BorgWarner honors Penske, Newgarden

Today at 07:44 AM

BorgWarner has presented Roger Penske with his 20th Championship Team Owner's Trophy and Josef Newgarden with his second "Baby Borg" in honor of their triumph in last year's 108th running of the Indianapolis 500.

The ceremony, held at the Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation, saw Newgarden receive the 20-inch miniature version of the iconic Borg-Warner Trophy, which features Newgarden's name, team name, average speed and sculpted sterling silver likeness.

"Presenting the Baby Borg trophies is an exciting tradition we look forward to every year, and it being back-to-back wins for Josef and the 20th win for Roger makes it even more special," said Joseph Fadool, COO of BorgWarner. "Both of these men's legacies will live on in the world of racing, but the personalized trophies serve as commemorative keepsakes, showcasing their dedication and success."

The second addition of Newgarden's likeness on the Borg-Warner Trophy, crafted by William Behrends, was unveiled back in December at a ceremony in downtown Indianapolis. The Trophy was commissioned in 1936 and features every Indy 500 winner, with Newgarden being the 111th face. The Baby Borg was first created in 1988 – although retrospective ones have been made for some of the legends who predated the award – while the Championship Team Owner's Trophy was established in 1998.

"It's incredible to be on stage with Roger Penske and to realize I have a career driving for the legend of the sport when it comes to IndyCar racing, and to deliver two wins at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway – his first two wins there after acquiring the track – is pretty special,” Newgarden said. “I look at the photos and it triggers memories, and I couldn't be more appreciative of the opportunity I've had."

Newgarden, who started 11 Indy 500s before nailing the most recent two, said that everything after this is a bonus.

"I'm living between appreciation and greed!" he said with a grin. "The greed side makes me want more and I dream about winning four or even five. But honestly, I'm appreciative of having won two. It's an interesting situation to be in because we don't have anything to prove now; we don't have to go and get three in a row. But can we? Yeah! We're going to have a great car again, I believe, and we're going to be going for it, like always."

Newgarden is one of just six drivers in history to score back-to-back wins in the Indy 500. The others are Wilbur Shaw (1940 and '41), Mauri Rose ('47 and '48), Bill Vukovich ('53 and ('54), Al Unser in ('70 and '71), and Helio Castroneves in 2001 and '02. Should he triumph on Memorial Day weekend this year, Newgarden will become the first driver in history to score three consecutive Indy 500 victories.

BorgWarner rewards any driver who can win back-to-back Indy 500s, and the prize is increased in a rollover as each year passes when the feat is not achieved. With no one winning back to back since Castroneves in 2001-'02, Newgarden's 2023-'24 triumphs earned him a bonus of $440,000.

"I had been aware of that bonus," he recalled, "but because it hasn't happened in so long and it's so rare for it to happen, we tend to forget about it. Then later you're made aware of this great bonus that's been building. It's surprising to realize it's only happened for six drivers, and the fact that no one has ever won it three times in a row speaks to the difficulty of Indianapolis Motor Speedway and that particular race. There's more pressure there than anywhere else, so it's hard to get it right. Roger and I were discussing tonight that if the driver or the team make any error, there goes the win. You've got to be perfect on the day, more than anywhere else."

Newgarden, who is still only 34, says he's confident he'll have the opportunity to win more 500s before his career is over and maybe become the first ever five-time winner.

"It's possible," he said, "because I doing think we've even reached our full potential on the No. 2 team. We have so much more we can do, so that's great motivation for the future."

In addition to Newgarden, Team Penske owner Roger Penske was presented with the Championship Team Owner's Trophy to commemorate his 20th Indy 500 win. Penske's winning legacy at Indianapolis Motor Speedway began with Mark Donohue in 1972. Of the 20 victories, there have been 14 individual winning drivers, Penske's multiple winners now including Newgarden (2023, 2024) along with Rick Mears (1979, 1984, 1988, 1991) and Helio Castroneves (2001, 2002, 2009, 2021).

Team Penske's 20th Indy 500 win puts it 14 ahead of its nearest rival (Andretti Global has six, Chip Ganassi Racing has five). The Captain said he hopes that the team's record is now out of reach.

"I certainly hope it's a record that can't be broken," Penske said, "and we're not done yet, hopefully. We've got three great drivers and we're not talking in terms of trying to win No. 21 at some point, we're talking about trying to win the next one.

"But the competition has never been tougher. We had good cars in that period and won a lot of races, and Will won a championship, but we missed on our setups at Indy. I thought, 'Oh, now we've bought the Speedway it's a bad omen because we can't seem to go quick there anymore! But yeah, we've turned that around, and locked out the front row last year."

Since IndyCar became a spec chassis series and a two-engine series, Penske believes it's become more difficult than ever for a team to gain an advantage over its rivals.

"No question that back in the '70s, '80s and '90s, you could gain a real competitive advantage over your rivals," he recalled. "You could find a technological advantage that gave you an edge or at least a real head start, and now you could name 15 or 20 cars on the grid that could win the 500, so nowadays you can't make any mistakes."

Penske also said he was very proud to receive his trophy at the Henry Ford Museum of Innovation.

"This ceremony brings the impact of the Indy 500 to Detroit and this is a winning town now. For us to be part of that, and with the Lions' success in NFC and potentially going to the Super Bowl, it's pretty neat. And the Henry Ford Museum is a place where I was trustee a number of years ago, and it's really the pinnacle, when you think of automotive history."