Roger Penske throws a pretty good party, 50 years of racing

[Jersey Tom]

Not sure if this best fits "other racing series" or "off topic." Maybe a little of both.

If you weren't aware, Team Penske kicks off it's 50th year of racing, between IndyCar, F1, Sportscar, and Stockcar racing. This kicked off with an event here in Charlotte, NC on Wednesday evening.

Can't turn down the invite to an event like that - it was a pretty good time.

Ordinarily I don't get excited about drivers. Some can be a bit of a hassle. Even with that, when Emmo Fittipaldi, Rick Mears, Gil de Ferran, David Hobbs, the Unsers, Bobby Allison, etc. show up - it at least makes you appreciate that it's a big deal! Not to mention former president Bush sending his regards via video message, and Jay Leno showing up to do a stand-up set.

If you're into open wheel racing and haven't watched IndyCar - you should - including this year's 100th running of the Indy 500. If you're any sort of race fan and haven't watched NASCAR, you should as well. Very close, very competitive racing with a pretty wild variety of race tracks and strategy to win any given race.

[Tommy Cookers]

to some of us Roger Penske was the Zerex Special driver who made such an impact 50+ years ago ......

this was a 1961 Cooper F1 car cleverly converted into a driver centre-seat 'sportscar' that was quicker than anything
eg quicker than the Cooper Monacos that others had (conventional cars with a left side passenger seat and a right side driver's seat)

for the 1962 season the Zerex was race-legal and Roger beat the established drivers eg in Puerto Rico and UK Brands Hatch
(for 63 the rules were tightened and the Zerex converted to left-and right seat form - still lighter/narrower than the Monacos ??)

in 64 Bruce McLaren bought the Zerex and developed/raced it with a modified Oldsmobile F85 alloy V8, the first McLaren

now the Cooper Monaco is a bicycle