109 replies to this topic

[Tom Smith]

Wow! That's a relief - not that I know Jerry Breon at all well, but he seemed a very nice guy all those years ago at Penske Racing, and I saw some of his railway modelling - in particular I remember a beautiful little piece of a bill-board in the process of being painted, the painter having a rest surrounded by cans of paint and brushes!

I'll get back to you regarding the PC6 - I'm running out of time at the moment...

I knew Jerry Breon before he worked for Penske. He built a model of Mark's Trans Am Camaro and showed it to RP. RP was impressed and hired Jerry to work on the racing team. I talked to Tom Wrutz at this years IRL race in Sonoma and he said Jerry still works in the shop.
One thing interesting is the snail on the Schwitzer blower in the pictures. It appears to have two scroll sizes on the hot side. Schwitzer is just north of Indianapolis. Some of the early turbo 4 cam Fords used Schwitzer blowers also, however most turbo Indy cars used Garrett Airesearch or ISHI turbos.

Edited by Tom Smith, 21 September 2009 - 04:45.

[Tony Matthews]

I knew Jerry Breon before he worked for Penske. He built a model of Mark's Trans Am Camaro and showed it to RP. RP was impressed and hired Jerry to work on the racing team. I talked to Tom Wrutz at this years IRL race in Sonoma and he said Jerry still works in the shop.
One thing interesting is the snail on the Schwitzer blower in the pictures. It appears to have two scroll sizes on the hot side. Schwitzer is just north of Indianapolis. Some of the early turbo 4 cam Fords used Schwitzer blowers also, however most turbo Indy cars used Garrett Airesearch or ISHI turbos.

Nice story about Jerry Breon, Tom.

The Schwitzer set-up looks smart, but the PC11 ran Garret turbos, I think all following Penskes did. It wasn't long before the complete system from headers to the hot side of the turbo were heavily insulated, so you couldn't see much! Although an engineer would say efficiently insulated, but as light as possible!

[Nigel Beresford]

Nice story about Jerry Breon, Tom.

The Schwitzer set-up looks smart, but the PC11 ran Garret turbos, I think all following Penskes did. It wasn't long before the complete system from headers to the hot side of the turbo were heavily insulated, so you couldn't see much! Although an engineer would say efficiently insulated, but as light as possible!

In my time (end of '91 onwards) it was always Garretts, but there were also some Holsets in there too post PC11, I think.

BTW Jerry's present job is facilities manager of the (huge) race shop in Mooresville.

Edited by Nigel Beresford, 21 September 2009 - 21:03.

[Tony Matthews]

In my time (end of '91 onwards) it was always Garretts, but there were also some Holsets in there too post PC11, I think.

BTW Jerry's present job is facilities manager of the (huge) race shop in Mooresville.

Thanks Nigel - and I now realize that I meant Holset! That's what comes of responding too quickly with a habit of mixing names... When the Garretts were used I can't say without checking (memo to self!)

Is Mooresville the Penske South operation? I always hoped that I would do a Nascar cutaway - perhaps I should have pitched it to RP!

[Nigel Beresford]

Is Mooresville the Penske South operation? I always hoped that I would do a Nascar cutaway - perhaps I should have pitched it to RP!

All 3 teams (NASCAR, IRL and Grand Am) are all now housed under one roof in Mooresville NC. Prior to that the IRL team and the Porsche team were based in Reading, PA, whilst the two NASCAR teams were based in two separate shops in a different area of Mooresville.

[penske1414]

hi tony.
long time admirer of your work. do you happen to have any penske chassis shots from 88 to say 93? shop shots, assembly shots,bare carcon shots....things of that nature. one other thing, considering it was never a very common occurance, do you have any shots of tubs that have been damaged or written off? damaged wings tires, wheels etc. i'm mostly interested in the penske items but of course, any will do.

[theWizard]

Ben,

 

How's your project going?  I'd like to renew this thread as I just purchased Chassis 005....lots of questions....lol!

[B Squared]

Congratulations on your PC10-005 purchase. Any history or photos you can share with us at this time? Thanks and enjoy!

[theWizard]

Sure, I'll start with some details, while I try to figure out the photo thing. Rick Mears drove this car to victory in the Pocono 500 in 82. Kevin Cogan also used it for some races in 82. Roger Mears drove it at Indy in 83 with Machinist Union sponsorship. After Penske's PC11s weren't doing so good he bought this car back and Rick won the Michigan 200 with it in late 83. In 84 Josele Garza ran the car.

It was then restored by Darrell Soppe from Penske, and sold at auction to Otis Chandler, who owned the Los Angeles Times. He kept it in his museum, and occasionally ran it at some track day events. He was a large guy and had a custom center top body piece made. Both tops are still with the car. It was then sold to Kenneth Funk who parked it for 20 years as it had been driven off the race track for the last time by Otis. And now it sits in my garage.

I guess I would like to bring it back alive. I will start by cleaning it up and refreshing the simple systems such as brakes and batteries and such, but I'll need some help from an expert to consider how to handle the Cosworth DFX. I'm trying to contact Darrell Soppe.

Edited by theWizard, 24 April 2015 - 04:18.

[B Squared]

Thanks for the information. Sounds like you have a very nice car with a good history. Based on the races listed above, I saw the car on track multiple times - it's a design I've always liked.