Michigan Matters: Penske's Freedom 250 Grand Prix and Mitch Albom on the Motor City

We travel to GM's new world headquarters to conduct an exclusive interview with "the captain," Roger Penske, to hear details about the Freedom 250 Grand Prix his team is staging in August to celebrate America's 250th birthday.

Penske, a business and racing legend, turns 89 on Feb. 20 and is celebrating his 60th year in racing during 2026.

He talks about the road less traveled in the Motor City and community efforts he has led, including serving as chair of the 2006 Super Bowl committee in Detroit and helping bring the Detroit Grand Prix back, along with GM President Mark Reuss.

We talked to Penske on Jan. 13 after he and Reuss participated in the Detroit Free Press inaugural Breakfast Club event of 2026.

Bud Denker, president of Penske Corp., also appears on the show and is overseeing logistics of the upcoming Washington, D.C., race, borrowing a page from the Chevy Grand Prix presented by Lear event.

The new race is run by Penske Entertainment, part of the Penske global empire, along with Fox Corp., which purchased a 30-percent equity stake in the subsidiary.

Denker will split his time overseeing the Washington race and the Detroit race, which takes place later in May. He is working with many others in Washington to bring that event to life in a quick fashion.

It will be held Aug. 21-23 and will be free to the public. It is run as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, as is Detroit's Grand Prix.

More details of the upcoming race will be unveiled on March 9.

Also on the show, Mitch Albom, award-winning columnist at the Detroit Free Press and best-selling author ("Twice" is his newest book), talks about Say Detroit, the Detroit nonprofit he started after the 2006 Super Bowl in Detroit, and its growth plans, which were inspired by former Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan.

He shares thoughts about Detroit and the issues before it.

Albom also talks about an orphanage in Haiti he has been involved with for years, and the latest involving it.

(Watch Michigan Matters at its new time: 5:30 a.m. Sundays on CBS Detroit and 9:30 a.m. Sundays on CW Detroit 50 WKBD). 

(Carol Cain is the 13-time Emmy-winning senior producer and host of Michigan Matters).