That’s the view of Australian motorsport mainstay Paul Morris, who has weighed in on the topic following the sacking of three of Team Penske’s top management.
Morris has firsthand experience of and plenty of connections within the American racing scene, while also observing the ‘Penske Way’ during the empire’s time in Supercars.
The 2014 Bathurst 1000 winner pointed out that there’s “plenty of footprints in the snow” from previous Team Penske indiscretions.
“They push the rules, they push the boundaries,” he said, noting that’s not unusual practice in US classes such as NASCAR. “They’ll get away with what they think they can get away with.”
However, the conflict of interest resulting from Penske owning the IndyCar Series and Indianapolis Motor Speedway, as well as the team, has increased tensions in this case.
“Effectively everyone is on his payroll, so there needs to be even more transparency,” he said.
Morris offered his own theory on why the offending modification to the attenuators on two of the Penske cars was suddenly pulled up by officials during Sunday qualifying at Indy.
The fact the modification is visible in images from previous races – and sits on the 2024 Indy 500-winning car at the IMS museum – has been among the many talking points this week.
“I think the whistle-blower here is Chip Ganassi,” said Morris, referencing Penske’s long-time rival, whose eponymous team runs three full-time IndyCar entries.
“When you look at everything that’s happened, in my opinion that guy has been pointing stuff out behind the scenes and saying, ‘we need to tidy this stuff up’.
“No one has and Penske has been allowed to get away with some stuff and then he’s called them out, he’s had the balls to call someone very powerful out.
“How do you do that? Well when you do it, you’ve probably got to do it in a position where they can’t politic or manipulate themselves out of it.
“For Ganassi that was on national TV when all eyes are on IndyCar in qualifying for the top 12.
“If he really wanted to be an arsehole, he probably could have done it at the end of the race, but Ganassi cares enough about the sport that he doesn’t want to blow the whole sport up.
“But he knows something needs to be done. It was a pretty strategic move I thought.”
McLaughlin swipes rivals for blowing Penske saga ‘out of proportion’
The creation of an independent body to administer key sporting elements of the IndyCar Series now seems inevitable.
While that should mark positive change, Morris says a sad reality sits with 88-year-old Penske’s reputation.
“The sad part about all this is the reputation of Roger Penske is now tarnished,” he said.
“Will that ever be put back intact after this? I don’t think so. It’s a sad thing really.”
Team Penske’s achievements include 20 Indianapolis 500 victories as well as countless championship wins across IndyCar, NASCAR, sportscars and Australian Supercars.
A member of almost every Hall of Fame connected to US motorsport, Penske’s entire business empire is reported by Forbes to be worth AU$9 billion.
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