The one-two finish by DJR/team Penske drivers Fabian Coulthard and Scott McLaughlin in the Shell V Power Ford Falcons at Symmons Plains following strong performances in Adelaide and the Grand Prix, has set the scene for a competitive year.
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When it was announced that American Roger Penske would become a major player in the Dick Johnson Racing team many suggested it was only going to be a matter of time before the established order in the Supercars championship would come under threat.
Coulthard finished second and fifth in the two races in Adelaide while McLaughlin had to settle for 17th and a solid second in race two.
The two cars were very strong in the first three races at the non-championship grand prix meeting but had issues in race four to finish well back.
Coulthard is second on 364 points to Shane Van Gisbergen on 384 in the Supercars championship but would have been leading had he not been penalised 35 points for a race-one incident in Tasmania.
McLaughlin is fourth on 330 points behind third-placed Jamie Whincup on 333 points – setting the scene for a showdown between the previously dominant Red Bull Holden Race Team and DJR/Team Penske.
Coulthard’s signing at the beginning of 2016 and McLaughlin for this year and beyond was only part of the plan for the future and although it’s early days, the progress has been rapid.
So who is Penske and what did he bring to the table to create this success?
The short answer is that he is an 80-year-old entrepreneur with a personal wealth of more than $2 billion.
He is an amazingly successful businessman with a passion for owning incredibly successful race teams.
Affectionately known as “The Captain”, Penske’s success in the commercial world and motorsport has been nothing short of extraordinary.
Starting in 1958, Penske purchased, raced and sold race cars, which led to success both financially and on the track.
He won four consecutive Sports Car Club of America titles between 1960 and 1963 before retiring from competitive driving at the end of 1965.
A Chevrolet dealership was his first foray into car sales and from there the business expanded at an incredible rate to the point where it is now an icon in the world of successful business enterprises.
The Penske Corporation covers three main areas of operation – automotive, performance and truck leasing – and has an annual turnover in excess of $26 billion with a worldwide staff pool of 55,000 at 3300 locations.
The automotive side of the business covers vehicle dealerships that sell 460,000 new and used vehicles a year, while the truck leasing part provides 244,000 trucks globally. The performance arm started more than 50 years ago in 1966 and has covered categories such as NASCAR, Indycar, Sports cars, Trans Am, Formula One and the Australian V8 Supercars with Dick Johnson Racing since 2015.
The Penske team has contested over 4300 races across all categories scoring 440 wins, 500 pole positions and 29 championships including 14 Indycar titles and 16 Indianapolis 500 wins.
The Penske team contested 40 Formula One Grand Prix races between 1974 and 1977 and is only the second American team to have won a world championship race.
British driver John Watson won the Austrian GP in 1976 in the Penske PC4 Cosworth.
The other was Dan Gurney winning the Belgium GP in 1967 in the Anglo American Racers Eagle Weslake.
In the past five decades, Penske has employed over 80 world-class drivers and now has Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano competing in NASCAR racing and Helio Castro-Neves, Simon Pagenaud, Juan Pablo Montoya and Australia’s Will Power competing in the Indycar series.
This year may well prove to be the toughest yet for Roland Dane’s previously dominant Red Bull Holden Race Team and give Ford fans something to cheer about after some lean results.
