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It has been over a week since we learned the surprise move of the silly-season, that David Malukas is headed to AJ Foyt Racing next season. Since then, there has been all types of speculation. Some of it involves the futures of current Foyt drivers Santino Ferrucci and Sting Ray Robb. Other speculation focuses on what motivated Malukas to go there. Few want to believe that it was simply the trajectory of the team, based on their technical alliance with Team Penske. They maintain that there is more than just a technical alliance there. Many believe that Team Penske will use the Foyt team as a farm system or satellite team to groom future drivers.

That may be the case, but I’ve heard or read anything that would confirm of dispel those rumors. But in all of the discussion on social media for the past week, I’ve run across more than a few people that keep saying that Malukas is not Penske material. First of all, I don’t know why they would say that. Malukas is a young talent that is blossoming before our very eyes – much like Josef Newgarden and Simon Pagenaud did a decade ago.

But then I took my pondering to another level and began to ask myself; Exactly who is Penske material, and what does that even mean?

If you are a Seinfeld fan like I am, you may recall an episode (Season 5, Episode 8 – The Barber) where George Costanza weaseled his way into a job and they gave him the Penske file to work on. They may have actually spelled it “Pensky” in the script, but since we never saw it printed in the actual show – we’ll assume it’s spelled “Penske”, for our purposes. In this clip, we learn that George is not Penske material.

Without even thinking about it, Rick Mears came to mind as someone who embodies the term Penske material. He was an excellent driver, who had a mild public demeanor off-track. He was never involved in controversy and was a sponsor’s dream. He was well-spoken, polite and had a very genuine air about him. But as hard as it is to believe – it’s been almost 32 years since Mears drove a race car. Many IndyCar fans were not even born, when Mears announced at the 1992 Penske Christmas party that he was retired effective immediately.

That was a long time ago and certainly long enough for the image of Mears being Penske material to fade away. Since Team Penske showed up at the 1969 Indianapolis 500, there have been dozens of IndyCar drivers to drive for Team Penske. In that time, there are many drivers who had successful driving careers for Penske – but I’m not sure they fell into the category of being Penske material.

I’d say Mark Donohue did. He was an Ivy League graduate from Brown University with an engineering degree. Like Mears, he was clean-cut and soft-spoken, but was laser-focused behind the wheel. Mario Andretti was already a popular veteran, when he joined Penske in the late 70s. The same could be said for Al Unser in the 80s. I might also include Al Unser, Jr. in the 90s; but his demons caught up with him in his time with Penske and it ultimately cost him his ride.

Gil de Ferran was certainly Penske material. In his four seasons with Penske, he won two championships and an Indianapolis 500; while silently avoiding even a hint of controversy in the process. Looking back, he may have been the absolute definition of Penske material – but he was such a gentlemen, we never even thought about it.

More recently, I would say that Ryan Briscoe and Simon Pagenaud were both Penske material. Pagenaud was the ultimate gentleman, and won eleven races for The Captain, including an IndyCar championship in 2016 and the 2019 Indianapolis 500 – yet he was not invited back to Team Penske after the 2021 season. Ryan Briscoe was just as much of a gentleman, and won seven IndyCar races for Penske, but he never won the Indianapolis 500 and he let the 2009 championship slip through his fingers in a bone-headed move leaving the pits at Motegi. He only won one race after that, before being dismissed following the 2012 season.

Currently, I would say that Josef Newgarden is the only three of their current lineup. He has many of the same qualities as Donohue and Mears – win a lot of races, championships and the Indianapolis 500, while having a clean-cut all-American image out of the car.

But for the few drivers I’ve mentioned that are Penske material, there have been a lot of successful careers at Team Penske who may not even come close to being Penske material. Here are just a few…

Paul Tracy: When Paul Tracy first signed with Penske for a handful of races for the 1991 season, he sure looked the part of Penske material. He wore round horned-rimmed glasses that made him look more like an SEC frat-guy than a race car driver. He was polite in interviews and certainly played the role of a Penske driver. After many destroyed Penske chassis and a few wins under his belt, the real PT that we came to know began to emerge. The glasses were gone and the preppy haircut was replaced by spiked dyed hair. His polite tone turned brash and it became obvious that Tracy was not Penske material. His career at Penske came to an end after the 1997 season, despite winning three races in a sub-par Penske chassis that season.

Gary Bettenhausen: The second-generation driver drove three seasons for The Captain. Gary B was as colorful as they came. Most of his success came in midgets and sprints, but he had a long career in IndyCar that spanned four decades. He won six IndyCar races in that time, and two of them were in those three seasons at Penske. He dominated the 1972 Indianapolis 500 as the Penske teammate to Mark Donohue, but a blown engine took him out late in the race, as he watched his teammate go on to win.

The likeable Bettenhausen was popular with fans, partly because he spoke his mind freely. I don’t know if that led to a parting of the ways at Team Penske, but speaking one’s mind does not mix well with the culture at Team Penske – especially in the mid-70s.

Tom Sneva: Another driver that spoke his mind freely was Tom Sneva. Who drove four seasons at Penske from 1975 through 1978. In that time, Sneva won two USAC titles and three front-row starts in the Indianapolis 500 – including two poles. His 1977 pole is notable, as he was the first driver to qualify at over 200 mph. He was also the first driver to win a championship for Team Penske.

But Penske and Sneva parted ways after the 1978 season, partly due to a disagreement in the direction of the team. That’s an argument that Sneva or any other driver will always lose. Vocal and public disagreements are not the makings of Penske material.

Bobby Unser: While their professional relationship was always good and Unser’s tenure at Team Penske ended on very good terms (with the exception of Unser’s relationship with then-team Vice-President Derrick Walker); I never considered Bobby Unser to be Penske material. He was brash and outspoken, while living a colorful lifestyle off of the track, As good as Unser was on the track, and as much as we all grew to love Uncle Bobby after he stepped out of the cockpit – I never viewed him as the prototypical Team Penske driver.

Sam Hornish: In the early 2000s, Sam Hornish was a fan-favorite in the upstart IRL. He wasn’t exactly brash, but he seemed to have an edge to his personality – as the sideburns and sometimes soul-patch might suggest. One thing was certain – he knew how to wheel a race car. According to Robin Miller, Roger Penske coveted Hornish even before Team Penske moved to the IRL fulltime in 2002. That was the same year that Hornish won his second consecutive IRL title. Two years later, Hornish was driving for The Captain.

It was not an instant recipe for success. To comply with Team Penske’s rule on facial hair, Hornish got rid of the goatee and/or soul patch and trimmed the sideburns. His interviews seemed toned-down and more subdued. I don’5t know if he felt stifled, but his first three seasons for Penske – he finished eighth, seventh and third in the championship – and that was in the days of only eighteen cars for some races. It all came together in 2006, as Hornish won the Indianapolis 500 and the championship. In 2007, Hornish finished fifth in the championship, before moving on to a less than stellar career in NASCAR with Penske. The fact that Roger Penske always seemed to have a soft spot in his heart suggests that he was Penske material, but from the outside – it appeared that he wasn’t.

Helio Castroneves: Many will disagree with me on this one. How could a driver that earned three of the twenty Baby Borgs in Roger Penske’s trophy case, not be considered Penske material?

Remember that Castroneves was a last-minute replacement for the 2000 season, after Greg Moore was fatally injured in the 1999 season-finale at Fontana. Moore had already been announced as being paired with Gil de Ferran at Team Penske for 2000. When fate stepped in, Helio’s team at Hogan Racing had just announced they were shutting their doors, and he was suddenly a free-agent. What appeared to be a marriage of convenience at the time, turned into a twenty-one year career for Castroneves at Team Penske.

But was he Penske material? Roger Penske likes his drivers to be polite and controlled on-track and off. Extroverted personalities are not always what gels with the team. Climbing fences after victories was not exactly in the Penske playbook. Helio was polite, but so vocal and boisterous – you wondered how long that would last at a team that preferred their drivers to be more buttoned up. He was the exact opposite of his teammate and countryman, Gil de Ferran. Surprisingly, the two bonded in a way that reaffirms the notion that opposites attract.

When Hornish replaced de Ferran in 2004, I never got the sense that Hornish and Helio really bonded. Where de Ferran seemed to embrace the differences between the two, Castroneves and Hornish seemed to only tolerate each other, at least in my opinion.

Will Power: When the 2008 IndyCar season ended, Team Penske was a two-car team featuring Helio Castroneves and Ryan Brisco. Will Power had taken his Aussie Vineyards sponsorship to KV Racing for 2008, but the sponsorship dried up at the end of the season. Power appeared to be destined for the sidelines in 2009.

When Castroneves was embroiled in a tax-evasion trial that started in fall of 2008, Roger Penske was not going to be caught unprepared – in case Helio’s trial was still going on, or if he was convicted. Penske signed the unemployed Power as a backup plan. Power tested the No. 3 car in the offseason, and drove the car in the season-opener at St. Petersburg to a respectable sixth-place finish. It looked as if Power would be driving the car at the next race in Long Beach, but Helio was acquitted of all charges on the Friday leading into the race weekend.

Power had driven the car in the first practice, but the team got word of the acquittal just before the second Friday practice (they did two in those days). Always prepared, the team had brought a third entry just in case such a scenario arose. They wheeled out a No.12 entry sponsored by Verizon for Power, and the rest is history.

Power has won two championships and the 2018 Indianapolis 500 for The Captain. He now holds the all-time IndyCar record for winning the most poles and is fourth on the all-time list for IndyCar wins.

Power is a fan-favorite, but is he considered Penske material? His quirky personality and behavior suggests he is not. Personally, it is his personality that makes me appreciate him. I cannot see Rick Mears, Josef Newgarden or Mark Donohue shooting the double-bird salute to Race Control with a crazed look in their eyes, as Power did at New Hampshire in 2011. That’s why we like him

Likewise, I cannot see Gil de Ferran allowing TV cameras into his hotel room to film him waking up; then ad-libbing an apology for Mr. Johnson falling out.

Thirty years ago, I don’t think Power’s personality would have meshed with Team Penske, but social media allows fans to know a lot more about drivers and their sometimes unique personalities. I think the fact that Power is so popular with fans because he is genuine and not so buttoned-up, has allowed some grace with the team that would not have been there a generation ago.

Will Power is a great driver, but I think he is allowed more flexibility because of his popularity and likeability with fans. However, I have never thought he was Penske material – but that’s not a bad thing.

Those are just a few examples of Team Penske drivers that had successful careers, while driving for Roger Penske, that did not fit the mold of Penske material. There are many more. Am I off-base here? Does anyone even care who is Penske material? Apparently some do, or we would not have people saying that David Malukas is not Penske material. Based on some of the evidence I’ve presented, maybe the only thing that really makes a driver Penske material is that they win. That covers up a lot of flaws at Team Penske.

George Phillips

This entry was posted on August 21, 2024 at 4:02 am and is filed under IndyCar. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.