The Associated Press

INDIANAPOLIS - The sight was enough to make Indy 500 regulars gape in wonderment.

There, climbing the fence alongside 2002 race winner Helio Castroneves, was team owner Roger Penske. The distinguished billionaire entrepreneur was calm amid the chaotic postrace scene, every gleaming white hair in place, his Marlboro Team Penske shirt still crisply starched despite a long, hot afternoon in the pits.

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Even when his team wins at Indy, which it has done a record 13 times, Penske usually keeps his celebrations private. This time, though, he was keeping a promise.

When Castroneves won the race for Penske in 2001, he celebrated by climbing the fence, a la Spiderman, while his boss watched calmly from the pits.

"I told Roger, If I win again next year, you have to climb the fence with me.' He said he would," Castroneves said.

Penske is a man of his word - even if it makes him uncomfortable.

Last May, Gil de Ferran made it three in a row for Penske, who remained in the pits this time, quietly shaking hands and accepting congratulations as runner-up Castroneves dragged de Ferran to the fence for yet another climbing celebration.

Now, Penske is going for an unprecedented four in a row, with Castroneves and two-time IRL champion Sam Hornish Jr., who replaced the now-retired de Ferran. The late Lou Moore, second to Penske with five Indy victories, is the only other team owner to have won three straight (1947-49).

"This is all business here," Penske said. "I told the team when we got here this month; we come here with a job to get done.

"When the team prepares for this race, we say if you're here and not focused, you're kind of cutting off your paycheck by not staying in the game for the whole month."

Nobody should be surprised if a Penske drivers wins again on Sunday.

Castroneves, starting eighth in the 33-car field, and Hornish, starting 11th, are both among the favorites going into the 88th edition of the 500.

Their Toyota engines have not shown the power generated so far this month by the Honda competitors but, for the well-financed and highly organized Penske team, the drive for perfection runs deep, especially at Indy.

"There are different phases of that preparation," said team president Tim Cindric. "You're thinking about it really from the time you leave at the end of the previous (race) because you're really starting to work on what didn't we do right and what do we need to focus on next year."

Rick Mears won four times for Penske before going to work for the team as a special consultant and driver coach. He said the secret to the team's success is Penske himself.

"It's like every other thing he does," Mears said. "He's always four miles down the road. Roger stays on top of everything. He's always up. He doesn't get complacent, plus he's always thinking."

There is no doubt how the 67-year-old Penske feels about the Brickyard, or how much it hurt him when his drivers failed to qualify in 1995 and the team missed the races from 1996 through 2000 because of the political schism between the IRL, which runs Indy, and CART.

"It's the greatest race in the world," Penske said. "Basically, I love coming here."

That love has been building for a long time. Penske got his first look at the speedway in 1951, when he came here with his father to watch the race as a 14-year-old.

"I never thought I'd be competing here," Penske said. "But I was impressed by everything - the speed, the crowd, the noise."

A championship sports car driver, Penske might have raced for wins on the 2 1/2-mile oval, instead of watching from the pits, if the timing had been better.

"They asked me to take the driver's test (in 1965)," he said. "I couldn't do it because I had a job with Alcoa and I had a family to raise. ... You never know what would have happened."

He finally did arrive at the speedway in 1969 as a team owner, with longtime friend Mark Donohue as his driver.

Donohue finished seventh that first year, was the runner-up in 1970 and gave Penske his first Indy win in 1972.

"Roger's success here is largely because he loves racing and he has a passion for the Indianapolis 500, in particular," said Al Unser Jr., a two-time Indy winner who won for Penske in 1994 and will try to beat him Sunday.

"His drive to win here equals any driver I've ever met," added Unser, whose father and uncle Bobby also gave Penske victories here. "You just have to be around him for a while to see it, but it's there."

Emerson Fittipaldi won twice at Indy - the first time in 1989 for Pat Patrick and then in 1993 for Penske. Castroneves watched his countryman's first win on television from Brazil, and that's when he first saw the man the Penske team calls The Captain.

"White hair, serious," Castroneves said. "That guy doesn't change. Actually, I thought to myself, One day I hope to drive for that man.' Destiny somehow put me in this position with this team.

"It's a big responsibility. Nobody wants to win more than Roger."

So, with all that success here, does the low-key Penske ever let his hair down?

"The most fun is when you win this race, you can go back up in the suite and watch (the replay) on TV with everyone else," Penske said, breaking into a rare grin. "So, join us in the suite later on in the month."

Roger Penske Indy 500 Victories

2003-Gil de Ferran

2002-Helio Castroneves

2001-Helio Castroneves

1994-Al Unser Jr.

1993-Emerson Fittipaldi

1991-Rick Mears

1988-Rick Mears

1987-Al Unser Sr.

1985-Danny Sullivan

1984-Rick Mears

1981-Bobby Unser

1979-Rick Mears

1972-Mark Donohue