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LLOtiZL0S0Z Still the boss Roger Penske still committed to racing with best in the sport By Mike Berres ~s(.rvtmes Abouttwo weeks ago, Roger Penske stunned the world of motor sports with the in- easan announcement tha[Reading-bese MarlboroTeamPenske will be adding drivers Greg Moore and Gil de Ferran and subtractingAl UnserJr. During a 30-minute 4uestion-and-an- swer session last Sunday with reporters from the Cleveiand Plain Deater, Chicago Sun 7Smes and Reading Eagle, Penske hint- ed that those changes could be the tip of the iceberg as Team Penske tries to return to its fonnerprominence. At the same time, Penske reiterated his commitment to all forms of racing - whether it's open wheel or stock car - as his CART team made final preparations for the Miller Lite 20D at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. As if to illustrate the point, Penske often had one eye on the Frontier at The Glen Winston Cup race, which was on the television in the Team Penske transporter. Rusty Wallace, the longtime driver for Penske's Cup team, started on the pole and finished third in the race. Q; Obviously when you hired the drivers you did (Greg Moore and Gil de Ferran), you made a statement. A: There was a lot of concern and specu- lation that we were not in racing or we  Moae mdor apart.: PpgsOB~DB. were getting out because we had merged our motor sports company with (NASCAR president Bill) France as part ofInterna- tLonal Speedway Corp. It was just a good business decision.It really set a stage, I think for the fhture of motor sports. I think that's going to bode very well for open wheel because Bill France is very interested, as I am, to get this resolution of IRL and CART back to- gether. Obviously Tony George has got to make the decision (about Indianapolis Motor Speedway). The announcement on the drivers is just a further indication and validation that we are in the business. We wished we would have had better success, obviously. But there's a lot of factors, and I'm not here to cry on what I did or didn't have. At the end of the day, you've got to look at the scoreboard. We haven't been successful, but I can tell you we're going to put togeth- er a package. Q: Did it frustrate you that people were saying Team Penske didn't have it any- more? A: We still want to be recognized as one of the top teams. Certainly we've had the record in the past, but you don't live on your record. You've got to live on what you're doing, like a ballplayer. Aid what Reading, PA Eagle 11146" Mrt Arn SUN 101.109 AUG 22, 1999 UIII I 1!I UI IIli !!N !li111 II 1811i1 I i(I 1141110 --~ ©e~e55 CLI fP(.v .5 sundaf Eagk/rimea aN n~o:.len A. 5.1 Roger Penske says he is not bound by any contract for next year's racing season. you're doing this season helps you for A; We've had a long relationship with nextseason. Mercedes; a long relationship with a tire To me it was a motivation, but I was company (Goodyear) and we build our own never ever considered getting out. It was chassis. So I would say that if you look at just the situation surrounding us over the this rationally, you'd say that all three are Iast9Amonths.Butweceexcited,andGreg upintheair. . and Gil are dedicated to make it happen. But I'm not prepared to bolt from any What we need to do is provide them with relationship we have today I really want to the best package. look at with a broader brush and see Q: You've got involvement with Mer- where we are from a business perspective. cedes, your engine maker, so are you able Perzake, Page D9 • to change if that's the way you decide to go' See

t Penske .(:ontinued frum Page Dl A: IYe never had acontraMwith ' ~ chassis or engine dealer. ~ Q: I guess the question is, be- ohuse of your relationships, 3oedyear and the Penske Auto :; enters, for intanc e, are you able .) separate those kinds of things ver what your choices may be? - A: I think you have to look at the . business side of it. We're in racing to win. We race '- Cr,rds in NASCAR. We use some I Firestone tires on some of our -:;trucks. We have Honda dealer- :.i ships. We haveToyota dealerships. Q: Some have said you didn't ' xantto make the announcement hat you were switching drivers for .>A00 during the season, but have ~ou noticed if it has re-invigorated ~ i':tings? A: No, we wanted to make it In (he middle of the season, once we had it executed (the contracts signed). I think everybody needed to know this Is the stake that's in theground. These drivers were available. ... Greg Moore had a commitment up . till July 1. De Ferran was not +i under contract. It was announced .:. that his sponsorship (Valvoline) _: was maybe not going to be possi- tle. So they were talking to other people. I wasn't in a room all by wyecl£Iwanttoassureyouofthat We gave Greg Moore his first ?' ride in a champ car (in 19g42 De V. t^erran cettainly has proven how :.: good he ys, and he's been on Goodyears so we've had a chance to see him work on the Goodyear tire side and has demonstrated ~ome'really strong performances nf what he can do. I think it's great AllUnserJrJ,ontheotherhand, he and I talked. It gave him a chance to see whatehassis he could get in, what tire. So he wasn't tiedto anything that I might (to that he might think might not be good. t1: is parting ways with Al one of the harder driver-owner things . you've done? ., A When ~Rick) Mears retired, = that was a pretty easy thing to deal with. lu fact, lie cante to tne and said he just didn't have the ftre In _` his belly to go forward, and we had _- 1YacyInthewing.qsothatworked But At has done a great job for ' us.HeandItalkedaMautitbackat _# the beginning of May. This wasn't '. something that one night I made a . deci.sion. He was having some dis- s cussions with other people,too. - That was good for him. _ Rather than wait for the end when all of a sudden all these xeats,aro moving around it's a ' chance to actively (pursue some- , thingt We're gonna run as hard as wecan.F[vY4eertr(.,irrgn5v~[t~b. Roger P committed to motor sports He's a good friend, and Pit contin- ue to support him. I think it was time to make a change. You know, in racing, you need to (make changes) whether it'stires, chassis. Q: How hopeful are you that something can be done to reunitt• CARTandthelHL? A: I'm not in those talks at alI I'm cautiously optimistic that we can put that together because I think that will really help open- wheel racing where we have it to- gether. I think the sport has suffered for the last 20 years because we've never had Indy putting Its arm around the open-wheel series. It's always been a place that we go. We need to have one organization to take the best crews, best drivers, best cars and have a series-I think what has to happen. People can talk about the positives rather than every story being about In- trigue and what one is doing. @: If there was a reunification, how many tracks do you think you could go to? A: There's been some specula- tion that Bruton (Smith) might not run Charlotte and Atlanta (for the IRL). I don't know that. Thatk only what I've read in the newspaper, So that would reduce the number ~ of tracks. And I think you don't need to run twice at certain tracka That ' amalgamation is not going to be something that we cati t deal with It'Ilallshakeoutl i Q: Are you going to have / changesinthe personnel also? Do you expect a big turnover? A: I don't thinkyou can say we'll have the turnover in personnel. We're going to have to add some people, obviously, when you go up to a two-car team for the full sea- son. I think we've got a lot of good people, and it's a nmtter of us get- ting the right equipmeut here. Q: You've got so many things on . the plate and you've been really i good at uvsting penple to do their i /uLs, t.ut are you plunrilng to ` change your involvement? Do you want to be more hands-on next year? A: What you really want to do is be able to turn the keys over to people who can execute it.I think with a lot of new people and diffet- ent throgs, I'm going to want to p f ay a tight role on it. To what extent wi6 really be based on our perfor- mance. Q: Do you tyink, even without a merger, there might be a Team Penske ear at the Indy 31)0 next year? A: That's hard to say I want to r,tn at the 2t100Indianapolis race If everybody else runs. I'm certainly notgoing to be a lone ranger. Q: It's interesting that you've had some great racing, but the dis- cttssion centers on the 1RL-CAHT merger and declining attendance. A: The declining attendance (issue) is not fair. We've had some comments about Michigan (the U. S 500) and unforhm ately we did- n't have everybody sitting In the main grandstands. We had over 70,000peoplethet+e. I know the numbers and we re- ally had more than we had a year ago. We're gonna have a huge crowd in California They''ve got a nice crowd here (at Mid-Ohio), I don't count the tickets at the other tracks. Toronto was strong. There's no question that if you take Indi- anapolis cut (of the IRL cottnt), our attendance is continually stronger and our racing has been great Q: In the Northeast, the only CART raee is at Nazareth. People are wondering about the thture of fltatrace. A: When you look at the tracks, if there's a better racetrack or big- ger racetrack in the Northeast and people want to have a bigger purse, ISC will have to deal with that 191 let Bill France make that decision. I'm staying out of who races at whattracks. We're going to have a race there I hope as long as I'm involved. It's a great-eacetrackt We built that from nowhere. .Q: Can At win in this sen again? A He5 going to have to win t 100th (for Team Penske). Thatb, deal. We gotta get that one. We not waiting for next yeac Absolu ly he can.