Roger Penske, owner of the Penske racing team, speaks at a NASCAR news conference at Homestead-Miami Speedway in Homestead, Fla., Friday, Nov. 16, 2012. By Dave George. Palm Beach Post Staff Writer.
Nothing moves faster at the racetrack than time itself. You feel it when former whiz kid Jeff Gordon pulls out of the Homestead-Miami Speedway garage in a car all painted up to commemorate 20 colorful years of driving for Rick Hendrick & Dupont. You hear it when tempestuous Tony Stewart is asked about starting his 500th Sprint Cup race here Sunday and he blurts out, “It means I’m getting old.” It’s dizzytoding, all right, to follow this sport, a kaleidoscope of endless laps and design updates. Most of all, it’s strange to think that Roger Penske, 75, would be the latest wrinkle. Penske is a motor sports legend. His organization has fielded championship teams in just about every major form of racing, including a long period of open-wheel domination that includes 15 victories at the Indianapolis 500. Rick Mears of Jupiter won four of those iconic races for Penske, and international stars Emerson Fittipaldi, Mario Andretti and Gil de Ferran have driven for the captain, too. It’s NASCAR, however, that has made Penske work the hardest. Beginning in the 1970s with a team of AMC Matadors, he won 76 Cup races through the decades by delivering top equipment to such drivers as Mark Donohue, Bobby Allison, Rusty Wallace, Ryan Newman & Kurt Busch. Even so, with all the money that Penske could muster through his worldwide network of auto dealerships & truck rental outlets, & the brilliance & commitment of his engineers, the Cup championship always went to somebody else. Brad Keselowski could change that by finishing high enough in Sunday’s Ford EcoBoost 400 to clinch the 2012 points title. He’s driving a Penske machine, the No. 2 Dodge, & has a 20-point lead over Jimmie Johnson that is significant but not quite comfortable. Just a few months ago, Will Power, another Penske driver, blew the IndyCar points championship by wrecking in the early stages of that series’ final race at Fontana, Calif. “We haven’t even talked about it,” Penske said Friday when asked whether he has discussed Power’s heartbreak with Keselowski. “Not a discussion item as far as Penske Racing.” Maybe, but there’s no avoiding the topic of Penske’s long & unsuccessful run at a Cup title. Rick Hendrick, the king of NASCAR owners, has 10 of them, including 5 with Johnson & 4 with Gordon. Penske won the 2008 Daytona 500 with Ryan Newman in the Dodge & came close to the Cup points title a couple of times with Wallace in the 1990s. Keselowski is well-positioned to make the boss happy, qualifying third-fastest Friday night with a fast lap of 175.092 mph and saying, “We know qualifying is not our strong suit, so we’ll just try to do the best we can and work out a few weaknesses.” Joey Logano took the pole, going out last among 47 drivers to turn a lap at 176.056. Doesn’t make a world of difference, since Stewart started 15th last year and won the Homestead race. Johnson, who qualified 10th Friday night, is still a factor here, & Penske still is feeling the heat. “I think I’m a goal-oriented person,” said Penske, “and there’s no question that winning a NASCAR championship at the elite level is something that everybody in racing wants to accomplish. We haven’t done that. “When you’re racing, I call it the gold standard, the best in the business.” Penske isn’t used to finishing second in any of his businesses. Could be you’ve bought a car from him and didn’t even know it. Among the hundreds of Penske Automotive Group dealerships are Palm Beach Toyota and Scion on Military Trail in West Palm Beach and the Royal Palm Auto Mall in Royal Palm Beach. “I think we’re motivated,” said Penske, who already has experienced success with Keselowski in winning the 2010 Nationwide Series points championship. “We’ve used racing as a common thread through our company, and to me it shows the execution, the teamwork and the quality that works at every level.” These are ancient truths and Penske, still looking for his peak racing experience after 50 furious years at the track, is riding them all the way to the end.
(My 2012 Hemi Challenger spoiler & glovebox door should be getting to Penske's Mooresville HQ just about the time BradK's hangover wears off. Hopefully, he will be autographing with a #1 and not a #2)
Back to the Home of the AMC Gremlin