Jay Penske returns as team owner

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Jay Penske returns as team owner
1 hour, 3 minutes ago


INDIANAPOLIS (Ticker) - When young Jay Penske arrived at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for last year’s Indianapolis 500 as a team owner for the first time, he was ushering in the next generation of Penske excellence at the world’s greatest race.

As the driving force of Luczo Dragon Racing, a team he owns with internet entrepreneur Steve Luczo, Penske oversaw an effort that culminated with Ryan Briscoe’s fifth-place finish in last year’s Indy 500.

It was an Indy only effort that was in conjunction with Team Penske’s two-car Indy 500 team last year that included two-time winner Helio Castroneves and 2006 Indy 500 champion Sam Hornish Jr. Some of the key personnel on the team were on loan from his father’s team, which was a big help considering Roger Penske is the all-time winningest team owner in Indy 500 history with 14 victories.


Luczo Dragon Racing is back and when Tomas Scheckter qualified 11th in Saturday’s qualifications, it was the only non-fulltime IndyCar Series team to make the field on Pole Day with a four-lap average at 223.496 miles per hour.

It’s the next step in young Penske’s desire to put together a full-time team for the 2009 season, one that will compete against his father’s team in every race on the schedule.

“That is certainly the goal, to have a full-time team,” Jay Penske said. “Where we started last year was to get ourselves familiar with the biggest speedway and this year we are taking the next step to have a full-season ride.

“We’ve got a good driver; the team is slowly jelling. We’ve pulled some people together and have some great guys and next year the hope is to have the full season.”

And unlike last year, the 29-year-old Penske has put together his own team, not the satellite effort from last year that earned the nickname “Sputnik.”

“Last year we had the benefit of so much time and the guys we worked with at Penske were so helpful,” Penske said. “The guys we worked with were so helpful. It was really pretty much a Penske setup, delivered car. This year we started from where everyone else starts. We got the chassis delivered from Dallara and we went to work. The only guys on the team that are the same are the Luczo and the Dragon (Penske).

“We know this year is going to be a lot more difficult. We want to keep it on the track for the full Race Day.”

The team is sponsored by Symantec and its internet security products along with NASDAQ and Mail.com.

Penske is most appreciative to have a driver with Scheckter’s talent and experience in his race car. Scheckter knows how to get his race cars out front in the Indy 500, leading 148 laps in six previous Indy 500 starts.

Scheckter led 85 laps in his rookie year at Indy for Red Bull Team Cheever and returned the following year to lead 63 laps for Target/Chip Ganassi Racing.

After two years with Panther Racing in 2004-05 and the past two seasons with Vision Racing, the talented driver from Cape Town, South Africa agreed to lead Luczo Dragon Racing to the next step as it builds into an IndyCar contender.

“We wanted to perform well in the biggest race in the year and when we saw Tomas available, I thought that was the biggest opportunity for us to have an Indy 500 contender,” Penske said. “I had spent some time trying to connect with him before. When I saw that Tony George and Vision Racing weren’t going to pick him up for another year; I thought that was the biggest opportunity for us to have a real competitive driver.

“We need a driver like that. It gives the team a lot of confidence and to show what we’ve been able to do; getting our car 24 days before the Kansas race in April, it shows how competitive Tomas is.”

Even in a parts and car shortage with unification bringing more teams into the series, Penske and Luczo Dragon Racing were able to still put together a highly-professional effort.

“For the sport it was the most positive thing for the series but it was tough getting a car because all the full-time teams got priority on that,” Penske said. “When Tomas left Vision we were first in the door and told him we want to built this thing, first with 3-5 races this year and then the full season next year, he said it was the opportunity he was waiting for.

“It’s a good fit.”

Most important for the series is young Penske represents the future team owner in the sport. While his father has epitomized excellence at the Indianapolis 500 since his arrival in 1968, there will be a day when the sport is led by new owners.

“It’s still real early for us but we are very pleased the work the team has done,” Penske said. “We are at the beginning but we are still very proud of what we have accomplished.”

With the effort Penske and his partners have put into the team, he’s gotten some tremendous support from his father.

“He is pleased that I’m involved in the sport,” Jay Penske said. “He knew this year was going to be a real learning curve for us. He has always been supportive in everything that I do, whether it be hockey, lacrosse or now racing. This year he has left us on our own and we are doing the best we can. It is nice to get to see him at the track and getting to spend more time with my dad.”

The team’s shop is based in Indianapolis and features some experienced personnel, led by chief mechanic Simon Morley.

The team had high hopes of a competitive race at Kansas in April before a pit road collision with Marty Roth and an on-track incident with E.J. Viso gave the team an early exit, giving Jay Penske the bitter taste that can come with the sport.

“We certainly wanted to run 200 laps there; getting to lap 100 was not where we wanted it to end,” Penske said. “But we showed some speed. We had an unlucky break there in the pits but came out and passed a lot of cars. We only have one race car so we had to rebuild the damage from Kansas.

“It wasn’t a perfect first showing but we are back here ready to roll. When we came into the pits, Tomas was running third behind the two Ganassi cars. We’ve made a lot of mistakes but not trying to make the same mistakes again. We wanted to qualify in the top 11 at Indy.”

Mission accomplished on that goal, but now it’s on to an even bigger goal and that comes on May 25 in the Indy 500.

And that has Scheckter excited.

“I’m pretty happy and they have done a great job,” Scheckter said. “We have a lot of development stuff in the works. When I can see what this team has done in such a short period of time, what I have seen so far it’s going to be really good. Jay is one of the most intense guys I know. He doesn’t like doing things half-way. He has spent money in the right places.

“I think Jay is here in motorsports for a long time. What I’m most proud is he has done this on his own. Our guys have worked on what they needed to work on and it shows that a lot of heart can turn a standard car into a quick car. Last year it was a Penske car. This year it is a Jay Penske car.”


Jay Penske returns as team owner - IRL - Yahoo! Sports