"I bought this from Roger Penske": Zak Brown unlocks stories in his car collection

McLaren CEO Zak Brown featured in ESPN F1’s recent YouTube video as the 53-year-old showcased his car collection while sharing the stories and memories behind the vehicles. One of the cars showcased by Brown was Emerson Fittipaldi's championship-winning IndyCar as the American shared the Roger Penske story related to the car.

Zak Brown was questioned about his favorite car from the collection, the one with the most significance. The McLaren CEO suggested that they all do, but for different reasons. However, Brown started with Emerson Fittipaldi's championship-winning 1989 Patrick Racing IndyCar in the iconic Marlboro livery.

1990 Autoworks 200 Phoenix - Source: Getty

He suggested that he bought the car from billionaire Roger Penske and shared how he idolizes the Team Penske owner. Brown said,

“Emerson Fittipaldi, the first McLaren world champion. This is his 1989 car that he won the championship in. I was fortunate, I bought this from Roger Penske, who's one of if not my hero in motorsports because he had a much more successful career than me to date.

"But similar in that he started as a driver, then built an awesome racing team, built an unbelievable business from racing, and obviously now owns the IndyCar.” (0:40 onwards)

Fittipaldi was McLaren's first F1 champion, who won the F1 title in 1974. The Brazilian later moved to IndyCar in the 80s and brought the Marlboro sponsorship to the American open-wheel racing series.

The Marlboro livery was first seen on the Patrick Racing IndyCar. Roger Penske signed Fittipaldi in 1990, and the F1 champion brought Marlboro to Penske Racing (now Team Penske).

Zak Brown recalled how Fittipaldi won his first Indy 500 and IndyCar championship in the 1989 car he highlighted and detailed the stories from that year's Indy 500:

“Emerson won the 1989 Indy 500 in this car. I remember it like it was yesterday. It was a very famous race where Emerson and Al Unser Jr. were dicing at the end, and Unser Jr. went into the wall, and Fittipaldi won his first Indy 500 and went on to win the championship."

The McLaren CEO said he's a huge Fittipaldi fan and that he also has the Brazilian’s F2 car and the first F1 World Championship car in his collection. Brown shared the story of how Roger Penske called him to get advice about putting the car on auction and ended up selling it to him instead.

The iconic Mario Andretti cars in Zak Brown’s collection

After the Emerson Fittipaldi car, Zak Brown showed the other iconic cars in his collection. She showcased Mario Andretti's Formula 5000 car and the iconic Lotus 79 in which Mario won the F1 championship.

Motorsport - First Lap Ceremony at Texas F1 Track - Source: Getty

The McLaren CEO also called the 1987 Newman Haas Racing IndyCar driven by Mario his favorite Andretti car, as the legend won the Long Beach GP and the pole for the Indy 500 in the very same car.

He recalled when he and Andretti went out in F1 cars at COTA, as Brown suggested that he's never seen someone as passionate about driving as Andretti.

Zak Brown revealed that he keeps all his McLaren collectible cars at the Top Gear test track since that's where he brings the sponsors and friends to have fun. That collection includes Ayrton Senna's 1991 McLaren.