Car Guy Magazine Car Guy Magazine Issue 1214 | Page 14

In 2005 Penske Racing returned to Le Mans, partnering with Porsche to establish what has become a successful two-car team in the American LeMans series.
Penske Racing’s 105-acre facility in Mooresville, N.C. looks more the part of
a corporate campus than a garage, and is its own tourist attraction. Included is a
gift shop and a 330-foot “fan walk,” where visitors can observe the various teams
preparing their cars for competition.
Meanwhile, with the help of connections he forged on the racing side of the
business, Penske became owner of McKean Chevrolet in 1965 after the former
owner retired. It became the seed from which a vast business empire would grow.
Founded in 1990 and taken public in 1996, his Detroit-based Penske Auto Group
(PAG, formerly United Auto Group) is now the second largest auto dealer in the
United States. PAG owns 310 auto-retailing franchises worldwide; 165 of them are
in the U.S. and they represent forty-one separate vehicle lines, with a payroll of
nearly 16,000 employees.
Penske also owns several California dealerships exclusive of PAG, and he
turned heads on Wall Street by purchasing and turning around moribund businesses like Hertz Truck Leasing and General Motors’ Detroit Diesel Corp. His vast
holdings also include ownership interests in racetracks, as well as logistics management and vehicle component companies, among other ventures.
Penske is particularly proud of PAG’s “flagship” mega-dealerships that stand
apart as truly unique auto-retailing facilities. “We’re more of a destination-type retailer in that regard,” he explains. For example, the company’s most-prominent facility, the Scottsdale 101 Auto Collection in Scottsdale, Arizona, is home to eleven
separate new car franchises and the Penske Racing Museum.
“We get thousands of visitors on an annual basis there,” Penske beams. The recently upgraded Turnersville Automall, located twenty minutes from Penske’s original Chevy franchise in Philadelphia, includes its own three-quarter-mile test track.
Penske partnered with casino mogul Steve Wynn in 2005 to open the inimitable Penske Wynn Ferrari Maserati dealership. Located near the main entrance to
the Wynn Las Vegas resort in the heart of Sin City’s famed “strip,” it incorporates a
new-car showroom where the least expensive model still runs into six figures, and a
pre-owned-vehicle display floor that doubles as an exotic-auto museum. (The complex also includes a restaurant, service department and Ferrari-themed gift shop).
In a nod to Ferrari/Maserati’s rich heritage, a number of vintage road and racecars
are also on display, often from Penske’s own extensive collection of “toys,” as he calls
them. Each week, the complex draws several thousands of visitors, as well as a few
well-heeled buyers.
“There isn’t a showroom anywhere that has this kind of traffic on a daily basis,”
Penske boasts. “There’s no dealership I know of in the country that’s like it – it’s amazing.”
At an age when many would be content to slow down and live the good life,
Penske remains as active as ever. Always the dapper dresser, he continues running and
expanding his various empires at a pace that puts much younger individuals to shame.
Last year he hosted the sports world in his own backyard as Chairman of the Detroit
Super Bowl XL Host Committee, showing off his adopted hometown with his usual
unflappable commitment to success.

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Penske’s latest automotive venture will bring a brand-new
car brand to America beginning next year, called Smart. To be
sold through a yet-to-be established network of fifty to seventy
UAG dealerships in the U.S., the diminutive and distinctly
styled Smart Fortwo is nearly small enough to fit in the cargo
bed of a full-size pickup truck. The vehicle holds, as the name
implies, two passengers; its 1.0-liter engine is said to get as
much as sixty miles per gallon. Built by Daimler-Chrysler and
sold in thirty-six countries where high fuel prices and narrow streets make mini-cars a necessity, critics are skeptical at
how successful the $12,000-$17,000 sub-subcompact will be
among SUV-loving Americans.
Penske, however remains typically optimistic and enthusiastic about the brand’s possibilities. “We are encouraged by the
overwhelming, positive response to Smart,” Penske says. “We
are excited to bring the Smart vehicle to the United States, and
we look forward to seeing thousands of these unique, urbanfriendly vehicles crisscrossing the country.”
Currently residing in Birmingham, Michigan with his
second wife, Kathy, Penske has fathered five children, two of
whom are actively involved in his business ventures.
While he’s undeniably one of the most successful businesspeople in the country, Penske still manages his affairs as if
the checkered flag was but a lap away.
“We’ve used racing as a common thread through our
businesses, because it demonstrates performance and teamwork, and shows your technical capabilities – it gives you a
‘make it happen’ attitude,” Penske explains. “There’s people in
the racing business and there’s racers, and there’s a big difference between them. We’re racers because we do whatever it
takes to succeed.”