Penske was born into a devout Episcopalian family in Shaker Heights, Ohio. His father Jay was a corporate executive who encouraged entrepreneurial thinking; as a teenager Penske bought and resold repaired cars from the family home. He sang in the church choir and served as an acolyte. After graduating from Shaker Heights High School in 1955, Penske attended Lehigh University, where he was a member of the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity, graduating in 1959. He joined Alcoa as a sales engineer upon graduation.
Penske began racing in hillclimbing before moving to road course competition as a member of the Philadelphia Region of the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA), driving Porsches at Vineland Raceway in New Jersey. Sports Illustrated named him SCCA Driver of the Year in 1961. He competed in two Formula One World Championship Grands Prix and won a NASCAR Pacific Coast Late Model race at Riverside in 1963. Penske was offered a rookie test at Indianapolis 500 with the Dean Van Lines team but never ran the race. He retired from driving in 1965 to focus on his first Chevrolet dealership in Philadelphia, which he had purchased with a loan from his father.
In 1963 Penske left Alcoa to manage a Chevrolet dealership in Philadelphia, buying it the following year. In 1969 he founded Penske Truck Leasing in Reading, Pennsylvania, acquiring a truck rental and leasing business with three locations in eastern Pennsylvania. That company grew into the cornerstone of Penske Corporation, which is now headquartered in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, and encompasses Penske Automotive Group (a publicly traded international dealership network operating in the United States, Canada, and Europe), Penske Truck Leasing, and Penske Motor Group (dealerships in California and Texas). His estimated net worth as of May 2026 was $7.7 billion.
Team Penske debuted at the 1966 24 Hours of Daytona. The operation expanded to become one of the most successful multi-series teams in motorsport history. In IndyCar the team has won 20 Indianapolis 500 races, making Penske the most successful owner in that race's history. IndyCar series championship titles came in 2006, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2019, and 2022. Notable Indianapolis 500 winners under the Penske banner include Rick Mears, Al Unser, Al Unser Jr., Juan Pablo Montoya, Dario Franchitti, and Will Power.
In NASCAR, Penske won his first Cup Series championship with Brad Keselowski on 18 November 2012. Joey Logano won the 2018 championship at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Further titles followed in 2022, 2023, and 2024. On 16 September 2018, Brad Keselowski's win at the South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway was Penske's 500th victory as an owner across all racing series. Penske's NASCAR team also serves as a race strategy centre, with Penske himself acting as strategist for IndyCar drivers including Will Power.
In Australia, Penske acquired a 51% stake in Dick Johnson Racing in late 2014 to form DJR Team Penske. Marcos Ambrose drove initially before Scott Pye replaced him; Fabian Coulthard joined for a second car in 2016 before Scott McLaughlin arrived in 2017. Coulthard won the team's first championship race at the 2017 Tyrepower Tasmania SuperSprint. The team won the 2019 Bathurst 1000 and McLaughlin secured three consecutive Supercars championships from 2018 to 2020.
On 4 November 2019, Penske purchased Indianapolis Motor Speedway — the 2.5-mile oval in Speedway, Indiana — together with the Indianapolis 500 and the IndyCar Series from the Hulman Family for an undisclosed sum. The acquisition consolidated ownership of the United States' premier open-wheel circuit and its governing series in a single entity aligned with the most successful team in the event's history.
Penske received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Donald Trump in 2019. He was inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 1995, the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1998, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame in 2002, the Automotive Hall of Fame in 2015, and the NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2019. He received the 2018 Simeone Foundation Spirit of Competition Award and the 2025 Trans-Am Series Hall of Fame induction. He received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement in 1990.
Penske was first married to Lisa Stouffer, daughter of Gordon Stouffer of the Stouffer Corporation, with whom he had two sons, Roger Jr. and Gregory. Gregory serves as vice chair of Penske Automotive Group and CEO of Penske Motor Group; Roger Jr. owns automotive dealerships. He subsequently married Kathryn Hulbert; their children include Greg, Jay, Roger Jr., Mark, and Kathryn. Jay Penske is the owner of Penske Media Corporation. In 2017 Roger Penske received a kidney transplant donated by his son Greg.
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