At 25 that isn't easy-especially when you have also gotten married, finished college and are holding down a responsible job in industry. In four short years, then, Penske has risen from virtual obscurity to national prominence in the tight little competitive world of racing. Closing the season at Nassau, he came in second behind Dan Gurney and won additional honors for being named "U.S. And, facing Europe's best in three of the North American Racing Season events, he consistently placed ahead of his amateur compatriots, with the exception of Jim Hall at the Riverside race. In 1961 he captured his second SCCA National Point Championship in a row. Today Penske needs no introduction to those who follow sports car racing in America-his ability is a matter of record. For 13 laps of the 20-lap event he tailed the leading Windridge-driven Corvette, only to be forced into the pits with over-heating. Three weeks later Penske returned to Marlboro for the National races and, in the fourth event of the day, proceeded to put his schooling to good use. "He was a good driver," Thompson said recently, "but the only other thing I remember about him is that he came to the school with fabric brakes on the Corvette and I got him to switch to the metal type." Despite this lack of a lasting impression, Penske and Bob Davis, now a top mechanic, graduated from the school with the two competition licenses given out at that session. Penske drew as his instructors Dick Thompson, Bark Henry and Fred Windridge. A tall, dark-haired, intense young man, he chose to take his instruction in a hot fuel-injected Corvette. The name on his brand new SCCA membership card was Roger Penske.
#Roger penske yacht podium drivers
HE TURNED TURNED UP at the Drivers School at Marlboro, Md., in the early spring of 1958.
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