For renowned racer, team owner, Indianapolis Motor Speedway owner, and SCCA® Hall of Fame member Roger Penske, trophies are a fact of life. In fact, Penske’s team recently earned him his 19th Baby Borg during the 2023 Indy 500. But when it comes to motorsports, there are trophies, and then there are trophies. For Penske, the weekend he collected another Baby Borg was also the same weekend he was presented with a racing trophy he earned some 65 years earlier during an SCCA race, but had lost track of.
RACER.com recently told the story of a silver cup Penske had won during an SCCA National race in Maryland in 1958. As RACER reported:
“Penske the driver first got his feet wet in amateur road races, but in 1958 he decided to up the stakes and acquire a used Porsche RS for SCCA events. The payoff was immediate – he won the 1500cc class in the SCCA National at Marlboro Raceway in Maryland – and he received an elegant silver cup for his efforts.
“He continued to have success in sports cars for the next few years, including wins at the Riverside California Grand Prix and the Pacific Grand Prix in 1962, and the Nassau Tourist Trophy in 1964. But in 1965 he hung up his helmet to focus on his rapidly expanding business interests, and over the years that followed, that first trophy from 1958 became lost.”
Recently, motorsports buff Mike Teske happened upon this exact trophy at an antique shop in California.
“I actually have a couple of NASCARs and I was searching for trophies, and I found a couple that were for cars that I had,” Teske told RACER. “So I’ve always kept an eye out for them, and when I saw this one… I didn’t even really know about Marlboro Raceway, so it piqued my interest. The guy in the antique store didn’t know what it was, so I had to do a little research.”
How did Teske discover this was Penske’s trophy, and how did he get in touch with The Captain himself in order to return it? Click the link below to find out.
Photos by Mike Teske via RACER.com
