Latest news with #Pennzoil
Forbes
05-08-2025
- Automotive
- Forbes
Torsten Gross Shows The World How To Race A Car With ‘Just Hands'
Connecticut resident Torsten Gross is currently a race car driver, rescue scuba diver, and has competed in multiple marathons. His personality jumps off the screen during our Zoom interview, his enthusiasm evident. 'I scuba dive. I did 12 marathons in 12 months. I skydive. I do anything that that challenges my life insurance policy,' Gross says, smiling widely. Gross is someone one might describe as 'full of life.' Considering Gross was clinically dead for a full two and a half minutes after the diving accident that paralyzed him, that's quite a statement. Only 15 when he dove into the water and emerged a C6 quadriplegic, Gross is now 46 and continues to find ways to push his physical and mental limits. Although he uses a wheelchair to get around on a daily basis, Gross isn't letting anything stop him; that includes racing cars at high speeds. And while Gross has only been racing cars for a a few years (uses hand controls instead of the typical foot pedals), he has become a fixture running laps around Lime Rock Park, the historic race track 10 minutes from his house. His passion for racing caught the attention of Amazon, which sent a film crew to capture his path for a new series on Prime called Just Hands: For the Love of Racing. With the full support of automotive industry giant Pennzoil, Gross is telling his story to inspire others to push their own limits. Torsten Gross And His Journey To COTA The Just Hands: For the Love of Racing documentary follows Gross for three years as he pursues GT competitive racing. Starting with episode 1, Gross is behind the wheel of his adapted Porsche, taking on the legendary track at Watkins Glen. Episode 2 features wheel-to-wheel action at the IGT championship at Virginia International Raceway. In Florida, Gross tackles 24 Hours at Daytona in episode 3. And finally, Austin's Circuit of the Americas is the ultimate test for his journey. Constant filming might be intrusive to some, but not to this adventurer. 'My only goal is to get more people in chairs behind the wheel of track cars because of how freeing it is,' Gross says. What Gross wants to convey is that his story has nothing to do with being an adaptive driver, and everything to do with coming up with creative approaches to life. Specifically, in this case, in motor sports. His route is also unique in that he didn't train in go-karts as a kid the way many race car drivers do. He is not a multimillionaire with big bucks to funnel into his passion. And, of course, that he started racing later in life. Gross built this road piece by piece on the way up. 'It would be criminal if you stop racing' Now 46, Gross has an extraordinarily understanding wife who doesn't just support him and his need to try new and heart-pounding things, she encourages him to keep going. 'We're very supportive of each other, because we understand that life is short,' Gross says. 'It's meant to be lived, not to be wondered about.' That outlook was put to the test recently when her husband broke his femur and punctured his lung in a crash at the track. 'I do a lot of crazy stuff, unfortunately for her,' Gross says. 'We were in the emergency room and I told her I'd stop racing. But she actually stopped me and said something to the extent of 'Look, you're on an adrenaline high right now. You're not thinking straight; you're in an emergency room. Let's talk about this later.'' Later, Gross's wife told him she thought it would be a shame for him to stop racing cars. 'She said, 'You're good at it and you love it,'' Gross remembers. 'She said it would be criminal if I didn't continue doing it.' As Gross was being transported to the hospital, he insisted the cameras stay on all the way up to the point he got to the operating room. He wanted this part of his journey to be documented and real. Pennzoil Steps In To Support Torsten Gross And Just Hands Gross is effusive in his praise of the way Pennzoil has not only championed this project, but the way the company gives him a chance to be himself on screen. 'When we first started talking, I told them 'There's a difference between using a guy in a wheelchair that's a race car driver versus a race car driver that happens to be in a wheelchair,'" Gross recalls. 'They get it. Pennzoil has always treated me that way, and that to me, that means a lot.' For Torsten Gross, this is just the start. Stay tuned to find out what he'll try next.
Yahoo
29-05-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
LONG MAY WE DRIVE: PENNZOIL AND PXG UNVEIL HIGH-PERFORMANCE SWEEPSTAKES AT ADVANCE AUTO PARTS
Limited-Edition Pennzoil® PXG® Golf Driver Headlines Promotion Running May 29–June 25 HOUSTON, May 29, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Two brands driven by performance—Pennzoil and PXG—have joined forces for a first-of-its-kind collaboration that bridges the worlds of motorsports and golf. From May 29 to June 25, consumers who purchase a Pennzoil Platinum Full Synthetic bundle at a participating Advance Auto Parts or Carquest retail location, in-store or online, can enter to win a limited-edition Pennzoil® PXG® golf driver*. Experience the full interactive Multichannel News Release here: This driver is more than just a statement piece—it's tuned to elevate your game. Featuring PXG's Black Ops clubhead innovation, the driver delivers a high launch, low-spin option, ensuring unmatched ball speed and exceptional forgiveness for optimum performance. To tee off the promotion, Pennzoil Yellow Submarine and Team Penske INDYCAR driver Scott McLaughlin and PXG professional golfer Jake Knapp recently went head-to-head in a friendly driving competition at Brickyard Crossing golf course, set against the backdrop of the iconic Indianapolis Motor Speedway. "For me, performance is about pushing the limits on and off the track," said McLaughlin. "I'm thrilled to help Pennzoil unveil this unique collaboration, which brings the spirit of its Long May We Drive campaign to a whole new level. I encourage everyone to head to Advance Auto Parts for all their driving needs." At the heart of the collaboration is a shared passion for the journey—whether it's the roar of the engine on the road or the sound of a perfect drive on the golf course. "Great gear gives you confidence when stepping up to the tee box," said Knapp. "This limited-edition driver represents the bold, driven mindset of Pennzoil and PXG. It's made for people who care about every detail and never settle for average." Consumers can enter the sweepstakes by purchasing a Pennzoil Platinum Full Synthetic bundle at Advance Auto Parts or Carquest online or in-store, visiting to enter the sweepstakes, and uploading their receipts to earn an entry for a chance to win. Participants are limited to two entries during the promotional period. "Through this exciting collaboration with Shell and PXG, Advance Auto Parts is thrilled to connect with our customers in innovative ways," said Bruce Starnes, Advance Auto Parts Chief Merchant Officer. "By merging our expertise in auto care, golf and auto racing, we are creating unparalleled experiences that drive passion and performance both on the road and on the green." About the Promotion*NO PURCHASE NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED OR RESTRICTED BY LAW. Sweepstakes starts at 12:00am Central Time ("CT") on May 29, 2025 and ends at 11:59pm CT on June 25, 2025 ("Sweepstakes Period"). Open only to legal and current residents of the fifty (50) United States, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico, who are at least eighteen (18) years of age at time of entry. Limit two (2) entries per person, household, or address (physical and email) during the entire Sweepstakes Period. A maximum of one hundred (100) Prizes will be awarded in connection with this Sweepstakes, consisting of a custom Pennzoil PXG Golf Driver. Approximate Retail Value ("ARV") of each Prize is $680. Total ARV of all Prizes is $68,000. Odds of winning depend on the total number of eligible entries received. Sponsor may terminate, rescind, or modify this sweepstakes in whole or in part at any time without notice. Terms apply. To enter without making a purchase and to see full Official Rules, please visit **Qualifying Products: Pennzoil Ultra Platinum Full Synthetic, Pennzoil Platinum Full Synthetic, Pennzoil Platinum High Mileage Full Synthetic, and Pennzoil Platinum Euro Full Synthetic motor oil About PennzoilInnovating since 1913, Pennzoil is passionate about driving the future and relentlessly works to help transform the motor oil category. Pennzoil Platinum® maximizes engine protection, helps extend engine life, and protects for up to 15 years or 500,000 miles, whichever comes first, guaranteed. * For more information about the full line of Pennzoil lubricating products, motor oils and filters, please visit *Enrollment required. Keep your receipts. Other conditions apply. See for full details. About PXGFounded by entrepreneur and self-proclaimed golf nut Bob Parsons, PXG embodies his belief that every new product – from golf clubs to sport fashion apparel – should be markedly better. Every innovation should noticeably improve your performance. And every moment of impact should elevate your enjoyment. Today, PXG offers a complete lineup of right- and left-handed golf clubs, including drivers, fairway woods, hybrids, irons, wedges, and putters, engineered to be custom fit and built to every golfer's unique specification. The company also designs and delivers high-performance golf and lifestyle apparel and accessories. PXG's professional staff includes Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Eric Cole, Jake Knapp, Patrick Fishburn, Zach Johnson, David Lipsky, Henrik Norlander, Chad Ramey, Mason Andersen, Cristobal Del Solar, Patrick Cover, Brandon Crick, Seth Reeves, Augusto Nunez, Paul Barjon, Sebastian Cappelen, Kevin Dougherty, Ryan McCormick, Shad Tuten, Joey Garber, Nathan Petronzio, Celine Boutier, Linnea Strom, Mina Harigae, Auston Kim, Gina Kim, Megan Khang, Minji Kang, Kaitlin Milligan, and Christina Kim. About Advance Auto PartsAdvance Auto Parts, Inc. is a leading automotive aftermarket parts provider that serves both professional installer and do-it-yourself customers. As of December 28, 2024, Advance operated 4,788 stores primarily within the United States, with additional locations in Canada, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The company also served 934 independently owned Carquest branded stores across these locations in addition to Mexico and various Caribbean islands. Additional information about Advance, including employment opportunities, customer services, and online shopping for parts, accessories and other offerings, can be found at View original content: SOURCE Pennzoil Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Forbes
29-05-2025
- Automotive
- Forbes
Motorsports And Golf Gearheads Unite As Pennzoil And PXG Team Up
Scott McLaughlin, left, NTT INDYCAR SERIES driver, and Jake Knapp, right, PGA TOUR winner, compete ... More in a driving challenge using a limited-edition Pennzoil PXG golf driver at Brickyard Crossing Golf Course in Indianapolis on May 19, 2025. (Kaiti Sullivan/AP Content Services for Pennzoil) At first blush, motor oil and golf equipment may seem like strange bedfellows. But while one tunes engines and the other fine-tunes swings, both Pennzoil and PXG are in the performance game, laser focused on maxing power and pushing driving to the limit. The pairing made instant sense to PGA tour pro and PXG staffer Jake Knapp, a Costa Mesa native known for a mullet flow as wild as his bumpy road to the top circuit. 'Between Pennzoil and PXG you have two top-tier companies and they both obviously have to do with driving. I thought it was a cool collab and when I finally saw the black and yellow driver I thought it worked really well,' Knapp quipped, adding that the 'Long way me drive' tagline etched on the sweetspot was a clever touch. To tee off the promotion of the limited-edition big stick born from the collaboration, Team Penske's Scott McLaughlin and Knapp went head-to-head in a friendly long drive contest at Brickyard Crossing Golf Course—a unique layout with several holes set right inside the infield of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Knapp had a blast and said it was fun to find out how big of a 'golf geek' that the New Zealander IndyCar Series driver turned out to be. 'He seems to love golf and plays during race weeks a bunch. It was fun to chitchat with him about golf and then also learn a bit about what he does on a week-to-week basis." Knapp, who turns 31 in a few days, spent years grinding on the mini tours before finally breaking through and his path was anything but linear. After falling short at Q-School in 2021 and losing his status, he took an eight-month detour working as a nightclub bouncer to bankroll another run at the dream. Three years later, he was hoisting a trophy as a PGA Tour winner at the Mexico Open. His stint managing late-night lines and defusing tense situations didn't just help him stay afloat financially—it also gave him clarifying perspective that still serves him well on the course today. 'I think there's definitely been a benefit. Hopefully I don't have to deal with crowds, I leave that up to tour security,' he joked. 'But I think it helped me more so in the overall aspect of having an appreciation for being able to play golf for a living. The money we can make in golf and the opportunities we have are far greater than checking IDs at a door at midnight' This season, Knapp boasts one of the fastest swings on tour, averaging a clubhead speed of 123.54 mph. That outpaces stars like Rory McIlroy and Xander Schauffele. Knapp attributes his blur of a tee shot simply to a lot of time working out and an early knack for hitting bombs even before he had his teenaged growth spurt 'I was fortunate enough to hit it far as a kid when I wasn't very tall. Then I grew maybe five or six inches and that helped. But it was a lot of time spent in the gym training and working on it. Speed is a skill kind of like anything in our game,' he said. Maybe it helped that one of Knapp's old pastimes was speedcubing, he used to be able to solve a Rubik's cube faster than it takes most players to read a putt. 'Realistically, nowadays I can do it in 90 seconds but when I used to do it a lot it was right around a minute or so.' In motorsports, multi person crews tweak cars in mere seconds in the thick of a race. If golf allowed pitstop-style crews to rush onto the course mid-round to tweak golf clubs, Knapp believes such adjustments could be a meaningful difference maker. 'It wouldn't be too bad if you were playing a particular course where you have to draw or fade the ball on certain holes. I think on Quail Hollow No. 2, for the PGA Championship I would have loved if somebody could have come in and given me a driver that was going to hook about 30-yards. That would be very nice to have maybe once or twice a round.' Keeping with the racing theme, Knapp's dream car is a coupe famous for defying physics in its appearances as Paul Walker's go-to ride in the long running street racing franchise. 'I personally always loved an old school souped-up Nissan GT-R for whatever reason, growing up in the Fast and Furious era. I would love to drive something like that down Pacific Coast Highway. I'd be all in on that.' The UCLA product, currently 57th in the FedEx Cup standings, may look like a poster boy for SiriusXM's new country station The Highway but his musical tastes run more bass drop than banjo. 'Sometime in the morning if I need to get myself going I'll listen to some type of hip hop or electronic music. But then usually before afternoon rounds when I'm already worked out and gone through my day I listen more to white noise or meditation sounds—waves crashing, things like that to help slow everything down.' His top golf goals for the balance of the season are to compete in one or both of the remaining two majors and to make a push, with some high leaderboard finishes, onto Keegan Bradley's radar to garner captain's pick consideration for team USA. 'They like guys that are playing well right now so I'm going to do my best to prove that over the next few months and hopefully I'll be playing later this summer in the Ryder Cup.' A big puckhead, while his Anaheim Ducks, who are also a sponsor, didn't make the playoffs this year, he's bullish on their future prospects. 'I think we have most of the pieces, but maybe one more true goal scorer and one or two big mature defensemen. But for the most part we have most of the pieces, it's just a matter of letting those guys mature, get better and build that team chemistry. I think in a year or two we are going to be in a really good spot." Knapp's journey, like the Anaheim Ducks team he pulls for, is a work in progress but trending up and he certainly has the horsepower to hit serious paydirt in the sport.
News.com.au
26-05-2025
- Automotive
- News.com.au
Supercars great Scott McLaughlin crashes out of Indy 500 in warm-up lap
Scott McLaughlin's Indianapolis 500 is over without completing a competitive lap after the Team Penske driver lost control and crashed on the warm-up lap. The Pennzoil Chevy driver was weaving on the approach to Turn 1 when the car spun from beneath him. McLaughlin collided with the inside wall and wrecked the car, causing significant damage to the left front suspension. Disgusted with himself, the former Supercars champion banged angrily on the steering wheel before climbing from his car After extricating himself from the car, the distraught driver knelt on the ground with his head in his hands before being taken to the trackside medical centre, where he was cleared of any injury. 'I really have no idea what happened,' said New Zealand-born McLaughlin. 'I'm just really upset for my team. They built me a fantastic car again. I'm really sorry to my sponsors, my fans, my family. I don't know what happened. 'I'm still… I can't believe we're out of the race. I just had so much hope today. Yeah, it's by far, the worst moment of my life. 'I know it's probably dramatic and whatever, but I put so much into this race, everyone does, and I didn't even get to see the green flag.' Moments after McLaughlin crashed, compatriot Scott Dixon's car began to smoke with a rear brake fire. However, he was able to continue without much issue. The race eventually started but was quickly brought under control of the safety car when Marco Andretti got rear-ended by Jack Harvey into Turn 1. Meyer Shank Racing's Marcus Armstrong narrowly avoided collecting the Andretti Global car, escaping serious damage despite what appeared to be light contact. The yellow flew on Lap 18 after a dusting of rain. At the time, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing's Takuma Sato led McLaren's Pato O'Ward and Meyer Shank Racing standout Felix Rosenqvist. Pole position winner Robert Shwartzman fell to fourth after a frantic start to the race, punctuated by Sato and O'Ward trading places.
NZ Herald
25-05-2025
- Automotive
- NZ Herald
Indy 500: Scott Dixon and Scott McLaughlin have a day to forget at Indianapolis 500
Scott McLaughlin crunches his race car against pit wall at the end of the front straightaway with one lap to go before the initial green flag to start the 109th Indianapolis 500. Photo / Getty Images The New Zealand contingent have had a day to forget at the 109th running of the Indianapolis 500. Scott McLaughlin didn't even start the race after crashing on the practice lap while mechanical issues ruined Scott Dixon's day early on. I truly don't know what happened. Just touched the throttle and around we went. I'm absolutely gutted for my crew, @Team_Penske, @Pennzoil and all of our fans. We'll be back stronger next year. I'm sorry. See ya in Detroit. ✌️ #INDY500 #INDYCAR — Scott McLaughlin (@smclaughlin93) May 25, 2025 Starting fourth on the grid, Dixon was aiming for his second victory at the Brickyard but a brake issue saw him head to the pits at lap 31 and lose ground on the field. He re-joined three laps back and was chasing for the rest of the race, finishing 23rd. Marcus Armstrong was the best of the Kiwis in 21st.
