One of the primary forces in the success of Penske Racing, Earle Macmullan, has died at the age of 82. He joined the team in 1969, working on the championship-winning Trans-Am program, for which he became crew chief when Roger switched from Camaros to Javelins (above).
He also oversaw Mark Donohue’s successful attempt to set a new closed-course world speed record at Talladega with the Porsche 917/30, and subsequently became the team’s transmission specialist, building gearboxes for the Can-Am and Indycar programs until his retirement in 1998.
One of his greatest achievements in that role was building the gearbox to handle the immense torque of the pushrod Mercedes-Benz “Beast” engine powering the Penske PC23 that won at Indianapolis in 1994 in Al Unser Jr.’s hands.
Macmullan is survived by: his wife of 28 years, Jean, daughters Deborah, Donna, Dawn and son David; two stepchildren, Judy and Dennis; sister Joan Day; six grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. To them and all his many friends in the sport, Vintage Racecar extends its deepest sympathies.
