Into To Indy - Team Penske - Pt 1 - Team

Hello, and welcome to Into to Indy. This is a series covering the teams and drivers in IndyCar before the season starts. Primarily to introduce you to the basics of each team and give you an idea of who your team and driver will be.

After my ranking list, I figured it would be smart to use it to do team profiles. This means we start with Team Penske.

A note before about driver numbers before we start. If you are a crossover fan from Formula 1, the car number stays with the car, and not with the driver. So if a driver changes teams or even cars within the same team, their number will change.

Now, moving on to Team Penske. Roger Penske is an American racing aficionado and businessman. Roger drove in a couple Formula 1 races, then moved into founding the Penske Corporation. The Penske Corporation has several enterprises, including Penske Automotive Group, Penske Logistics, Penske Entertainment. Growing up, I knew who Roger was before I knew what IndyCar was; he's a shrewd businessman with a distinctive logo.

Roger purchased the series from the Hulman family in 2019, along with the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (where the Indy 500 is held).

When IndyCar became its own entity in 1996 as Indy Racing League, Team Penske stayed with CART, its competitor. It joined IRL - now IndyCar - in 2001 full time. It took Team Penske six years for their first Championship win - and that was on a technicality.

Their next Championship win was in 2014, with Australian driver Will Power.

Yes, this man's name is actually Will Power.

Overall, Team Penske has won six Championships with four separate drivers, two still on their roster.

Last season in 2024, they won eight times, with five of those wins after the engine change at Mid-Ohio. This is a good sign, an optimistic outlook for what's to come in 2025.

Overall, Team Penske is just like its owner; shrewd and exacting, but also loyal. Penske Perfect is something you'll hear from time to time, but they do allow for some personality in there as well. Team Penske, though it touts the Penske Perfect label, is nowhere near perfect, and neither is Roger. But if you enjoy excellence, you'll find it at Penske.

Next part is about their longest standing driver, the #12 car, Will Power.