In what has turn into an annual, year-end custom, Workforce Penske introduced the ninth class of the Workforce Penske Corridor of Fame that was inducted on the group’s vacation get together on Thursday, December nineteenth. Two-time IndyCar Sequence champion and 2003 Indianapolis 500 winner Gil de Ferran and longtime staff member Tim Lombardi kind this most up-to-date class to the Corridor of Fame that started in 2016.
The 2 new inductees have been honored with customized Corridor of Fame awards because the staff gathered in Mooresville, N.C. to have a good time one of many staff’s most profitable years wherein they captured their third consecutive NASCAR Cup Sequence title, twentieth Indianapolis 500 victory, sixth IMSA WeatherTech Sport Automobile Championship and first title within the aggressive World Endurance Championship. Walter Czarnecki, Vice Chairman of Workforce Penske and 2018 Workforce Penske Corridor of Fame inductee, helped induct every honoree with the presentation of the customized award that takes practically 100 man hours to supply in Workforce Penske’s machine store inside their Mooresville, NC headquarters.
Born in Paris however raised in Brazil, the late de Ferran stays one of the crucial revered names within the motorsports world one 12 months after his premature demise on the age of 56. A key determine in Workforce Penske’s resurgence within the early 2000s, de Ferran gained the previous CART Sequence championship in 2000 and 2001. He was then instrumental within the staff’s transfer to the Indy Racing League in 2002, scoring the win within the 2003 Indianapolis 500 to make it three wins in a row for Workforce Penske within the “Biggest Spectacle in Racing.”
Over the course of his four-year profession with Workforce Penske, de Ferran scored 9 wins and 14 pole positions. In a profession crammed with accomplishments, de Ferran’s document qualifying run at Auto Membership Speedway stays one of the crucial awe-inspiring as his common pace of 241.428 mph for the 2000 CART race on the two-mile venue stays the closed-course document to at the present time. He retired from competitors following a 2009 season that culminated with an American Le Mans Sequence (ALMS) victory at Laguna Seca within the sequence’ finale race. He then moved to serving managerial roles with a number of groups.
“Gil would have been extraordinarily honored along with his induction into the Workforce Penske Corridor of Fame alongside so many different racing legends,” stated Angela de Ferran, Gil’s spouse, who was readily available for the presentation to just accept the Corridor of Fame Award. “His years at Workforce Penske weren’t solely his most profitable years in his racing profession, but in addition a few of his happiest. He had the utmost respect for everybody he labored with.”
Lombardi grew up in Valley Forge, Penn., and have become a fan of Workforce Penske’s Studying, PA-based race groups at a younger age. After a quick profession as an newbie racer and metal plant employee following faculty, in 1976 Lombardi gained employment at Workforce Penske by a chilly name to staff president and 2023 Workforce Penske Corridor of Fame inductee, Jay Signore. In a fortuitous second for Lombardi, he was employed as a transportation driver/mechanic and elements specialist for the Worldwide Race of Champions (IROC) sequence. He moved to the Workforce Penske INDYCAR operation one 12 months later as staff coordinator charged with: organizing all staff journey; truck and motorhome actions; driver and staff uniforms (together with some NASCAR); radios; credentials; catering; advertising; graphics and operating the transportation division. Lombardi retired on the finish of the 2017 season however nonetheless maintains a presence across the staff at numerous racetracks.
“Workforce Penske simply had this aura about them that I knew I wished to be part of,” stated Lombardi. “Think about having the ability to choose up the cellphone and get in contact with the president of any main racing group at present. It was a special time then the place we wore so many hats, however wanting again on it, I wouldn’t change a factor. Thanks to all of the Workforce Penske workers – lots of whom I labored with – that voted me into the Workforce Penske Corridor of Fame. It means quite a bit.”
With their inductions, de Ferran and Lombardi be part of earlier Workforce Penske Corridor of Fame honorees: Roger Penske (2016), Mark Donohue (2016), Rick Mears (2017), Karl Kainhofer (2017), Rusty Wallace (2018), Walter Czarnecki (2018), Don Miller (2019), Dan Luginbuhl (2019), Helio Castroneves (2020), Tim Cindric (2021), Jerry Breon (2021), Larry Bluth (2022), Clive Howell (2022), Nick Goozee (2023) and Jay Signore (2023).
The Workforce Penske Corridor of Fame started in 2016 when Workforce Penske celebrated its fiftieth anniversary in motorsports. Annually, inductees are chosen from present and former drivers, workers and companions which have made a big affect on the staff and its historical past with Workforce Penske staff members serving because the voters. The Corridor of Famers are honored each at an occasion and throughout the partitions of the Workforce Penske facility situated in Mooresville, N.C.
