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Jack Roush (born Jackson Earnest RoushFAA Records on April 19, 1942) is an American businessman who is the founder, CEO, and co-owner of Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing, a NASCAR team headquartered in Concord, North Carolina, and is chairman of Roush Enterprises.
Roush Enterprises is the parent company for Roush Racing as well as Roush Industries, a freelance engineering firm; Roush Performance, an automotive aftermarket development company; and ROUSH CleanTech, a manufacturer of propane autogas fuel systems, all headquartered in Livonia, Michigan. His companies employ more than 2,000 people throughout North America and Europe.
Rarely seen without his trademark Panama hat, Roush is known on the NASCAR circuit as "The Cat in the Hat".
Roush was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame on April 27, 2006. In 2008, Roush was elected to the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame and was inducted on September 13, 2010, in Novi. On May 23, 2018, Roush was selected as one of the five inductees for the 2019 NASCAR Hall of Fame class. Roush was also inducted into the EAA Warbirds of America Hall of Fame on November 8, 2018, for his contributions to and the warbird community. On November 3, 2022, he was inducted into the SEMA (Specialty Aftermarket Market Association) Hall of Fame. Roush was inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 2022. In 2025, he was inducted into the Trans-Am Series Hall of Fame.
Roush Enterprises maintains a collection of race cars and collectible cars. The exhibit is free and is located in Livonia, Michigan.
Roush worked at Ford after graduating in 1966, and left in 1970 to pursue his own company. He worked for a year at Chrysler before leaving to open his own engineering business. Roush then went on to partner with Wayne Gapp to race in NHRA, IHRA, and AHRA drag racing events.
Throughout much of his career Roush offered for sale the parts that he developed for his own team. In 1982, he partnered with German firm Zakspeed to develop road racing vehicles for Ford. This led to a very successful run in the Trans-Am series and IMSA Camel GT in the 1980s and early 90s. In 1988, Roush moved south and founded a NASCAR Winston Cup Series team with driver Mark Martin.
On July 27, 2010, Roush crashed his Hawker Beechcraft Premier 390 jet (registration N6JR) during an approach to the EAA AirVenture Oshkosh airshow in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, in the late afternoon. He walked out of the plane and was taken to a nearby hospital. His condition was listed at serious but stable that evening. On August 3, Roush was upgraded to fair condition. On August 13, Roush made his first at track appearance since the incident at the Michigan International Speedway. During that time he confirmed that he fractured his back, broke his jaw, and lost vision in his left eye as a result. The National Transportation Safety Board attributed the cause of the crash to pilot error, specifically, "pilot's decision not to advance the engines to takeoff power during the go-around, as stipulated by the airplane flight manual, which resulted in an aerodynamic stall at a low altitude."
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