Penske Is Buying Indianapolis Speedway and IndyCar Series

(Bloomberg) -- Billionaire Roger Penske’s company is buying the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the IndyCar Series of racing events, waving the checkered flag on 74 years of ownership by the Hulman family.

Penske Corp.’s Penske Entertainment division is acquiring the storied racetrack, IndyCar and a production unit for undisclosed terms, Hulman & Co. said Monday.

The annual Indianapolis 500 at the speedway is the premier competition in U.S. open-wheel racing. At a news conference Monday, Penske traced his fascination with the event back to a first visit with his father at age 14, in 1951.

“Today, I hope my dad’s looking down on me and saying, ‘Son, you did a good job,’” said Penske, a former professional driver whose racing interests include IndyCar and Nascar teams.

Tony George, chairman of the Hulman family business, choked up as he talked about giving up ownership of the speedway, which his grandfather Tony Hulman bought in 1945.

“This one is extra-special to us because we’ve grown up around it,” George said after recounting the family’s 170 years in various Indiana businesses. “Our kids and grandkids have done the same.” He added that the family had “realized we had taken it as far as we can.”

Talking Stewardship

George said he approached Penske after the final race of the season earlier this year and said he wanted to talk to him about “stewardship” of the speedway and IndyCar. Emails led quickly to meetings and due diligence, with no word of the surprise transaction emerging until Monday morning.

Penske said he would walk the entire facility on Tuesday and start meeting with the Hulman team to discuss their top 10 ideas. He raised possibilities such as adding a 24-hour race or a Formula One competition at the speedway but said final decisions would wait.

“This business is not broken,” Penske said. “We’re looking forward to seeing what we can do to make IndyCar even stronger.”

Penske said he would be open to Hulman family members taking a stake in the new business, and George said the family wants to remain involved. The parties expect the deal to close by early January.

The Indianapolis 500 was first run in 1911. Comcast Corp.’s NBCUniversal signed a three-year deal in 2018 to broadcast the 500 and other IndyCar races, wresting the rights away from Walt Disney Co.’s ABC after several decades.

The Penske family has a fortune of at least $1.2 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Divisions of the family’s closely held Penske Corp. include publicly traded Penske Automotive Group Inc., a truck rental business and a logistics unit. The company manages businesses with consolidated revenue of more than $32 billion, according to its website.

--With assistance from Tom Metcalf.

To contact the reporter on this story: John J. Edwards III in Boston at jedwardsiii1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Nick Turner at nturner7@bloomberg.net, Rob Golum

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