Penske stands strong with Hornish as he starts over

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- To understand the way Roger Penske is accustomed to doing business, all that is required is a quick glance around the Penske Automotive Group's 42-acre complex on the outskirts of Phoenix.

To call it an automobile dealership would be to do it a great disservice, for it is so much more. It is multiple dealerships in one, none of them offering what average, middle-class Americans would call low-end automobiles. Over there are the Land Rovers, Volvos and Mini-Coopers, but they are little more than appetizers at a place that also features makes such as BMW, Mercedes-Benz and a pre-owned gallery of stars that make the eyes water -- Aston Martin, Lamborghini, Maserati, Ferrari, Porsche, Rolls Royce and even a couple of Bentleys.

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In the market for an Aston Martin DB9 similar to the one Nextel Cup driver Denny Hamlin drives? You can find one here for a mere $154,788. There also is a used Lamborghini similar to the one favored by driver Tony Stewart, available for a mere $239,000. Of course you might prefer to step up to the pre-owned ("used" is such a pedestrian term) Lamborghini Murcielago LP 640 Convertible.

With 3,835 miles on it, it can be had for $409,750.

"We sell 1,000 cars a month out of here," Penske says proudly. He doesn't have to add that his sales associates don't need to sell many of these types of machines to make lots of money.

Then there is the Penske Museum that holds a prominent place in the Scottsdale complex and an even more favored position in owner Penske's own heart. The main floor is 8,000 square feet and on Saturday night featured all 14 of Penske's winning Indy 500 cars, plus a stock car that used to be piloted by Rusty Wallace and a 1958 Pontiac that was once driven by the Captain himself in a NASCAR event at Riverside, Calif. Upstairs is another 22,000 square feet of what is described as "indoor/outdoor function space, including two floors plus a mezzanine with a collapsible glass wall."

The museum is spotless and shiny all over. Each of the cars on display is maintained so that it still starts with the turn of a key or press of a button, depending on the era from which it hails -- another fact Penske is eager to disclose.

Penske, dressed smartly as always but casually in sports jacket and a white, open-collared shirt, is ever the gracious host. But on this night, he is not here to sell cars or pump up his beloved museum. He's here to sell Sam Hornish Jr., and perhaps pump him up as well.

Hornish is the three-time IndyCar champion and winner of the 2006 Indianapolis 500 who is one in a wave of open-wheel drivers making the crossover to NASCAR. This is his night. Although the fact that he is going to drive full-time in what next season will be called the Sprint Cup Series is no longer even a poorly-kept secret (it is, in fact, no secret at all), this is the night Penske has planned to make the announcement official and unveil Hornish's No. 77 Dodge that will be sponsored by Mobil 1, the Official Motor Oil of NASCAR.

Never mind that a few hours earlier, Hornish's struggles to make a successful transition to stock car racing hit another very public bump in the road. He ventured too low on the apron coming out of a turn during Saturday's Busch Series race at Phoenix International Raceway, spun up the track and crashed into another competitor, ending his latest effort to fit in after only 22 laps.

"I was spinning [Saturday] and in the middle of the smoke cloud, I wondered again if I made the right decision," Hornish says, laughing. "But we're going to keep working at it until we figure it out." (Continued)