Penske

Interesting facts

Roger Penske entered Formula 1 in 1974, buying the former McRae Cars factory in Poole, Dorset; the resulting car, the PC1, was designed by Geoff Ferris. In 1975, Mark Donohue crashed during warm-up for the Austrian Grand Prix after a tyre failure at the Vöest-Hügel corner; he suffered a brain haemorrhage and died two days later, with a track marshal also killed in the accident. Exactly one year later, at the 1976 Austrian Grand Prix, John Watson scored Penske's only Formula 1 victory, also the first win for an American constructor since the 1967 Belgian Grand Prix. After the win, Watson shaved off his beard as the result of a bet with team owner Roger Penske. Roger Penske withdrew from Formula 1 at the end of the 1976 season to focus on IndyCar and Can-Am racing. Penske raced in Formula 1 from 1974 to 1977, across 4 seasons as an American team. The team scored a total of 23 constructors' championship points.