ST. PETERSBURG – Will Power enters this weekend’s Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg with not one, but two targets on his back.
He’s not only the defending race champion, but for the first time in his career he’s finally the defending Verizon IndyCar Series series champion and rocks the No. 1 on his Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet.
Not that that’s changed him. Far from it.
The Australian, whose mental game has grown by leaps and bounds over the years to match what was already a surreal talent on road and street courses and now ovals, is as poised and focused for the 2015 season as he has been in any of his past years.
“There’s no mindset change. It’s the same intensity as always. You just get after it,” Power told MotorSportsTalk in the run up to St. Petersburg this weekend.
“You go out there and do the absolute best you can do. You’re there to win races. That’s the whole goal.”
While Power’s St. Pete win a year ago should have been a harbinger of things to come – and it was from a title standpoint – he didn’t boast as high a season-win total as he has previously in his career.
After the season opener, Power won only twice more all season, at Detroit race one and Milwaukee.
What used to be a race to five or six wins in a year has since turned into a race to three or four, given the parity and variety in the field.
Each of the last two years, there have been double digit race winners. Meanwhile Power has won three races in each of the last three years; his total of nine in three years is two less than the 11 he achieved with the old car in his first two full-time seasons with Team Penske in 2010 and 2011.
“Unless there’s a big disparity between the two manufacturers, it’s very difficult to win more than three or four races,” Power said. “If you win four, chances are you’re winning the championship.”
Not that Power minds. Last year’s title meant so much, he said, because of the diversity and the fact it wasn’t a walk in the park.
“It wouldn’t be fun otherwise!” he said. “You’ve gotta have tough teammates and tough competition, and it’s way more satisfying doing it against the current field versus a dominant victory or championships. That’s what I love about IndyCar. There’s a different winner any week. It keeps you digging!”
The big question heading into 2015 of course is whether the new aero kits – which produce a much higher amount of downforce – will alter the playing field and skew the competitive landscape.
Power, who’s said in the past he’d prefer a car with more horsepower and less downforce, has actually taken to the new car quite nicely even though it’s got the opposite effect.
“The grip is insane. It was very fast. It’s amazing how much speed you can carry into the corners,” Power said.
“Yeah it’s definitely changed the way you can drive the car. I actually like it. You can drive it a different style. The other car undesteered a lot. This one, you can get it a little bit freer. It’s more grip everywhere, so it’s kind of a nice problem. There’s a slight imbalance, but the downforce will take it over and make the car feel pretty good.”
Power thinks the racing will still be close, although he isn’t sure how the dirty air will affect passing opportunities.
“It will be interesting to see. On paper you’d say there would be less passing because you’ve added more downforce in turbulent air. We’ll see how it plays out.
“The other side of the coin is that the temperatures will drop off even more. If it’s a hot day, the tires will degrade more.
“Yeah it’s gonna be interesting this weekend. This will be the first time we’ve raced close behind other cars.”
The other question Power will no doubt be asked repeatedly throughout 2015 is how he’ll adjust to the four-car dynamic at Team Penske. Power’s 2014 teammates Juan Pablo Montoya and Helio Castroneves return, but the added dynamic of past adversary Simon Pagenaud as the fourth driver adds intrigue.
Power essentially channeled his inner Taylor Swift when asked, more or less shaking off the prospect that Pagenaud will be a thorn in his side.
“There’s just a lot more information flowing and more to analyze. It’s definitely good,” he said. “Especially with the new aero kit, it’s good to have so many data points.
“All the teammates are really fast too. You still have to get the most out of yourself, and you still have to beat everyone. We do this to win races, not just beat your teammates.”
In the near-seven month offseason, Power said he hasn’t had to perform a ton of ambassadorial or PR duties in the wake of his championship.
He has played unofficial PR man for his comedian brother Damien’s upcoming shows, and Will said if Damien can watch, he’s going to live tweet Sunday’s race – much as he did the Auto Club finale last August.
All told though, St. Petersburg represents the kickoff for IndyCar’s overdue first-time champion’s defense tour. And he knows he has to raise his game to match,
“It’s stupid tight. Nothing’s changed,” Power said. “It’s still good teams and good drivers.
“You can’t leave anything on the table. It’s what makes IndyCar so great.”
Just consider what the 86-year-old billionaire has accomplished last Sunday.
At 12:40 p.m. last Sunday, Penske greeted the massive crowd of 330,000 spectators at the 107th Indianapolis 500 and gave the command, “Drivers, Start Your Engines” to begin the big race. Since 2019, Penske has been the owner of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the Indianapolis 500 and IndyCar.
Over three hours later, Penske was standing on top of the Pagoda, the massive suite and command post of Indianapolis Motor Speedway, watching the dramatic conclusion of the Indy 500 with his wife, Kathy, son Greg, Penske Corp. marketing director Jonathan Gibson, and Penske Corp. president Bud Denker.
When Penske saw his driver, Josef Newgarden, cross the start/finish line as the winner, he thrust his left fist in the air in an enthusiastic fashion and celebrated with his closest associates.
“I’m up on the very top of the Pagoda and I have a screen up there with all the times of every (Team Penske) car, each lap and I have a TV and a radio that I can’t talk (to the teams) on,” Penske said. “I can go from the channels of 2 (Newgaren), 3 (Scott McLaughlin) or 12 (Will Power) just listening to where we are.
“I have my own idea to what I might have done, but when I heard (Team Penske president) Tim Cindric say we had to take our time, when he said we were on plan at 100 laps, we were actually ahead of where we wanted to be. They were saving fuel, to be in the right window, which was right on.
“It was amazing when you think about all of the things that happened. If we didn’t have that wreck on the front straightaway, it would have been different.
“It’s a crazy place. It’s rewarding. That’s why we are here to race.”
In addition to owning the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Penske is also the winningest car owner in Indy 500 history and Sunday’s win was a record-extending 19th win in the 500-Mile Race.
It was the first time Penske, the car owner, won the Indy 500 since Penske, the track owner, officially took over the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Jan. 6, 2020.
Roger Penske (Bruce Martin Photo)
With the purchase, he also put some professional distance between himself and Team Penske after calling strategy in the race for many years.
“After you have been on your face for three of four years qualifying here, it’s nice to be up again,” Penske said. “We won nine races last year, won the championship and qualified in the back half of the field. Then we came back here this year, and we worked so hard.
“Guys have better ideas than we do. You have to hand it to them. The cars are legal, I’m sure. Rocket (IndyCar technical director Kevin Blanch) and those guys aren’t going to let that happen and we don’t want it to happen.
“We have to figure out what the magic is so we can be up front at the beginning (of the Indy 500).
“You have to take the good with the bad. You have to eat crow when you have to eat crow. I’ve had good days and bad days, but the good news is we are the same team whether we win or whether we lose and that is the most important thing.
“We are committed.”
Penske was still celebrating in Victory Lane when the placard that designates his parking spot (between the Pagoda and IMS media center) was changed from “18” to “19” to signify the number of times he has won the Indianapolis 500.
“He was hoping to get to 19, and it happened,” Penske’s son, Greg, who is the Vice Chairman of the Penske Corporation told NBC Sports. “It was special for our whole team, our family, and our 70,000-plus team members around the world. And our partners. Shell, in its first race to win with renewable fuel and it happened to be their car. They have been such a great partner over the years.
“That was so exciting to see that all come together as one team.
“It’s always a great feeling to wake up and say, ‘Man, we did this as a team, and we did this together.’
“Now, we move on to Detroit and move forward. Bud Denker and the team, it will be exciting over there, too.”
On Monday night, Penske attended the Indianapolis 500 Victory Celebration at the JW Marriott in Indianapolis. About 565 miles away, Penske’s NASCAR Cup Series team was competing in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
“I watched it until I had to go to the banquet,” Penske said Thursday morning in Detroit. “Then I had my iPhone sitting on the table there.
“With 50 laps to go, I didn’t know who to watch or what to watch while I was at the (Indianapolis 500) banquet.”
One of Penske’s NASCAR drivers, Ryan Blaney, went on to win the Coca-Cola 600.
It was yet another first for Penske – the first time he won the Indianapolis 500 and the Coca-Cola 600 in the same year. The only reason it wasn’t in the same day is because the NASCAR race had been rained out and rescheduled for the following day.
The accomplishment, however, remains impressive.
“That’s what we are here for, to set goals for other people to try to achieve,” Penske said. “The 19th win at Indianapolis was long overdue when you think about the past. It was a great race. It could have been anybody’s race.
“We were able to execute at the right time.”
Penske enjoyed more success in 24 hours than most team owners or businessmen would experience in a season, or even in a career.
But Penske immediately switched his focus to this weekend’s Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix. The NTT IndyCar Series race is the first time this event has been contested on the streets of downtown Detroit since 1991 and is a massive undertaking.
There isn’t anything too big that Roger Penske and his team can’t accomplish, however.
“The good news is we have great weather, and we will be able to showcase the people in the city that don’t normally get a chance to go to the race at Belle Isle in the past can get a chance to come here and see what is going on,” Penske said Thursday. “The economic benefit for the city is going to be terrific.
“Mike Montri, Bud Denker and Chevrolet and the whole team, what they have put together here is an amazing job. Knowing what it takes to start fresh in a city on the city streets is amazing.”
Moving the race from Belle Isle, its home since 1992, back to the streets of Detroit is a massive undertaking, but Penske said it was time to leave the Island.
“We had a lot of noise from people because we were taking Belle Isle, a place where a lot of constituents in Detroit have weddings and things like that,” Penske said. “We cleaned up the island.
“We are going to make this a big event by coming to downtown Detroit. With the support of GM and ourselves, it was a home run.
“Last week, when the mayor of Detroit and the city council took down the 25 mph street signs and put up 200 mph, that was the day when I knew that we had made it.”
Win the Indianapolis 500 win on Sunday, the Coca-Cola 600 victory on Monday and then turning downtown Detroit into a street course and stage the race this weekend, it would be easy to expect Penske to take a break afterward.
Not so.
He will be off to Le Mans for the famed 24 Hours of Le Mans Sports Car race June 10-11 with Porsche Penske Motorsport aiming for an overall victory with its 963 hybrid prototype.
“We want to win Le Mans, that is what we would like to do,” Penske said. “We have three good cars. It’s going to be competitive. The Balance of Performance, we’ll see how that works. They made some changes, but right now, I’m sure the Toyotas have the edge.
“Just to go there and compete this first year with Porsche is something we have wanted to do for a long time. It’s a quality brand, a long-term contract so we can build on it this year.”
Penske and his son Greg are constantly looking forward, instead of taking too much time to celebrate their successes.
Greg Penske with Indy 500 winner Josef Newgarden (Chris Owens/Penske Entertainment)
But both men realize what a huge success last week’s Indianapolis 500 was from both a competitive and business standpoint.
“After being stewards of the place here and all the hard work that everyone has put in and the team, what they have done to get back to winning, it was exciting,” Greg Penske told NBC Sports. “We had a lot of competition. Probably the best competition we’ve ever had to race against.
“It was exciting. To be up there and see the move Josef made and how they raced. It was quite a finish for the fans and for everybody.
“Great news. No one left. It was nice to see everyone staying and they wanted to see a great finish. That was exciting.
“It was exciting for everybody.”
The massive crowd of 330,000 fans was the largest to watch the Indianapolis 500 since 350,000 fans attended the sold-out 100th running in 2016.
It serves as proof of what can be done when people such as Penske and his staff get out and promote the event.
“The Indy 500 has always been a spectacular event,” Greg Penske said. “People want to come. It’s Americana. It’s amazing when you take a look at it. The people that came here from 50 different countries and all around the world.
“There is nothing like it. To get this many people to come in, but it’s still one guest at a time. That is something that is really important to us. Every experience is a good one. We have to keep working on that. I’m sure there will be opportunities for us to execute and get even better.”
The day after the Indianapolis 500, Roger Penske spoke to a small group of reporters during the annual Indianapolis 500 victory photo shoot at the Yard of Bricks.
He emphasized it wasn’t just the size of the crowd, it was also the changing face of those in attendance.
“That was some crowd,” he said. “And it was real.
“Owning the track is something we have done over the years. When (former IMS owner) Tony George came, I didn’t realize when I said yes, what I was really signing up for.
“What we signed up for was to make it better and make it a place where everybody wants to come and have fun. The demographics, so many kids coming out here with their families.
“I stood out at Turn 3 here earlier in the week and watched those cars go into Turn 3 at 240 miles an hour and to think you can go out there for $45 with your kids and watch it. It costs me more than that to go to a movie in Detroit than to sit out there.
“This is what we have to do. It’s generational. People come here. They want to keep their tickets. If we can make it fun and exciting as it was yesterday at the end, not many people left. It was amazing that not many people left.”
Roger Penske with his wife, Kathy, at the Indy 500 awards ceremony (Bruce Martin Photo)
Penske is involved in all aspects of his business. He revealed that he used helicopters to take overhead shots of the crowd before and after the race to help improve crowd control in future Indianapolis 500s.
“We had a helicopter every half hour from 7:30 a.m. on taking pictures so we could sit down as a team and look exactly how the place filled up and how it was at closing,” Penske explained. “We can look at where we had pinch points. That’s the most important thing, to make it easier to get in and easier to get out.
“Over in the Snake Pit, there are some things we can do where people can sit on the mounds.
“We had two screens on the back straightaway that were temporary. I want to put a big screen on the back of the grandstands coming off Turn 4 – a big one – so that when you are on the viewing mounds, you can see. Those are the things we have to do and that will only make it a better experience and to grow it.
“I don’t want to take any credit for filling it up. What we are doing is trying to take a product that took 106 years to build into what it is. All we are trying to do is sustain it and bring it up to the current standards from the standpoint of expectations. Whether it’s you as a family or kid, it’s whatever you have.
“That’s how we run our business.
“No risk, no reward. It was great.”
Penske has taken plenty of risks during his career, but he is calculated with every move that he takes when guiding his race team, or his business empire.
That is why he is able to enjoy the tremendous rewards that come with his success.
“Every victory for us and for the team and for my father, what he has been able to build over the years, it is exciting for all of us,” Greg Penske admitted. “He feels the same way.
“Being on top of the podium, as we all know, never gets old. But it takes execution, and it takes hard work.
“The teams here and how they commit to be here and make sure we are successful; I’ve never seen it so competition. Think about qualifying being 14 inches over 10 miles. That’s a pretty close margin.
“It’s always exciting. For him to continue to drive and to work the way he does is pretty amazing.
“I’ve had a front row seat for that and I’m very excited to be a part of it.”
