The Indy 500, which was shaken by the Penske fraud scandal, fights to shift the focus on the race

At the end of the 109th Indianapolis 500 on Sunday, the organizers hope that fans and media talk more about the result of the race than the scandal, Roger Penske and his racing team destroyed with allegations of fraud.

This could be difficult to achieve after Mr. Penske-Eine of the most powerful personalities in American Motorsports and owners of the Indy 500 Track and IndyCar-Serie after a second major technical violation in 13 months have announced the departure of several high-ranking leaders of Team Penske.

“Nothing is more important than the integrity of our sport and our racing teams,” said Penske with the nickname “The Captain” when he announced the departures of team president Tim Cindric, the managing director of Indycar, Ron Ruzewski, and General Manager of Indycar, Kylle Moyer. “We have had organizational failures in the past two years and had to make necessary changes. I apologize to our fans, our partners and our organization for letting them down.”

Robert Schwartzman (Prema Racing) is the first rookie pole winner with an average of four rounds of 232.790 miles per hour during qualification. Takuma Sato (RLL), a twice Indy 500 winner, starts second, while Pato O'Ward (McLaren) starts third.

But the car no. 2 and No. 12 of the Penske were relocated to the rear part of the 33-car field, and each entry was occupied with a fine of $ 100,000 after Indycar officers found the car of the two 500 title defender Josef Newgarden and teammate Power in connection with the damping of the damper in the back of the car. The violations were found during the pre -qualified inspection.

Penske's No. 3 car from Scott McLaughlin did not try to qualify, and it was found^TH.

The Penske name, which is considered a racing house, is colored. At the season opening race last year in St. Petersburg, Florida, two pens' inscriptions were disqualified due to violation of the parameters “Push to Pass”, which enables drivers to temporarily increase their horsepower at the most important points in a race. A third entry received a 10-point penalty.

After these recent violations, Mr. Penske cleans the house. Mr. Cindric, a respected personality of sport, was as president since 2005, in the same year when Mr. Ruzewski was promoted to the managing director in 2019. In 2019, Mr. Moyer became general manager.

The competing owner Chip Ganassi from Chip Ganassi Racing expressed his concerns about the Penske violations.

“All teams have a certain responsibility to maintain the integrity of sport in every series,” said Ganassi, adding: “Team Penske, they had so much success over the years … It is certainly a problem if the pursuit of winning integrity and sportiness endangers.”

Mr. Penske is said to be destroyed by the events of the week. “For Roger Penske, nothing means more than the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the Indianapolis 500,” said J. Douglas Boles, President of Indycar. “He loves to run all along the line.”

Last year, Mr. Newgarden, Mr. O'Ward, said goodbye in the last round of the 2.5-mile oval to give Team Penske his 20th Indy 500 victory. But the first consecutive winner in 22 years will have a hard time making it a three-goal and starting in the last row. Born in Nashville, he had higher expectations before he was punished.

“Always such an honor to be in this area,” he said. “We have great potential, so let us see what we can do.”

Mr. O'Ward, series leader Alex Palou (Ganassi), the six-time Indycar champion Scott Dixon (Ganassi) and Mr. McLaughlin are among the betting favorites who are supposed to win the race and is expected to attract 350,000 to the famous Brickyard.

Mr. Boles hopes that the scandal around Team Penske will not affect the integrity of the race.

“If we look at the rest of the week and the race this weekend, we will do everything we can to make it clear that this is not only the best race on the planet, but also the race where the best victory under completely fair conditions.