NO HEADLINE

This week, we finish our interview with Roger Penske. Team Penske’s Indy Car winning percentage is comparable with other major sports dynasties. His record 11 Indy Car national championships in 35 years results in a winning percentage of 31.4 percent, ahead of the New York Yankees (26 championships in 88 years for 29.5 percent), Boston Celtics (16 championships in 55 years for 29 percent) and Montreal Canadians (23 championships in 91 years for 25.2 percent).

***

ZYLA: Let’s talk about road racing and the Indy Racing League. From Roger Penske’s point of view, what would be a “great” IRL schedule, percentage-wise, now that road racing is on the schedule in addition to the oval tracks?

PENSKE: I’d say 65 percent ovals and 35 percent road racing. However, and this is very important, we’ve got to go to the right markets. I think we should keep the IRL in the United States, perhaps (race in) Canada and Mexico, but not chasing anything all over the world. I love the road racing, our sponsors want us to be there, and I also feel we receive better team recognition with an oval and road-racing schedule. Tony (George) has stayed on course, and he’s also very consistent. We’re proud to be part of the IRL series.

ZYLA: I remember, as you were developing the Penske Chassis (PC), the PC6 was great and the PC7 was, too. However, it wasn’t always great, you’ve had your struggles with some of the PC chassis in the ‘80s, to the point that I remember you buying a March chassis to run and win at Indy. (Author’s note: The first four PC chassis cars were used in Formula One, while the PC5 was the first to run in Indy Car racing. Penske used March chassis cars to win Indy in 1984, ‘85 and ‘87 because his PCs were not as quick at Indy, then returned with his PC cars to win again in ‘88, ‘89, ‘91, ‘93 and ‘94).

PENSKE: That’s true. The PC6 was a great chassis, and then (Rick) Mears ran the PC7, which turned out to be a better car. If I remember, Rick won the first race he ran with the PC6; Bobby (Unser) won first with a PC7. I think the PC7 became a benchmark, and a lot of teams had them. But there were some PC struggles, as you recall, and we did what we had to do for our sponsors and team members to make the races at the Speedway.

ZYLA: Do you feel the media has always been fair with you?

PENSKE: I think you get out of the media what you should get out of them. You’ve got to be open with them, you shouldn’t have favorites, and you’ve got to tell the truth.

ZYLA: What aspect of a person’s personality is most important when you interview someone for a job with Penske?

PENSKE: Proper understanding of where the person will fit in the company is No. 1. We look for desire. If a person comes in with lots of good ideas, we’ll say, “Come on in, get on the team, and we’ll load you up with as much responsibility as you can take.”

We look for work ethic, and with that I don’t mean you have to be the smartest person in the world to make it here. We look for people who haven’t jumped around and are loyal. We always try to build within our organization. We don’t want to hire people and then have rotating doors out of the company. We want good, loyal people who want to make a career with us.

ZYLA: Thanks much, Roger. Congratulations and thanks for everything you’ve done to make racing a better sport.

PENSKE: It was my pleasure, Greg.