INDIANAPOLIS — Roger Penske attempted to close the latest cheating scandal engulfing his race team — this one in conjunction with his beloved Indianapolis 500 — by firing his top three executives at Team Penske after two of the organization’s cars were found to be illegal during qualifying.
Penske fired team president Tim Cindric, IndyCar managing director Ron Ruzewski and IndyCar general manager Kyle Moyer on Wednesday in the wake of a cheating scandal that came to light last weekend as the field was set for this Sunday’s Indy 500.
“Nothing is more important than the integrity of our sport and our race teams,” Penske said in a release. “We have had 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.”
Penske is the owner of not only the three-car team, but the IndyCar Series, Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the Indy 500, which he has won a record 20 times.
The firings and Penske’s statement have been his first public reaction since driver Josef Newgarden — a two-time season champion on the American open-wheel circuit and the winner of the past two editions of the Indy 500 — and teammate Will Power were found to have an illegally modified spec part on their cars ahead of this past Sunday’s final round of qualifications for the 109th running of “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing.”