The PC4 featured a low monocoque tub with hip-mounted radiators, a configuration typical of the mid-1970s design philosophy. After a troubled debut in Sweden, where Watson crashed on the first lap following a stuck throttle, Ferris revised the aerodynamics and extended the wheelbase. Three chassis were built across the 1976 season.
Team Penske had used the earlier PC3 for the first six races of the year before introducing the PC4 at the Swedish Grand Prix.
The development work following the Swedish debut paid dividends quickly. Watson finished third at the French Grand Prix from eighth on the grid, then backed it up with another third place at the British Grand Prix. His finest result came at the Austrian Grand Prix at the Österreichring, where Watson qualified second and converted that into an outright victory — Penske's sole win in Formula One.
Further down the season Watson added a sixth-place finish at the United States Grand Prix. The PC4 accumulated 18 championship points in total; combined with two points from the PC3, Team Penske placed fifth in the Constructors' Championship. Watson finished seventh in the Drivers' Championship.
Penske withdrew from Formula One at the end of 1976 to concentrate on IndyCar racing, where the team had already built a formidable reputation.
German industrialist Günter Schmid purchased the PC4 chassis for his newly formed ATS Racing team, which competed in the 1977 Formula One season. Jean-Pierre Jarier drove the car as the team's initial entry, scoring a sixth-place point on debut in the United States Grand Prix — ATS's best qualifying result of the season also came at that race, with Jarier starting ninth.
The team expanded to two entries later in the year. Hans Heyer made a one-off appearance at the German Grand Prix, famously competing despite having failed to qualify, while Hans Binder drove for the following three rounds, qualifying for two of them. ATS retired the PC4 when its own chassis, the HS1, was introduced for the final three races of 1977.
American entrant Ted Field's Interscope Racing ran a PC4 for Danny Ongais at two events toward the end of 1977. Ongais managed a best result of seventh place across those two appearances.
The Penske PC4's Austrian Grand Prix victory stands as a notable anomaly in Formula One history: a win by an American constructor at the sport's top level at a time when the grid was almost entirely dominated by British-built machinery. Roger Penske's decision to redirect the team's ambitions toward IndyCar proved prescient, as Team Penske became one of the most successful organisations in American open-wheel racing history. The PC4 remains a symbol of the brief period when Penske took a serious, competitive tilt at the world championship.