Penske Joins Pair of Halls of Fame

Verizon IndyCar Series team owner Roger Penske is known as "The Captain" because he runs his race teams with military-like precision that has paid off in a record 16 Indianapolis 500 Mile Race victories. It could also relate to his business acumen.

Penske, the founder and chairman of Michigan-based Penske Corporation, a leading international transportation services company, was among the inductees into the Automotive Hall of Fame on July 23.

A winning driver in the late 1950s, Penske was named 1961's Sports Car Club of America Driver of the Year by Sports Illustrated. After retiring from competitive driving, in 1965 he formed what has gone on to be one of the most successful teams in Indy car and stock car racing history.

Penske, whose other business interests include the Penske Automotive Group, was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1998 and the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 1995.

Others to be honored during the Automotive Hall of Fame ceremony included: Elwood Hayes, co-founder of the Haynes-Apperson Automobile Company in Kokomo, Ind., Rodney O'Neal, former CEO and president of Delphi Automotive; Ratan N. Tata, founder of Tata Motors in the United Kingdom; and Luca di Montezemolo, former chairman of Ferrari.

Penske was also honored during the Tony Stewart Classic at the Lincoln Tech Indianapolis Speedrome on July 25, joining Clint Brawner, Jimmy Caruthers, Butch Hartman, Lindsey Hopkins, Jim Hurtubise, Don Kenyon, Sheldon Kinser, Fred Lorenzen, Larry Rice, Shorty Templeman and Sleepy Tripp as inductees into the U.S. Auto Club Hall of Fame.