{"id":33982,"date":"2025-01-18T18:56:22","date_gmt":"2025-01-18T22:56:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/?p=33982"},"modified":"2025-01-18T18:56:22","modified_gmt":"2025-01-18T22:56:22","slug":"kings-of-indy-500-at-henry-ford-newgarden-and-penske-awarded-baby-borg-trophies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/2025\/01\/kings-of-indy-500-at-henry-ford-newgarden-and-penske-awarded-baby-borg-trophies","title":{"rendered":"Kings of Indy 500: At Henry Ford, Newgarden and Penske awarded Baby Borg trophies"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/em><\/p>\n

Josef Newgarden holds his \u201cBaby Borg\u201d trophy for winning the 2024 Indianapolis 500 during a ceremony at the Henry Ford museum, in Dearborn, January 16, 2025.<\/em><\/div>\n
David Guralnick, Detroit News<\/em><\/div>\n

Dearborn<\/em>\u00a0\u2014 Two is terrific. Twenty is titanic.<\/p>\n

Team Penske superstar Josef Newgarden celebrated\u00a0his second straight Indianapolis 500 victory<\/a>\u00a0at The Henry Ford on Thursday evening \u2014 and the 20th that his boss, Roger Penske, has won at the famous brickyard.<\/p>\n

The dynamic duo accepted their \u201cBaby Borg\u201d trophies at a ceremony in The Henry Ford museum\u2019s \u201cDriving America\u201d exhibit \u2014 seven months after Newgarden crossed the finish line on Memorial Day and took a traditional swig of milk on the victory stand.<\/p>\n

\u201cGo Lions!\u201d Newgarden exclaimed, cradling the trophy in front of a Michigan crowd as goosed about football as the IndyCar year ahead. \u201cWinning back-to-back is beyond my wildest dreams. I left Indy for many years with a broken heart. You never know if you\u2019ll ever win it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now he has won it twice in 13 starts around the legendary oval \u2014 one of only five drivers to claim that distinction. His second win was in a race for the books \u2014 featuring a last lap pass to win (only the fourth time that\u2019s happened), 16 different leaders, 48 lead changes, and 649 total passes through the field. For his back-to-back achievement, Newgarden took home an extra $440,000.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe pass you made to take the lead (over Pato O\u2019Ward) was amazing,\u201d Penske, 87, said of his ace river. \u201cThe skill, the guts.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
(From left) Roger Penske and Josef Newgarden hold their \u201cBaby Borg\u201d trophies for the 2024 Indianapolis 500 and the team owner\u2019s trophy during a ceremony at the Henry Ford museum, in Dearborn, January 16, 2025.<\/em><\/div>\n
David Guralnick, Detroit News<\/em><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Newgarden and Penske both received \u201cBaby Borgs\u201d \u2014 a miniature version of one of the most famous trophies in sport, the Borg-Warner. The massive, sterling silver trophy stands just over 5 feet, 4 inches tall and weighs 110 pounds. Commissioned for the 1936 race, the trophy bears small busts of every driver to win the 500 (including retroactively to the 1911 winner). Other Team Penske drivers on the trophy include 2018 winner (and current Newgarden teammate) Will Power and Helio Castroneves, who won the race four times and has four tiny busts on the trophy.<\/p>\n

Newgarden\u2019s Baby Borg also has his likeness on its base \u2014 sculpted by North Carolina artist William Behrends. \u201cThere is no other trophy in the world like this,\u201d said Newgarden.<\/p>\n

The respect between the driver and owner is palpable.<\/p>\n

<\/figure>\n
Josef Newgarden holds his \u201cBaby Borg\u201d trophy for winning the 2024 Indianapolis 500 during a ceremony at the Henry Ford museum, in Dearborn, January 16, 2025.<\/em><\/div>\n
David Guralnick, Detroit News<\/em><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

\u201cI\u2019d like to thank my boss, Roger Penske,\u201d Newgarden said. \u201cHe\u2019s one of the titans of the industry, and on eof the best men I know. I\u2018ve learned so much under him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Handsome and glib, Newgarden has become one of the faces of IndyCar as it goes into its first full season with Fox TV network, which will telecast all 17 races, including the Detroit Grand Prix. Fox\u2019s first ad for the 2025 features Newgarden has gone viral for its humor and action. It\u2019s already been seen by 39 million viewers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis 20th win is special for us,\u201d Penske said. \u201cYou can\u2019t make any mistakes and win the Indy 500.\u201d<\/p>\n

The race has become core to the Bloomfield Hills-based businessman\u2019s global business empire.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn 1951 my dad took me to the Indy 500 as a young kid,\u201d he said. \u201cRacing became a passion, and continuous thread through our business. The consistency of our partnerships \u2014 with Shell, Chevy \u2014 is key.\u201d<\/p>\n

Borg-Warner Executive Vice President and COO Joe Fadool presented the Baby Borgs to Penske and Newgarden. While the Borg-Warner trophy resides at the Indy 500 museum, Penske\u2019s 20 Baby Borgs will soon join them as the museum is remodeled. Newgarden, 34, is just building his trophy case.<\/p>\n

Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or Twitter @HenryEPayne<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Josef Newgarden holds his \u201cBaby Borg\u201d trophy for winning the 2024 Indianapolis 500 during a ceremony at the Henry Ford museum, in Dearborn, January 16, 2025. David Guralnick, Detroit News Dearborn\u00a0\u2014 Two is terrific. Twenty is titanic. Team Penske superstar Josef Newgarden celebrated\u00a0his second straight Indianapolis 500 victory\u00a0at The Henry Ford on Thursday evening \u2014 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33982"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33982"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33982\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33983,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33982\/revisions\/33983"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33982"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33982"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33982"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}