Roger Penske drove just once in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. In 1963, he took the wheel of a Ferrari entered by the North American Racing Team (NART), the team set up by three-time former winner Luigi Chinetti. This was the year that saw the introduction of time-based qualifying, replacing the previous arrangement where the cars lined up according to engine capacity, with the largest at the front of the grid. With Penske’s teammate, Pedro Rodríguez of Mexico lapping quickest in a time of 3:50.9 (an average of 209 kph), the American took the wheel of the first pole-winning car in the history of the 24 Hours of Le Mans! The #10 Ferrari 330 TRI was never lower than sixth overall until the ninth hour of the race. After taking the wheel with the car lying in third place, a broken oil pipe forced Penske off the track and out of the race.

Penske did not return to Le Mans until eight years later. In the meantime, he had ended his driving career to run his own business and develop his activity as a team owner. In 1970, he and his talismanic driver/engineer Mark Donohue began to make plans to enter the 24 Hours of Le Mans the following year.

At the start of the 1971 season, the midnight blue Ferrari 512 M put in promising appearances at the 24 Hours of Daytona (pole position and third overall) and the 12 Hours of Sebring. At Le Mans qualifying, Donohue and his co-driver David Hobbs, fourth, led the armada of eight 512s entered by privateers in the absence of a works team. Incidentally, Donohue clocked the fastest time ever recorded by a Ferrari prototype at the Circuit des 24 Heures. The Anglo-American pairing remained in the leading group until engine trouble forced the retirement of the #11 512 M in the sixth hour when lying in second place behind the Porsche 917 L Gulf of Pedro Rodríguez and Jackie Oliver.

How did you hear about the Le Mans 24 Hours before you actually competed there in 1963?

Roger Penske: I guess I put Le Mans in the category of the Indianapolis 500. These are the two of the greatest races ever around the world.  We had a relationship with Luigi Chinetti. He was a Ferrari distributor in New York, and because I was a racer, he contacted me and asked me if I’d like to run in the 24 Hours. At that point, I teamed up with Pedro Rodríguez. I knew Pedro and his brother Ricardo, because we raced against them in the United States in sportscar racing. That was a wonderful time for me being able to race there. The Mulsanne Straight did not have chicanes then.  It was just amazing when you see it today, with the speeds and the technology generated out of that. Today, drivers look at technology, lap times; we had none of that in those days. I remember I missed a shift coming out of the corner at the end of the Mulsanne Straight. Joachim Bonnier and I walked back to the pit area and it was interesting, with the crowd, we had all the cars in the garage near the track and we could see all the Ferraris lined up. It was not like today's secret environment. It was a great experience.

You hung up your helmet in the mid-sixties to run your own business...

I was about to become a motor dealer with General Motors and Chevrolet and that commitment implied that I would have to stop racing. On top of that, my father was on the eve of retiring, and he loaned me $50,000 saying that if I lost it, he would go back to work. I did not want to let him down, but it was the right time for me. My knowledge as a driver served me for my business career.

Could you tell us about the process that led you to enter a Ferrari 512 M in 1971 and your partnership with Kirk White?

Kirk White was a businessman who supported me like a personal sponsor in those days. For the car, we made our own bodywork for the 512 M and I remember we had to change everything from the previous model. We had Traco preparing the engine in those days but, unfortunately, we had a failure. But we built a team and Le Mans meant so much to us. It was something I wanted to accomplish as a team, and I still do.

On which aspects did your driver Mark Donohue contribute to the development of this Ferrari 512 M?"

Mark was a mechanical engineer and he had such insight from a driver to the fact of being able to prepare the car and I think that was where we probably had an edge because we just did not take a car that someone delivered to us. We could look after it from a mechanical and aerodynamic aspect, which the others probably did not do, but at that time Mark played a big part in our success.

Special thanks to Louis Monnier, Ben Cussons (Chairman of the Royal Automobile Club) and Roger Penske.

Photo (Louis Monnier, ACO) – Roger Penske left his mark on Ferrari history in his solitary appearance as a driver at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1963. He and Pedro Rodríguez drove a 330 TRI/LM – the last front-engined Ferrari prototype seen in the French endurance classic.