Roger Penske to be inducted into Texas Motorsports Hall of Fame on April 3 - MotorSportsTalk

He may have been born and raised in suburban Cleveland, but Roger Penske will forever remembered in Texas a week from now.

The most successful owner in overall motorsports, particularly open-wheel, but also in NASCAR and numerous other major motor sports series, Penske will become the 16th member inducted into the Texas Motorsports Hall of Fame on April 3.

The chairman of the board of the aptly named Team Penske, the legendary racer-turned-owner will be inducted in a rather appropriate place: the Grand Ballroom of Texas Motor Speedway, where Penske-owned teams have earned a record combined 12 race wins.

A record seven of those came in Indy car racing, and Penske – who has the colorful nickname of “The Captain” for his leadership and success – is the only owner with wins in both NASCAR and IndyCar at the 1.5-mile TMS, known as “The Great American Speedway!”

But what his teams have done at TMS just barely scratches the surface of what Penske-led teams have done in nearly five decades of racing, including 23 motorsports national championships (12 alone in Indy car racing), and 16 Indianapolis 500 victories.

The 77-year-old Penske joins 15 others previously inducted into the TMHoF: A.J. Foyt and Johnny Rutherford (2003), Terry Labonte and Lee Shepherd (2004), Kenny Bernstein and Jim Hall (2005), Eddie Hill (2006), Mark Martin and Jim McElreath (2007), Bobby Labonte and Speedway Motorsports president Bruton Smith (2008), Joe Gibbs (2009), John Force (2010), Lanny Edwards (2011) and Jack Roush (2012).

Others that will be honored on Penske’s special night for various efforts include four-time IndyCar champion Dario Franchitti, 2014 Daytona 500 winner Dale Earnhardt Jr., defending Duck Commander 500 and O’Reilly Auto Parts 300 winner Kyle Busch, and 2012 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series champion James Buescher.

A three-time Indianapolis 500 winner, Franchitti will be honored with the Bruton Smith Legend Award.

Earnhardt will be honored with the Maj. General Thomas Sadler award for his support of Speedway Children’s Charities-Texas Chapter. Earnhardt’s participation in last year’s “BBQ Pit Stop with Dale Jr.,” raised a chapter record of more than $38,000.

Busch will be awarded the TMS Racer of the Year for being the first driver in track history to win both the NRA 500 Sprint Cup race and the O’Reilly Auto Parts 300 Nationwide Series race on the same weekend.

Buescher, a native of nearby Plano, will receive the TMS Sportsmanship Award for helping in the cleanup efforts from last year’s devastating tornadoes in Moore, Okla.

Free to the public, the Hall of Fame – which features pedestals, portraits and other career highlights of the 16 inductees – is located in the outdoor atrium adjacent to The Speedway Club, and is open year-round.

If you’re heading to TMS next week for the races, the Hall would be a great place to check out.

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INDIANAPOLIS — The first Indy 500 victory for Josef Newgarden also was the richest in race history from a record 2023 purse of just more than $17 million.

The two-time NTT IndyCar Series champion, who continued his celebration Monday morning at Indianapolis Motor Speedway earned $3.666 million for winning the 107th running of the Greatest Spectacle in Racing.

The purse and winner’s share both are the largest in the history of the Indianapolis 500.

It’s the second consecutive year that the Indy 500 purse set a record after the 2022 Indy 500 became the first to crack the $16 million mark (nearly doubling the 2021 purse that offered a purse of $8,854,565 after a crowd limited to 135,000 because of the COVID-19 pandemic).

The average payout for IndyCar drivers was $500,600 (exceeding last year’s average of $485,000).

Indianapolis Motor Speedway owner Roger Penske, whose team also fields Newgarden’s No. 2 Dallara-Chevrolet, had made raising purses a priority since buying the track in 2020. But Penske but was unable to post big money purses until the race returned to full capacity grandstands last year.

The largest Indy 500 purse before this year was $14.4 million for the 2008 Indy 500 won by Scott Dixon (whose share was $2,988,065). Ericsson’s haul made him the second Indy 500 winner to top $3 million (2009 winner Helio Castroneves won $3,048,005.

Runner-up Marcus Ericsson won $1.043 million after falling short by 0.0974 seconds in the fourth-closest finish in Indy 500 history.

The 107th Indy 500 drew a crowd of at least 330,000 that was the largest since the sellout for the 100th running in 2016, and the second-largest in more than two decades, according to track officials.

“This is the greatest race in the world, and it was an especially monumental Month of May featuring packed grandstands and intense on-track action,” Penske Entertainment president and CEO Mark Miles said in a release. “Now, we have the best end card possible for the 107th Running of the Indianapolis 500: a record-breaking purse for the history books.”

Benjamin Pedersen was named the Indy 500 rookie of the year, earning a $50,000 bonus.

The race’s purse is determined through contingency and special awards from IMS and IndyCar. The awards were presented Monday night in the annual Indy 500 Victory Celebration at the JW Marriott in downtown Indianapolis.

The payouts for the 107th Indy 500:

1. Josef Newgarden, $3,666,000
2. Marcus Ericsson, $1,043,000
3. Santino Ferrucci, $481,800
4. Alex Palou, $801,500
5. Alexander Rossi, $574,000
6. Scott Dixon, $582,000
7. Takuma Sato, $217,300
8. Conor Daly, $512,000
9. Colton Herta, $506,500
10. Rinus VeeKay, $556,500
11. Ryan Hunter‐Reay, $145,500
12. Callum Ilott, $495,500
13. Devlin DeFrancesco, $482,000
14. Scott McLaughlin, $485,000
15. Helio Castroneves, $481,500
16. Tony Kanaan, $105,000
17. Marco Andretti, $102,000
18. Jack Harvey, $472,000
19. Christian Lundgaard, $467,500
20. Ed Carpenter, $102,000
21. Benjamin Pedersen (R), $215,300
22. Graham Rahal, $565,500*
23. Will Power, $488,000
24. Pato O’Ward, $516,500
25. Simon Pagenaud, $465,500
26. Agustín Canapino (R), $156,300
27. Felix Rosenqvist, $278,300
28. Kyle Kirkwood, $465,500
29. David Malukas, $462,000
30. Romain Grosjean, $462,000
31. Sting Ray Robb (R), $463,000
32. RC Enerson (R), $103,000
33. Katherine Legge, $102,000

*–Broken down between two teams, $460,000 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, $105,500 Dreyer & Reinbold Racing/Cusick Motorsports