there is no other way to survive. You can't have a little sports car race because you don't make enough money to even open the track."
Penske's IRL team is set with Marlboro as its sponsor through 2006, when the final part of the Master Tobacco Settlement between States Attorneys General comes into effect and all tobacco sponsorship will have to cease.
Penske is aware that he will need to find a replacement sponsor over the next three years and has already begun exploratory searches with potential sponsors. Regardless, he sees the sport of auto racing continuing to grow even in a sluggish economy.
"Auto racing has such a core group of fans, I don't see anything driving it out of existence," Penske said. "There are so many short tracks and people like to go fast and want to race. I see it as the best entertainment medium for a company today. You can bring more people to a race and they are closer to the drivers and closer to the pit crews. In stick and ball sports, you never see those guys. You have to hang out the back gate for that. In auto racing, you have pit tour after pit tour after pit tour.
"I've built my companies by using auto racing as the common thread."