SPEEDWAY, Ind. — With cameras flashing and reporters following close behind, Roger Penske took a few pictures inside the new Penske Gallery at the recently reopened Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum.
“The Captain” walked into the gallery past the pictures of his record 20 Indianapolis 500-winning drivers.
”My favorite place is walking down the hallway and seeing the pictures of the 20 winners,” Penske said. “We got pictures of the winners, we got the program, we got the newspaper and we got the ticket.”
The entire gallery is filled with Indy 500-winning cars, rings, fire suits and Penske’s 20 Baby Borgs.
”When you have the artifacts we have and to be able to show them off in this particular environment is amazing,” Penske said.
With just 53 days remaining until the Greatest Spectacle in Racing, Penske said ticket sales are pointing toward a sellout.
”We’ve seen our ticket sales approaching 2016, which was the hundredth running,” Penske said.
It’s no secret who Penske is pulling for either.
“Of course, for the 109th running, I’m rooting for Newgarden,” Penske said with a smile.
Penske driver Josef Newgarden has a chance to do something never done before — win three straight Indianapolis 500s. The last driver to get close was another Penske racer, Helio Castroneves.
”But you have to go back to 2003,” Penske said. “Helio was on his way to his third, and he got blocked on the back straightaway and Gil de Ferran won the race.”
As for Newgarden, Penske thinks he has a good shot to do it.
”It could be done, and Josef is certainly a student now,” Penske said. “He took 12 years to win his first race. I think he’s ready. Tim Cindrick is one of the greatest strategists here at the Speedway, he’s won a number of races with his particular car, so I really feel he’s got a great chance.”
Penske emphasized that his team is really trying to grow the entire INDYCAR Series right now.
”I think, at this particular time, it’s up to us as the stewards of this to try to bring racing to the highest levels,” Penske said.
INDYCAR is two races into it’s first series airing on FOX, a partnership Penske spoke glowingly about.
“The FOX partnership has just been amazing,” Penske said. “They kicked it off. We see their commitment not just turning us on and turning us off on a weekend, they’re with us throughout the whole season.”
That’s not the only change for the new season. Indianapolis Motor Speedway President Doug Boles is just over 40 days into his new role as President of IndyCar.
”I’d say Doug is a superstar when it comes to IndyCar, Indy racing and his stewardship of the 500 and the Speedway has been outstanding,” Penske said. “And I think he’s bringing a different role to the IndyCar series. I think his knowledge, he was an owner, he was a part of the team, which is certainly key, and we were excited to have him take on this role.”
As for the future of IndyCar, Penske said they plan to have a new car on the track in 2027. Right now, Penske said the car is in design and in the wind tunnel.
”First and foremost, it’ll be safer,” Penske said. “That’s one of the things we’ve tried to do. The speed, also the ability to take some weight out of the car, which all the teams want and, of course, we’ll have the hybrid technology with it.”
When asked to reflect on his team’s accomplishments as he stood in front of his record 20 Baby Borgs, Penske instead looked to the future.
”Well, it just tells you what could we do next,” Penske said with a laugh. ”I’m excited, and as I’ve said, good enough is not good enough. We need to continue to innovate, we need to promote people. And I think our success, my name might be on the door, but the success is really from all the human capital and people who work for our company.”
Penske did say there is a way to make more room in the Penske Gallery for more Indianapolis 500 victories.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
