While some gasoline-powered sports prototypes struggled to stay with the LMP1 Audis in the American Le Mans Series, legendary team owner Roger Penske’s squad, running LMP2 Porsche RS Spyders, was fighting at the front – and winning.

The story began back in 1958, when Penske drove his first official race in the SCCA National at Marlboro Motor Raceway in Maryland. After running second, his car overheated, but he was victorious at Lime Rock in 1959, driving an F-Modified Porsche RS. That nameplate would make a re-appearance in late 2005, when Penske Racing first raced an RS Spyder in ALMS.

Penske Racing and Team Penske was first launched in 1966, after Penske himself had announced his retirement as a driver and bought a Chevrolet dealership in Philadelphia. In its second year of competition, Penske Racing won the United States Road Racing Championship (USRRC), with driver Mark Donohue in a Lola T70 Mk.III chassis with Chevrolet power.

Numerous victories and championships followed, including the first race win in Champ Car (1970); Penske’s first Indy 500 (1972); its first NASCAR victory (1973); a sole Formula 1 Grand Prix triumph (John Watson, Austria, 1976); six Champ Car points championships in seven years (1977-83); 12 Champ Car wins from 16 starts, plus the title, in 1994; a 100th Champ Car race win (Gil de Ferran, Nazareth, 2000); and an IRL championship (Sam Hornish Jr., 2006).

Picture credit: © 2006 EXLEY-Foto, inc.