MOTORSPORT: Penske buys Indy

Motorsport mogul Roger Penske has purchased one of the crown jewels of world motorsport, the historic Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and America’s IndyCar Series for open-wheel racing cars.

The shock announcement of the deal comes less than three months after Penske, an 81-year-old motoring magnate who has made  billions from a wide range of automotive businesses, was approached about a potential purchase.

The deal also comes less than a fortnight after he was presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honour in the USA, from Donald Trump at the White House and less than a month after the Australian arm of his motorsport empire, DJR Team Penske, won the Bathurst 1000.

Penske bought the Indy package from the Hulman family, owners of the speedway since 1945 and founders of the IndyCar league through Tony George.

No-one is talking about the purchase price because the companies involved are all privately owned, but it is likely to be very substantial because the Indianapolis 500 draws the world’s largest one-day sporting attendance and the previous owners spent $100 million revitalisation on the venue for its 100th-anniversary race in 2016.

Penske first attended the Indy 500 as a 14-year-old, fielded his first entry in 1969, and holds the record for most wins with 18 victories. His team won in 2019 with Simon Pagenaud as the driver.

“This business is not broken. This is a great business and …  what we want to do is be a support tool,” Penske says at the sale announcement.

“We look around this thousand acres and we say, can this be the entertainment . . . capital, not only the racing capital of the world but entertainment capital of the world in Indiana.”

His new role as series owner means he will step down from his race-day role at Team Penske, where he has served as strategist for one of his cars, in a significant change for a man who spends most weekends at a racetrack somewhere in the world.

Penske is already planning to boost the following of the IndyCar Series, which has battled to grow its following since a messy split during the early days of the Indy Racing League in the 1990s, and is looking to lure a third carmaker to join Chevrolet and Honda as an engine supplier.

“I think I've got a bigger job to do now. To try to see how we can build the series to the next level. It will be nice to bring another car manufacturer in,” he says.

His purchase could also have an impact in Australia, as Supercars is working on a plan to stage an IndyCar race as a season opener in Sydney in 2021. It would mark a return of the American championship for the first time since the American series ran regularly on the Gold Coast.