Roger Penske will be honored in June by the International Motor Racing Research Center with the 2016 Cameron R. Argetsinger Award for Outstanding Contributions to Motorsports.
The tribute comes as Team Penske celebrates its 50th year in motorsports. Penske will receive the award at a dinner presented by NASCAR, International Speedway Corp., Watkins Glen International and IMSA at the Corning Museum of Glass in Corning, N.Y. During a race week at the Glen.
Penske’s skills as a driver are lost in the mists of time, overtaken by his subsequent business and charitable giving successes. Running a 1957 Corvette, Penske started competing in local hill climbs during 1958 as a business student at Lehigh University. He won at famous tracks in various classes and events – Watkins Glen, Road America, Nassau, Daytona, Brands Hatch and Sebring.
My favorite Penske moment came when I was covering the Indy 500 back in the CART days – the best open wheel racing in the world until Tony George’s IRL disaster that reorganized the series and destroyed it. Team Penske finished second, Al Unser in a March chassis with a Cosworth engine as I recall.
Roger is walking back to the paddock – no drinking the Hoosier milk that Memorial day – when a talking head and a sweating camera crew comes up and ambushes him from behind. Mr. blow-dry says to Penske, “Congratulations on your second place finish.” Roger looks directly into the camera, not at blow dry, and says, “I didn’t come here to finish second.” He turns at maximum cornering speed, and walks away.
Penske was the SCCA National Champion in 1960 and 1961. He took the USAC Road Racing championship in 1962. Penske received Sports Illustrated magazine’s Sports Car Club of America Driver of the Year Award in 1961 and was named North American Driver of the Year in 1962 by both the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times. Penske competed in two Formula One races – finishing eighth at Watkins Glen in 1961 and ninth at Watkins Glen in 1962. He won a NASCAR race in 1963, a 250-mile race at the long gone Riverside track in California.
After driving, Penske owned and managed race teams. Team Penske is one of the most successful organizations in history. Dating back to its first race at the 1966 24 Hours of Daytona, cars owned and prepared by Team Penske have more than 420 major wins, more than 480 pole positions as well as 28 National Championships spread across open-wheel, stock car and sports car racing.
The team has also earned 16 Indianapolis 500 victories, two Daytona 500 Championships, overall victories in the 24 Hours of Daytona, the 12 Hours of Sebring and a Formula One win. More than 80 drivers have raced for Team Penske over the decades.
The June 30 dinner precedes the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen IMSA weekend at WGI. It is supported by Sahlen’s. This will be the third annual award presented by the IMRRC. NASCAR racer – #43 – Richard Petty was the 2015 Argetsinger Award recipient. Team owner and former driver Chip Ganassi – still very much active – was the inaugural winner in 2014.
The award memorializes Cameron R. Argetsinger, founder and organizer of the first races on the streets of Watkins Glen almost 70 years ago.
“I am honored to be selected this year to receive the Cameron R. Argetsinger Award,” Penske said. “The IMRRC does a terrific job of maintaining and documenting the heritage of motorsports, and we appreciate all they do to chronicle and preserve racing history.”
Michael Printup, president of Watkins Glen International and a member of the Racing Research Center’s Governing Council, congratulated Penske for WGI and the Center.
“Roger was the first person I worked for in motorsports,” Printup said. “During my time at Auto Club Speedway, and over the course of the many years that I’ve known him, he has taught me so much about the industry, along with invaluable lessons about being a leader in today’s world. We’ve all benefited from the contributions that Roger has made to our sport, as his influence extends far past the race track every weekend.”
The Cameron R. Argetsinger Award Dinner is open to the public, and tickets are limited. The ticket price is $250 per person. Full details about the event can be viewed at www.racingarchives.org.
