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Former NASCAR driver and team owner Tony Stewart praised Roger Penske’s purchase of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) and the IndyCar Series.
The 115-year-old IMS is one of the most famous venues in motorsports. It hosted only the Indy 500 until 1994, when NASCAR's Brickyard 400 began. Chairman and founder of Penske Corporation, Penske bought IMS, the IndyCar Series, and other assets from the Hulman family on November 4, 2019 and ended the family’s 74 years of ownership. "The Greatest Race Course" also hosted Formula 1 races between 2000 and 2007.
Three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Stewart, who also owns racing teams and tracks, called Penske the perfect person to take over and shared how the sale surprised everyone.
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"[The sale] caught everybody off-guard, but I don’t think it was a situation where anybody felt like it was a move backwards. Roger has had race tracks before and Roger has a great vision for the future. I think we’re all extremely happy that if the Hulman-George family was going to sell it to anyone, that Roger Penske was probably that perfect guy to acquire it," Stewart said (via USA Today Sports in November 2019).
"You couldn’t ask for somebody that understands motorsports better than Roger does," he added.
Stewart owns the sprint car racing team, Tony Stewart Racing and was the co-owner of the NASCAR team, Stewart Haas Racing, which closed at the end of the 2024 season. He also purchased the half-mile dirt facility, Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio in 2004.
"Tony Hulman’s mission and his formula and we are trying to continue" - Roger Penske on IndyCar Series and Indy 500
The $6.7B-worth Roger Penske (according to Forbes) bought the speedway in Indiana the same year he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He started the Penske Corporation, which runs businesses like car dealerships, truck leasing and motorsports industries, 56 years ago.
Penske also purchased the Indianapolis 500 race held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway annually in May. He talked about the race in a 2023 interview.
"Without the Indianapolis 500, we wouldn’t have IndyCar. Without IndyCar, we wouldn’t have the Indianapolis 500. That was Tony Hulman’s mission, and his formula and we are trying to continue that today," Roger Penske said (via Forbes).
Penske has the most wins, 20, at the Indy 500. Team Penske, a division of the Penske Corporation, was started in 1966 and has won over 500 races and 40 championships. The team currently competes in IndyCar, NASCAR, IMSA, and FIA World Endurance races and has won six IndyCar championships and five NASCAR Cup titles.
