Image via Team Penske
After the latest Indy 500 cheating accusations were leveled at Team Penske, Roger Penske himself has stepped in and cleaned house. It’s the second time in almost two years that the team has been penalized for rule violations ahead of an IndyCar race. Apparently, that’s all it took for the head boss to make heads roll.
A special race will take place at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Friday.
As a result, Josef Newgarden and Will Power will start from the final two spots on the grid for the Indy 500 this Sunday. On top of that, IndyCar has suspended the team strategists for the Nos. 2 and 12 for this race, plus both cars forfeit their qualification points as well as pit box selections. Each will also have to pay a $100,000 fine, according to an AP report.
IndyCar president Doug Boles was rather matter-of-fact when asked on May 19 about the penalties Team Penske faces. “We need our biggest stakeholders, the people that are investing in our sport, to believe that it’s a level playing field, and that they have every chance as anybody else does to win the Indianapolis 500, so we’re all singing from the same songbook.”
Roger Penske himself made a rather succinct statement about the fiasco: “Nothing is more important than the integrity of our sport and our race teams. WE have organizational failures during the last two years, and we had to make necessary changes. I apologize to our fans, our partners, and our organization for letting them down.”
In other words, he’s taking responsibility while also cleaning house. We’re fans of bosses not passing the buck.
That means Team Penske IndyCar President Tim Cindric, IndyCar Managing Director Ron Ruzewski, and IndyCar General Manager Kyle Moyer are all out. Apparently, more firings are coming.
Reactions among fans online run the spectrum. While some say the decision by Penske is one of integrity, others claim Roger Penske is “the problem” or that those fired were merely fall guys and not the ones behind any violations.
Of course, comments on social media can be rather wild and not based on a shred of reality. That’s why we take them with a grain of salt.
Whether fans like it or not, IndyCar has taken the violations seriously and Roger Penske has followed suit, even if it means his team loses big on Sunday.
Image via Team Penske
