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Saturday, May 26 Penske back with a vengence from exile Associated Press INDIANAPOLIS – Roger Penske would prefer a trip to Victory Lane instead of a stroll down memory lane. Back from a five-year exile, the most successful car owner in Indianapolis 500 history is back " hoping to improve on a sterling resume highlighted by 10 victories at the Brickyard. But there have been no "Welcome Back Roger" parades or misty-eyed walks around the grounds for the steely eyed, silver-haired perfectionist. In Penske's racing world, there is no room for sentiment. "This is racing, and at this level it's a big business," said Penske, who will field two cars in Sunday's race. "We've had successes here. We know what's required. We know the work involved and we know we're not going to walk in and just blow anybody away." Penske's history at the track is unmatched. He won 10 times between 1972 and 1994, the last time with Al Unser Jr. behind the wheel. That year, Penske's teams finished 1-2-3 in the CART standings. By then, he had become the Ice Man of Indy: Decades of calculated success left racing fans cold. But the passage of time seems to have broken down those barriers. Penske returns as a symbol of the good ol' days, when the heroes and villains were easier to pick out -- the days before the split between CART and IRL rendered the Indy 500 a second-tier event. "When we were winning all those races, they booed us," Penske said. "Now they welcome us back. That feels pretty good. It's people acknowledging we've had a good team." He still does. With the CART schedule in mid-swing, Helio Castroneves has one Penske car in second place. Defending champion Gil de Ferran is in sixth. But Penske had to endure some lean times in between his 1994 success and last year's championship. The struggle began in 1995, when Penske and Little Al returned to the Indy 500 and couldn't qualify -- an unprecedented failure for a reigning champion. Penske's other driver, Emerson Fittipaldi, also got left out. "That was probably the longest walk of my life back to the garage with Al and Emerson," Penske said. A year later, Fittipaldi was seriously injured in a crash at Michigan and retired. The 1999 season was the worst. Penske parted company with Unser, who slid to 21st in the standings, a difficult end to a partnership that earned Penske two Indy victories and one of his record seven CART titles. That was the easiest of Penske's emotional burdens. Rookie driver Gonzalo Rodriguez was killed practicing in Monterey, Calif. Then Greg Moore, who had agreed to race for Penske in 2000, died in a crash in Fontana, Calif. Through it all, CART's schedule didn't allow its competitors to compete at Indy. That was difficult for some. But Penske simply shut the Brickyard out of his mind -- a cold, rational decision made by a cunning businessman who built a vast transportation empire worth about $11.5 billion. "There was no way we could do it those five years, so it wasn't something I focused on at all," he said. "I was interested to see who won. But beyond that, my energy was in CART." Rumors of a Penske return surfaced in 2000, but it was too much, too soon. And besides, Penske said, he wanted to return to Indianapolis not as just another competitor, but as a champion. "Roger Penske doesn't unload anywhere unless it's a serious deal," said Unser, now racing for Rick Galles on an IRL team. "He has brought a lot of attention back to this race. Roger Penske and that team bring attention no matter where they go. When I was driving for them, it was a great honor to drive for them." It's also a bundle of pressure. This year, de Ferran and Castroneves feel it. Former Penske driver and Indy winner Rick Mears can relate. "Roger is just a competitor," Mears said. "Indy is the Indy 500, and he loves running that race. He loves winning that race."  Send this story to a friend | Most sent stories
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