The Penske PC-27 was a

CART A cart or dray (Australia and New Zealand) is a vehicle designed for transport, using two wheels and normally pulled by one or a pair of draught animals. A handcart is pulled or pushed by one or more people. It is different from the flatbed tr ...

racing car designed by John Travis and manufactured by

Penske Cars Team Penske (formerly Penske Racing) is an American professional auto racing organization, competing in the IndyCar Series, NTT IndyCar Series, NASCAR Cup Series, and the FIA World Endurance Championship. Debuting at the 1966 24 Hours of Daytona ...

Poole Poole () is a large coastal town and seaport in Dorset, on the south coast of England. The town is east of Dorchester and adjoins Bournemouth to the east. Since 1 April 2019, the local authority is Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Counc ...

, Dorset. The design was based around the team's 1997 car, the PC-26. It competed in the

1998 CART season The 1998 FedEx Championship Series season, the twentieth in the CART era of U.S. open-wheel racing, consisted of 19 races, beginning in Homestead, Florida on March 15 and concluding in Fontana, California on November 1. The FedEx Championship Seri ...

and, as the PC-27B, in part of the 1999 season. In the 30 races that it took part in, its best finish was second at the

1998 Budweiser 500k The 1998 Budweiser 500K was a CART race that took place at the Twin Ring Motegi in Motegi, Japan on March 28, 1998. It was the 2nd round of the 1998 CART season. Race results References {{CART World Series race report, Name_of_race = Bu ...

in Japan. The PC-27 was the last CART racing car built by Penske, before the team switched permanently to customer chassis.

Racing history

1998

The PC-27 made its debut at the first race of the 1998 season, the Marlboro Grand Prix of Miami Presented by Toyota, Unser Jr retired with a broken transmission and Ribeiro finished 17th. Both drivers finished the

Budweiser 500k The Budweiser 500K was an automobile race sanctioned by Championship Auto Racing Teams, CART, it was held at Riverside International Raceway in Riverside, California. The event was held from 1967 to 1969 and again from 1981 to 1983. Racing Histor ...

, The American second and the Brazilian ninth. Both drivers retired at the

Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach The Grand Prix of Long Beach (known as Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach since 2019 for naming rights reasons) is an IndyCar Series race held on a street circuit in downtown Long Beach, California. Christopher Pook is the founder of the event. It wa ...

, Unser Jr had contact with

Hélio Castroneves Hélio Castroneves (; born Hélio Alves de Castro Neves; 10 May 1975) is a Brazilian auto racing driver. He has won the Indianapolis 500 a record-equalling four times: in 2001, 2002, 2009, and 2021. He won the 2021 24 Hours of Daytona wit ...

and Ribeiro with an oil leak. The Brazilian failed to qualify for the Bosch Spark Plug Grand Prix Presented by Toyota and the American finished 15th. Both drivers retired at the Rio 400, Unser Jr with engine failure and Ribeiro with a broken transmission. For the second race in a row, both drivers retired. it was the Motorola 300, the American had contact and the Brazilian with a broken transmission. Both drivers finished the Miller 200, Unser Jr 3rd and Ribeiro 18th. The American retired with a broken transmission at the ITT Automotive Detroit Grand Prix and the Brazilian finished 16th. Both drivers finished the Budweiser/G. I. Joe's 200 Presented by Texaco/Havoline, Unser Jr finish fifth and Ribeiro 15th despite stopping with three laps to go with a broken transmission. The American finished 17th despite stopping with four laps to go with a broken shift linkage at the Medic Drug Grand Prix of Cleveland Presented by Star Bank and the Brazilian retired with a broken transmission, Unser Jr finished 17th despite a collision with

Gualter Salles Gualter Salles (born September 28, 1970, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), is an open wheel race car driver. He raced in the 1997-2000 and 2003 CART seasons, with 49 career starts. His best finish came in his last race, the Gold Coast Indy 300 at Surfers ...

at the hairpin at the

Molson Indy Toronto The Grand Prix of Toronto (known for sponsorship reasons as the Honda Indy Toronto) is an annual Indy Car race, held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Originally known as the Molson Indy Toronto, it was part of the Champ Car World Series from 1986 t ...

and Ribeiro retired with a broken transmission. Oil leaks put both drivers out of the U.S. 500 Presented by Toyota. Both drivers finished the Miller Lite 200, the American sixth and the Brazilian tenth. Both drivers retired at the Chicago Tribune Presents Texaco/Havoline 200, Unser Jr had contact with

Patrick Carpentier Patrick Carpentier (born August 13, 1971) is a retired Canadian professional auto racing driver. In the Champ Car World Series and the IndyCar Series, he achieved five wins and 24 podiums, as well as two third place championship finishes in 2002 ...

and Ribeiro with engine failure. Both drivers finished the

Molson Indy Vancouver Molson Indy Vancouver was an annual Champ Car race held in a street circuit near BC Place and running past Science World in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada held in July, August or September from 1990 to 2004. On September 2, 1990, the f ...

, the American fifth and the Brazilian seventh. The second race in a row both drivers finished a race, The Honda Grand Prix of Monterey Featuring the Texaco/Havoline 300, Unser Jr sixth and Ribeiro 14th. The third race in a row both drivers finished a race, The Texaco Grand Prix of Houston, the American seventh and the Brazilian 17th. The fourth race in a row both drivers finished a race, The Honda Indy 300, Unser Jr 22nd and Ribeiro 13th. Both drivers retired at the final round of the 1998 season, the Marlboro 500 presented by Toyota, the Brazilian had contact and the American with an oil leak.

1999

The team modified the PC-27 into the Penske PC-27B and Unser Jr stayed with the team but Penske ran one car for most of the 1999 season as Ribero retired in February 1999. The first race of the season was the Marlboro Grand Prix of Miami Presented by Toyota, Unser Jr crashed and broke his leg. He was replaced by Brazilian

Tarso Marques Tarso Anibal Santanna Marques (born 19 January 1976) is a Brazilian racing driver who competes part-time in the NASCAR Cup Series and the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 79 Ford Mustang for Team Stange Racing in both series. He previously ...

for the Firestone Firehawk 500K and finished 14th. The Brazilian retired at the

after a collision with

and

Scott Pruett Scott Donald Pruett (born March 24, 1960) is a former American race car driver who has competed in NASCAR, CART, IMSA, Trans-Am and Grand-Am. He and his wife Judy have three children and are children's book authors. Pruett started racing go ...

. Unser Jr returned for the Bosch Spark Plug Grand Prix Presented by Toyota but retired with a crash. Two PC-27Bs were entered for the American and the Brazilian for the Grand Prix Telemar Rio 200, with Marques finishing ninth and Unser Jr 12th. Before the Motorola 300 Unser Jr used the Lola B99/00, Marquez continued to use the PC-27B but retired with a crash. The team ran the B99/00 for the next five races: ( Miller Lite 225 Presented by Kmart, Texaco/Havoline Presents Budweiser/G.I. Joe's 200, Medic Drug Grand Prix of Cleveland Presented by Firstar, The Chicago Tribune Presents Texaco/Havoline 200 and the

. The PC-27B returned at the U.S. 500 Presented by Toyota with two PC-27Bs entered for Unser Jr and American Alex Barron; engine failures put both drivers out of the race. The team ran the B99/00 for the next five races: ( Tenneco Automotive Grand Prix of Detroit, Miller Lite 200, Target Grand Prix Presented by Shell,

and the Honda Grand Prix of Monterey Featuring The Shell 300). The PC-27B returned at the Texaco/Havoline Grand Prix of Houston with only Unser Jr and finished 15th. Mechanical problems put the American out of the Honda Indy 300. Two PC-27Bs were entered for Unser Jr and Barron for the final round of the 1999 season, the Marlboro 500, Unser Jr finished seventh and Barron retired when he crashed.

Complete CART World Series results

(

key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...

) (Results in bold indicate pole position; results in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap) Unser Jr and Marques scored points in the Lola B99/00.

References

External links

penskeracing.com
{{CART 1999 1999 CART season cars Team Penske American Championship racing cars