In his 60+ years of auto racing, Roger Penske has won eighteen Indianapolis 500s, far surpassing any other team owner.
Penske’s first full-time driver was Mark Donohue who had won a couple of sports car championships. They were like two peas in a pod--both studied engineering in college, both were gifted drivers, and both believed that preparation was the foundation for winning. Penske hired Donohue in 1966 as a part time driver but when Donohue had a job offer from Ford subsidiary, Kar Kraft, Penske hired him full time. Until 1969, the duo were exclusively involved in sports car racing.
Remembering his first trip to the Indianapolis 500 as a 14-year-old with his father, Penske always wanted to race there. After Donohue won the Trans-American Series and finished third in the Can-Am Series in 1968, the two men turned their attention to the Indianapolis 500. The plan was to race in the 500 and four other United States Auto Club (USAC) races while continuing their participation in various sports car races under the auspice of the Sports Car Club of America.
Penske joined with Carl Haas, Terry Godsall, and Donohue to form U. S. Racing with Sun Oil Company (Sunoco) and Simonize as sponsors for the 1969 Indianapolis 500. To entice sponsorships, Penske told both companies that he planned to win the Indianapolis 500 in three tries. They purchased two four-wheel drive Lola racers outfitting one with an Offenhauser engine and the other with a Chevrolet V-8 engine. Despite being a rookie at the Indianapolis 500, Donohue qualified fourth and set a new record for rookies with a speed of 168.903 mph. Donohue finished a respectable seventh in the race. For the year, Donohue finished twenty-third among the USAC racers while participating in only five of the twenty-three races.
For the 1970 season, Penske decided to again participate in USAC races on a part time basis. He commissioned Eric Broadley to build a two-wheel drive Lola identical to the one used in the 1969 campaign except that it was powered by a Ford engine. During practice in early May, Donohue circled the track at 168.9 mph. Donohue believed he would be a contender for the pole. He qualified fifth with a speed of 168.911 mph behind pole setter Al Unser, Sr. who qualified at 170.221 mph.
Donohue set his racer up with a little bit of understeer for the 1970 Indianapolis 500. The night before, he was watching television when he heard A. J. Foyt say that as the tires got warmer, the track got slicker and problems were magnified. That was when Donohue knew that he had the wrong set-up on his car. Rather than change the set-up at the last minute, Donohue took to the track believing that he could have gone three to four mph better with a different set-up. Al Unser, Sr. dominated the race. With 25 laps to go, he had lapped the entire field. He easily won with an average speed of 170.221 mph. After getting the “E-Z” sign, Unser let up a little bit on the speed which allowed Donohue to finish in second place on the same lap. Donohue participated in four USAC races and finished eleventh in the driver rankings.
While practicing for the 1971 Indianapolis 500, Donohue was the fastest driver on the track in a McLaren M-16. He appeared to have won the pole with a qualifying speed of 177.087 mph. He was being interviewed when he heard a roar go up from the crowd. He knew that he was not on the pole. Peter Revson easily took the pole with a qualifying speed of 178.696 mph, a new Speedway record. Penske’s dream of winning the Indianapolis 500 was dashed when the gearbox failed on the 66th lap. Donohue had led twice for a total of 52 laps and had set a new Speedway lap record. Penske had come close to winning the Indianapolis 500 in his third try.
Penske was heavily invested in winning the 1972 Indianapolis 500. Despite being the head of Penske Corporation, he decided to stay at the Speedway for the entire Month of May. He commented, “I don’t want to hear about problems on the telephone. We’ve got too much at stake in this race and if there has to be a decision made, I want to be right here to make it.” The Month of May was disappointing for the team which lost seven Offenhauser engines for Donohue’s car during practice. They kept losing valuable practice time because it took about a day to change out an engine with each failure. When the last engine in the Donohue inventory failed the day before the first day of qualifications, Penske spent $35,000 to purchase one from a competitor.
Bobby Unser had been the fastest man on the track all May with a peak speed of 194.721. With the new engine installed, Donohue was the sixth fastest at 188.393 mph. Bobby Unser took the pole with an eye-popping qualifying speed of 195.940 mph for the four laps, breaking the old record by seventeen mph. He also set a new one lap track record at 196.678 mph. Donohue qualified third with a four-lap speed of 191.408 mph.
His teammate, Gary Bettenhausen, qualified fourth with a speed of 188.877 mph.
Bobby Unser led the field for the first thirty-one laps of the race and was leading by 20 seconds when a $5 part broke ending his quest to win the race. Bettenhausen took the lead for the next 25 laps when he was passed by Mike Mosely. Mosely’s lead lasted one lap when he was involved in an accident after the right rear wheel broke off. Bettenhausen had a six-second lead over Jerry Grant on lap 173 under a caution. When the green flag waved, Bettenhausen was accelerating only to hear the ignition misfiring. When Grant retook the lead on lap 176, he held a 15 second advantage over Donohue who was gaining at a rate of three to four seconds every lap. Grant’s team must have thought he was a lap ahead as they signaled “E-Z”. Meanwhile, Penske gave Donohue the “Go” signal. Finally, Grant’s team must have realized that their lead was in jeopardy and they gave him the “Go” signal. Grant was pulling away from Donohue when debris on the track caused a tire to fail. Grant pitted to change the tire handing the lead and the victory to Donohue with thirteen laps to go. In winning the Indianapolis 500, Donohue set a new speed record by six mph. Later that season, Donohue became the first USAC racer to win two 500 mile races when he won the Schaefer 500.