Alex Palou has become the 76th different driver and 112th face overall to be affixed to the legendary Borg-Warner Trophy, following his triumph in May’s 109th running of the Indianapolis 500.
Palou, who became the first Spanish winner of “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing,” unveiled his sterling silver image on the Borg-Warner Trophy in a ceremony hosted by Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Wednesday night at Commission Row in downtown Indianapolis. His victory provided team owner Chip Ganassi with his seventh win in the May classic, the second most wins by a team owner.
Palou, who went on to score his fourth NTT IndyCar Series title in five years, was already enamored with sculptor William Behrends’ life-size clay model of his head following Palou’s modeling session at Behrends’ studio in Tryon, N.C. two months ago. The large model is used as a reference to sculpt a smaller, oil-based clay version which is turned into a mold and cast in wax before being sent to a jeweler where it is transformed into sterling silver and then attached to the trophy. Palou was impressed by this, too.
“I think Williams has done a fantastic job again,” he told RACER of Behrends, who has sculpted all the faces on the Borg-Warner Trophy since 1990. “It looks super- super-similar. He’s got the hairline, the nose, the eyes – and the smile! It’s crazy that he can get so much detail in such a small format.
“It’s great to see it on the trophy and know it’s always going to be there surrounded by the other Indy 500 winners. This is one of those days that I knew I wanted to be part of at some point in my career.”
Michelle Collins, global director of marketing and public relations for BorgWarner, said: “I’m honored to continue one of the greatest traditions in all of sports and unveil the latest addition to the iconic Borg-Warner Trophy. Alex’s victory exemplifies that tenacity and constant commitment to excellence will result in success on and off the track. On behalf of everyone at BorgWarner, congratulations to Alex and the team at Chip Ganassi Racing.”
Palou told RACER that his Indy win has attracted a lot of attention from his native Spain.
“I won’t experience it for real until I go back in December,” he said, “but what my friends and family have told me and from what I learned on social media, this has been pretty big – bigger than when I won the championships. So it will be cool to go there and celebrate and see how many new fans we got from Spain.”
That said, Palou was touched by how the whole 240,000-strong crowd on-site at the Speedway in May seemed to celebrate with him, regardless of the different nationalities.
“Yeah, it’s great that it’s their instinct to celebrate the winner, whoever it is, whoever they support,” he reflected. “And it’s also amazing to see how many stayed on to cheer for us after the race. It’s probably the best day of my life to celebrate a win there with the team, my family, and all those fans. And I can’t wait to return there next May as defending winner and see how those fans react again.”
The No. 10 Ganassi Honda, which in Palou’s hands had led at least one lap of the 500 over the past four years, hit the front on this occasion on lap 187, when Palou snatched the initiative from 2022 Indy winner Marcus Ericsson into Turn 1. Palou says he has often reviewed the moment.
“I have watched the whole race again, and seen the pass multiple times!” he admitted. “It’s amazing, and super-cool to watch something that has gone so well. If I had waited one more lap, or gone one lap earlier, it might have been a different outcome. As usual in racing, it’s all about the small details.”
To that end, Palou says he will head into the next Month of May with more confidence than ever, now that he knows he and the No. 10 are capable of winning Indy, instead of merely being pretty sure.
“Yeah, absolutely,” he said. “Honestly, I think I’ve always been pretty lucky with the cars I’ve had at the 500. I’ve had the cars to compete for the win and for different reasons, like driver mistake or someone else doing a better job, we were not able to win it. But to your point, yeah, even if we think we could have won before, from now on we can say we did win.
“So I’m excited to see what we can bring next May and make it a little better, because we know our competition is going to also improve.”
Early next year, Palou will receive his first Championship Driver’s Trophy and Ganassi will receive his Championship Team Owner’s Trophy, both of which are miniature versions of the Borg-Warner Trophy and affectionately referred to as “Baby Borgs.” Originally designed in 1935, the full-size silver trophy measures over 5 feet, 4.75 inches tall, weighs more than 110 lbs, and carries the sculpted face of every victor since 1911 and of former Speedway owner Tony Hulman.
