He was a racer and he was talented. He ran against – and beat – some of the top names. When Philadelphia Chevrolet dealer George McKean met Penske in August of 1963, he saw a person who would go far. Based on that, he offered him a job as dealership general manager. Penske said, “That was in August of 1963. I was out of college, out of Lehigh, and working for Alcoa. I was working for $425 a month, and George offered me $2,000, so it was easy for me to say I’m going to go into the car business.”

Along with being a dealer, Penske still had the desire to be a racer. The two careers paths did cross a couple of years later when he had a chance to become owner of the McKean dealership. Roger explained, “I had to go Detroit, and Bunky Knudsen at that point was general manager of Chevrolet. He said, ’Roger, we’re not going to have race drivers as dealers, so you have to make a decision. Are you going to be a race driver or a businessman?’ That’s probably the best advice I’ve ever had, because I decided no more racing – let’s become a dealer. That’s when I really started my career with Chevrolet, and I never turned back.”

He was no longer behind the wheel, but he was on the verge of building perhaps the most successful automotive racing empire in history. In the 1960s, he created a TransAm race team with the legendary Mark Donohue as his driver. Then, in the 1980s, GM President Lloyd Reuss came to Penske with an idea to build a racing engine to try to win the Indianapolis 500. Penske said that effort created his favorite Chevy memory. “The best moment I had with Chevrolet was winning that first one, the first Indy 500 with the Chevy motor with Rick Mears in 1988.” The Penske-Chevy combination went on to win 15 races, including a total of four Indianapolis 500 titles, before Chevrolet left the IndyCar series.

Penske Racing IndyCar driver Will Power discusses the new Chevy Racing engine.

Now Penske and Chevrolet are attempting to duplicate that entire scenario. The new engine has been developed by Chevrolet, along with Penske and Ilmor Engineering. The testing is being done, and Penske Racing will be running with Chevy power once again in the 2012 IZOD IndyCar series.

Penske said his partnership with Chevrolet stretches beyond the race track, all the way to the dealership. He said, “The brand is on the rise. I can see it with the cars that are available for us to sell in the showrooms. It’s never been better.”

After more than 50 years together, does Penske have anything else to accomplish with Chevrolet? He said, “I can tell you my goal is to put that Chevy back in the winners circle.”

He had two Camaros with him at the Dream Cruise – a yellow 2011 Camaro SS, and the red 1967 Camaro that is often seen on his program. He told us, “Just to make things clear, I have eight more GM cars at home. I didn’t get to bring all my toys and show them.” He told Autotrader.com that his 67 Camaro started life with a 327 engine, but it now has a 350 with 4-speed transmission. He said that he’s been a GM guy since he was 5 or 6 years old. Watch the video below to hear him tell about a school assignment where a Chevy product played a prominent role.

Guy signs autographs in front of a Camaro at the Woodward Dream Cruise.

Guy is instantly recognizable and when people see him once, they remember him. With his spiky hair, tattoos and unstoppable energy, he draws fans from all segments of society. He talked and posed with people of all ages. signing autographs and chatting all the time. And while he was at the Dream Cruise, he never strayed too far from his cars. You get the feeling that a kitchen and his cars are where he feels most comfortable.

If you look in his book, “Diners, Drive-ins and Dives: An All-American Road Trip . . . with Recipes!” Guy writes in a section titled How I Got My Wheels: “I’m a big Chevy fan. I won’t drive a Ford. I’ll drive a Dodge if I have to.” We asked him how he developed this passion for the bowtie brand, and he said,  “Chevy’s always led the way. The way it looks, the way it all ties together. Chevy’s always just been the coolest.”

He was even talking about maybe getting a Chevy tattoo. We asked him to let us tag along if he does that. We’ll let you know if we hear from him, or you can look for it on a future edition of “Diners, Drive-ins and Dives”.

In addition to revitalizing GM, Reuss has been working on reviving the city of Detroit. We previously told you about his involvement with a program to turn around schools in the metro Detroit area. Bringing racing back to the city will provide an economic boost for Detroit, as well as a shot in the arm for its international image. Reuss developed this affinity for Detroit as he watched his dad contribute to the community. The upcoming Chevrolet Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix weekend (June 1-3, 2012) is the next step in helping re-energize the city.

Racing is very central to the development of world-class automobiles. Some of the safety and powertrain achievements in today’s passenger vehicles were first implemented in race cars and this next-generation racing engine from Chevrolet will continue that development path. Mark Reuss said, “Many of the technologies we’ll be developing with our partners will be seen in our production cars very shortly.”

Team Penske drivers Will Power (l) and Helio Castroneves take a close look at the car they'll be driving next season.

The new Chevrolet engine will be used by the Penske, Panther Racing and Andretti Autosports entries in the IZOD IndyCar Series next year. The 2012 Chevrolet IndyCar engine is a 2.2 liter V-6 with an aluminum block and cylinder heads, direct injection and twin turbochargers. It provides 33 percent better fuel economy than the current-generation engines in the IndyCar series and it runs on E85 fuel. It is developed with Ilmor Engineering.

Take a look at the video (below) to see the new Penske IndyCar driven by Will Power and powered by the Chevrolet IndyCar engine.

When this car shows up in your review mirror, you’ll definitely do a double take, and then some!  Bold yellow paint with pumped up black stripes, a high-wing rear spoiler and black-on-black wheels… this car looks like Bumblebee, straight from the set of Transformers: Dark of the Moon. It’s enough to make Sam Witwicky‘s heart beat fast.

“It’s so cool to see little five-year olds standing in front of the car saying, ‘Wake up, wake up.’ And, I’ll ask them, ‘Who do you want to wake up?’  And, they’ll say ‘Bumblebee,’” says Adam Barry, Senior Creative Manager, Corvette and Camaro, Accessories and Specialty Builds.

A self-described “Transformers geek” who still has his Autobot action figures, Barry says that when he found out about the project, he jumped all over it. “There’s no question that this specialty package was designed by someone who loves, Transformers,” says Barry.

It’s  the little details — like Cybertronian symbols spelling “Transformers” on the spoiler, Autobot logos on the wheel caps and front quarter panel and an awesome interior with black leather seats and bright yellow stitching — that give this Chevrolet extra attitude.

“When you see this car,” says Barry, “you’re not going to think it’s a car, you’re going to think it is Bumblebee… and you’re going to be looking around for the other Autobots.  How cool is that?” Plus, if any Decepticons show up, you’ll be able to handle them.

You can order the Transformers Specialty package now. It’s due in dealerships in September.

Recently, members of GM’s gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) employee affinity group – GM PLUS – spent their Saturday at the Live Green Fair in Ferndale, Mich., offering the eco-minded attendees a chance to drive GM cars and trucks. The Chevrolet Volt seemed to be the star of the show, with its Voltec (electric) powertrain and the ability to drive up to 40 miles without a single drop of gasoline.  Pamela Lawrence, a Fair attendee, said she dreams about owning a Volt and called the employee ride-and-drive event as “a wonderful opportunity” to get behind the wheel.

GM PLUS Chair Adam Bernard at Live Green Fair

Adam Bernard’s job title is associate director of competitor intelligence for GM. He also serves as chair of the GM PLUS. He says ride-and-drive events help to introduce GM products to audiences that might not have been paying attention otherwise. “We brought some of our coolest, greenest cars and trucks, both to reach out to the LGBT community which is kind of an untapped market for us, and also to reach out to customers who may not think of GM when they think of environmental-type vehicles.”

Adam says GM employees take their personal time to present their cars and trucks to the public, partially because it’s fun. He says, “I love talking about whatever it is I’m driving.” And Adam adds that meeting customers face-to-face helps employees do their job better. “Sometimes you sit in an office building or a cube or some kind of desk and you kind of lose sight of the fact that yes we’re building cars and trucks for people. So this is a great opportunity to clarify some misconceptions about GM products, to tell people stuff they might not know and to find out what interests our customers.”

GM's Patrick Hernandez briefs driver of CTS Sports Coupe prior to test drive

The event at the Affirmations community center in Ferndale was arranged by GM’s Vehicle Advocate Program, which has put more than 20,000 people behind the wheel of GM cars in the past year.

What do the customers think of meeting the GM employees and driving the cars? Tao Tao was smiling as he was sitting in a Camaro convertible. He said, “It’s easy to get to know the different vehicles here.” He rode in a Chevy Cruze and Volt prior to the Camaro, and he admitted he liked the Camaro best. Adam Bernard understands the smiles on the faces of the people when they finish their test drives. He says, “How can you not smile (when you) get out of a Camaro convertible or a CTS or a Volt?”

Brandon Vivian is director of Vehicle Development for GM and he recently gave the race teams from Hendrick Motorsports and Newman-Haas Racing a bus ride around the GM track. Throughout the tour, he explained what role each dip, turn and bank offers to make GM vehicles even better. At one point the track has a corner with 25-degree banking. Brandon explained that it’s used to check on a vehicle’s bump stops. A moment later, a long left turn is used to make sure the crankshaft can stay lubricated even under intense conditions. These are details you may never think about, but you don’t have to, because the GM engineering team already did. Brandon says, “When we bring a vehicle out here it is fully instrumented. We’re taking about two-thousand channels worth of data and we’re looking at everything.”

Jeff Gordon smiling after driving the GM road course

One member of the Hendrick Motorsports team who you may have heard of is four-time NASCAR Champion Jeff Gordon.  On most Sundays he drives the #24 Impala SS, but during this Milford visit he instead got in a ZL1 Camaro and cranked out some triple-digit speeds. He believes the track allows GM to produce better vehicles for sale to the public. After several high-speed laps, Jeff said, “It’s no surprise why they’re able to design a car as good as they do here, because (on this track) you’re dealing with everything you could possibly deal with on the road or on the race track.”

Brandon says what GM learns from the road course allows the company to develop class leading high-performance machines like the Z06 Corvette and the upcoming ZL1 Camaro. But he also reminds us that the lessons learned on the road course aren’t applied only to the high-performance models. He says, “We’ll take a Buick LaCrosse out here to do the chassis controls calibration and check the stability of the vehicle to make sure the car is stable for any type of use that the customer may put it through.”

The GM road course borrows features from some of the world’s best-known courses. The Nurburgring in Germany is its primarily influence, but it also models some of the corners from the Spring Mountain Motorsports track in Nevada, and the Virginia International Raceway.

Might GM assist other manufacturers by allowing them to bring their vehicles to the road course? Brandon says that’s not going to happen. “ We view this as a proprietary test facility. We only allow use for General Motors products.”

Unfortunately, a rain storm cut short the festivities and while we didn’t get a chance to see many of the cars up close, we did get a chance to talk to some of the owners about why they love their Camaros and Vettes.

Rick Scheidt, U.S. vice president of Chevrolet, says “Chevrolet is a diverse brand. We have people who are buying everything from small cars to performance cars to trucks. What they all share is love for their vehicles.” Rick says the Camaro and Corvette are “halo cars” that provide “excitement … that performance car, that link to racing,” and that’s why people love them. He says Camaro and Corvette drivers “are really car enthusiasts.”

Camaro SS owner Dan Jones loved his lap on IMS

The people at the Indy event were able to enter the picnic by driving on the fabled track. Most of us can only dream about what it must feel like to drive on the same oval where A. J. Foyt, Mario Andretti, Emerson Fittipaldi, and so many other legends of racing set records. But, for the 100 or so people who showed up, it was real – and it was fun. Camaro owner Dan Jones said, “we did the track … a little fast. It was great!” Ann Miller loved the lap on the track, but “I just wanted to go faster.”

Nina Brock is a typical Camaro owner because this isn’t her first Chevrolet. She owned a Chevrolet van previously that was a dependable work vehicle.  When she wanted a “cool looking” car, the Camaro was her first choice. “It’s very exciting. It’s a fun car to have.”

James Reed and Ann Miller have his-and-her Corvettes. James says it may surprise people to learn “they get great gas mileage. We get 29 miles a gallon out of our Z06s … we get to shift gears and listen to it and drive it and get good mileage. It’s wonderful.” Ann says the sight of the Corvette encourages people to talk to her at stop lights. “They say: ‘Rip it’ or ‘Light it up.’ They want you to get on it. And I check my mirrors and sometimes I will light it up.”

Seeing a Corvette or a Camaro on the road grabs the attention of most car enthusiasts and encourages them to want to offer a salute or a challenge. Either way, it indicates a special place in the pantheon of automotive passion for two of Chevrolet’s most recognizable nameplates.

On Memorial Day weekend we saw the Strength and Honor Camaro at the Indy 500 and last week we talked with Mickey about that car. By clicking the video below you can see the great artwork and hear what Mickey told us about how his designs emerge as he works.

Abraham Lincoln appears just behind the passenger door on the American Pride Camaro

Saluting the military isn’t just a commercial enterprise for Mickey, he says it’s practically part of his DNA. “My father was a fighter pilot and flew F105s in Vietnam. I grew up on Air Force bases and I learned to draw by drawing aircraft. It’s kind of in my blood.” Mickey has produced artwork for the U.S. Pentagon and is proud to say he has seven pieces hanging in the headquarters of the U.S. military.

Now that he’s done a couple of projects for GM. Mickey feels that he and the company are on the same wavelength. He says, “America’s greatest asset is our fighting men and women. We need to remember that. That’s what I try to do in the artwork I put out. I think GM understands that and they’ve been great to work with.”

The Chevrolet bowtie shares the rear of this Camaro with the Strength and Honor name

You can hear pride and dedication in Mickey’s voice as he talks about the work he’s done for Chevrolet. He appreciates having a client who appreciates his work and “I try to go above and beyond their expectations.” He says the money he’s paid for his work is pretty good, but he gets so emotionally involved in creating the project that puts incredible amounts of time into it. He chuckles as he says, “If I figured out what I get per hour, it’s probably a little bit more than minimum wage.”

The two Camaros that Mickey has designed are just the start of the relationship between artist and automaker. He has two more projects on the drawing board for Chevrolet that you’ll be seeing before the end of the year. We aren’t going to spoil the surprise and tell you what the topics are, but you can be sure that they will be celebrating history and American pride in a way that will touch the hearts of all who see them.

More importantly, the Team Chevy display is an interactive, entertainment venue that travels to about 50 events around the U.S. every year and lets millions of people get up close and personal with Chevrolet cars and trucks. Chevy Racing Manager Terry Dolan oversees the display and considers it one of the most potent sales tools for the brand. “Race fans are automotive enthusiasts and they love to spend more time looking at our production cars, some of our more historic vehicles, and our performance parts and accessories.” At some of the cities it stops in, the Team Chevy display also includes a test drive module that allows visitors to get behind the wheel of some of Chevrolet’s hottest products, like the Camaro, Corvette, Cruze and Volt.

The English family from Tampa, FL posing with Camaro Pace Car in Team Chevy display

But can a traveling display turn a looker into a buyer? Absolutely. Melissa Covell is a contract worker for GM in Detroit, but she and her husband Rick never had a chance to drive a Chevrolet Volt until they arrived at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the Indy 500 last month. They took a spin in the extended-range electric vehicle and Melissa learned that the Volt provides more than she expected. “It actually has some pickup. I was shocked. It was awesome. The touch screen was really cool. Really kind of a cool vehicle.” Her husband Rick added, “I can’t wait to buy one. I hope there’s more of them available soon.”

This holiday weekend, the Daytona International Speedway will play host to more than 110,000 race fans for the Coke Zero 400 Sprint Cup race and the Team Chevy display will be there. Dolan says about 25 percent of the people who show up for an event usually take a tour of the display. That means more than 25,000 people could be looking at and sitting in Silverados and Malibus prior to the shootout on the track. History shows that when those fans come back next year, many of them will be in new Chevrolet vehicles. Well done, and congratulations, to the entire Team Chevy team!

Newman is the driver of the #39 U.S. Army Chevrolet Impala in NASCAR’s Sprint Cup series, and he knows cars from the inside out due to his background in vehicle structure engineering. On a windy day recently he toured the tracks and facilities at the MPG and got up close with the Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 on the 67-acre “Black Lake” pad. Newman was able to experience some of the advanced technologies coming in the ZL1. After driving a few laps on Black Lake Newman said, “It’s pretty amazing. It’s a great handling car.”

GM engineer Mike Petrucci (r) briefs Ryan on suspension technology

Ryan admits he wanted to race after high school, but his parents talked him into going to college. Today he’s glad he got his degree because it helps him communicate with key members of his race team. “My race engineer is an engineer. A lot of guys on the team from an aerodynamic standpoint, a lot of the chassis things we work on – shock, suspension stuff – is engineering related. So having that language to talk to them is extremely important.” He met a lot of engineers during his visit to MPG and his background and experience enabled him to understand some of the advanced technologies the engineers designed to help drivers increase control of their vehicles.

In a sport where everyone goes fast, Newman became known as “Rocket Man” because of the speeds he consistently achieved during qualifying in 2003. He won the pole position for 11 races that year. In 2009 he joined the newly-formed Stewart-Haas Racing team and became a Chevrolet driver. He says, “I’ve worked with Ford people and Dodge people and Chevrolet people. The quality of the people at Chevrolet has been the biggest difference to me. Just the way that they work together as a team to get that victory on Sunday, to get that championship in November, that to me is the biggest difference. Overall teamwork and the performance of that teamwork together, all trying to achieve that victory.”

Ryan chugging a Coke to help the animals

Newman has interests beyond cars. Along with his wife Krissie, Ryan established the Ryan Newman Foundation in 2005. Ryan says, “We have a huge problem with overpopulation of animals. So what we’re trying to do is create awareness and raise funding to help those animals. Two things is spaying and neutering your pets, and pet adoption.” Newman often has a bottle of Coke in his hand when he’s on camera. He explained that last year he raised more than $50,000 from Coca Cola for his foundation by getting shots of himself drinking Coke on the air. We’re not sure if this photo here counts, but “Faces of GM” is a fan of animal welfare, so we’ll see if we can help Ryan and Krissie raise a few dollars.

You can see Ryan’s ride in that ZL1 Camaro and hear a lot more from him by clicking on the video below.