Penske has been involved with Indy Car racing since the early 1970s, when they fielded a team with Mark Donohue. In 1978, Roger Penske along with Pat Patrick, Dan Gurney, and several other team owners who had been participating in USAC events involving cars known as Champ Cars and IndyCars. Formed CART, Champion Auto Racing Teams. As of 2005, Penske Racing has won the Indianapolis 500 13 times as will as 124 Open Wheel Wins in CART and IRL and 11 Open Wheel championships. In 2001, Team Penske marked it's return to Indy 500 after a five year absence due to Open Wheel split after the 1995 CART season. Later in 2001 Roger Penske announced he would leave the CART series for the Indy Racing League.