“I warned them”: Zak Brown slams IndyCar team owners who do ‘disservice’ to Roger Penske

Roger Penske, owner of Team Penske and Penske Entertainment, has owned the series since 2019. The series has gained some popularity, but has still not reached the same popularity as Formula One. The Arrow McLaren team boss, Zak Brown, spoke about how he recently chatted with Penske about how the series can be improved.

The 88-year-old took ownership of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway first in 2019, followed by the IndyCar series, which had been owned by the Hulman family since 1947. After his takeover, the series has seen significant changes in various aspects, including viewership. However, some team owners, including Brown, feel more changes can be made to the series.

The Arrow McLaren team owner, while speaking with Forbes recently, mentioned having a chat with the Penske Entertainment owner about improving the series. He also highlighted how the other team owners do Roger Penske a 'disservice' by not telling him what needs to be improved.

“I had a good meeting this morning with ‘The Captain. We spoke about everything, and it was very productive. I shared my views on things in a very productive, constructive manner. I was very encouraged that I think they recognize the issues and the opportunities.But I am disappointed in some of the team owners that when ‘The Captain’ is not around, they say another thing. And I think that does a disservice, actually, to Roger, because he probably gets conflicting information when he’s not around the teams, and when he's around, it's like, ‘Hey, everything's great. I was like, ‘That’s not what you said 20 minutes ago,’” he said (via Forbes).

"We covered everything from tech to cars, the fans, the races, conflict of interest, the perception of conflict of interest, and I felt he was listening to me. I called it as I see it, which I think is the right way to do it.“I warned them. I did say I’m seeing media later, and I always share my opinion, and they went, ‘Yeah, we know,’” Brown added

As Roger Penske assumed ownership of the IndyCar series and the IMS, it created a very complicated structure of a team owner becoming the owner of the series. This raised many questions about the conflict of interest among the fans.

---

Roger Penske speaks about axing his team's key individuals

As a team owner, Roger Penske faced the tough decision of parting ways with his top team personnel after the Indy 500 scandal was brought to light during the Indianapolis 500 qualifying. He spoke about the same while in an interview with Fox Sports.

On May 21, Team Penske announced it no longer had affiliations with Tim Cindric, IndyCar managing director Ron Ruzewski, and IndyCar general manager Kyle Moyer. Roger Penske spoke to Jamie Little about the incident and expressed his disappointment.

"I really have to go back four and a half years ago when we bought the speedway and I said that I would invest capital, I'd get the best people, and we take the series and certainly Indianapolis Motor Speedway to higher levels,” he said (0:25 onwards).

“I think we've done that, then I look at my right hand and say, ‘What about Team Penske?’ And when I think about Team Penske, we really had an organization failure two times, not once but two times, and believe me, it hurts me in my gut when you think about it,” Roger Penske added.

Scott McLaughlin's car #3 was the only Team Penske car to pass the inspection. However, McLaughlin could not complete the Indy 500 as he crashed out on his warm-up lap.