It was a long wait, but reigning Indianapolis 500 winner Alex Palou and team owner Chip Ganassi were presented with their respective ‘Baby Borg’ trophies on Tuesday night in a ceremony held at Phoenix Raceway.
The 20-inch trophy is a miniature version of the iconic Borg-Warner Trophy, with Palou’s featuring his name, team name, average speed and sculpted sterling silver likeness.
Palou, driver of the No. 10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda, has enjoyed plenty of experiences since winning the 109th Running of the Indianapolis 500 last May, including having the Borg-Warner Trophy travel to his home country of Spain for special festivities over the offseason. However, receiving the ‘Baby Borg’ actually set in the realization of his accomplishment.
“Honestly, it’s one of those moments that allows you to sink in the moment and to realize that you won the 500,” Palou told Motorsport.com. “One of those moments was as well the first time that I saw my face on the trophy, but this is a pretty cool one because I can take it home and see it every day. You get the ring and stuff, but you maybe don’t see it as much every day. So yeah, super cool.”
Palou has hoisted the Astor Cup Trophy as the IndyCar Series champion four of the last five years, including the last three straight, and noted how there is a buildup with winning a title. When it comes to winning the Indy 500, though, it is like a switch flips in an instant.
“That’s the biggest difference with the 500 and any other race or championship in the world,” said Palou, 28. “You wake up that day and you might have a good car or a bad car, but you don’t know if you’re gonna finish 33rd or first. And even during the race, you don’t know. You’re fighting, you’re not thinking about the outcome.
“If you allow yourself to feel, it’s bad. You cannot lose your mind even on the last pit stop because, ‘Oh, yeah, we’re there in the top three.’ No, you cannot allow that. You’re just fully concentrated on the next lap and the next lap. Even during the last lap you’re concentrated on what’s behind because you don’t want to lose it on the last corner of the last lap.
“Suddenly, your brain goes from no emotions to a lot of emotions. I think it’s really the same for everybody, like your team and stuff. So, the way also that you get to celebrate there is very cool.”
While this was the first ‘Baby Borg’ for Palou, it was the seventh for Ganassi. In turn, he’s the second-winningest team owner in IndyCar history behind only Roger Penske (20).
Ganassi has secured victories as a team owner with the likes of Emerson Fittipaldi (1989), Juan Pablo Montoya (2000), Scott Dixon (2008), Dario Franchitti (2010, 2012), Marcus Ericsson (2022) and Palou (2025).
“Yeah, you look back on it, it’s surreal,” Ganassi told Motorsport.com. “It’s a testament, really, to the people that are on the team and the drivers we’ve been able to gather up together and get in our cars. Yeah, when I think about days like today and these trophies, I just think about all the people that have fingerprints on these trophies.
“The guys that engineer the cars, put the cars together week in and week out, take them apart, put them together, clean them, examine them, engineer them, change the tires, call the strategies. People in the accounting department paying the bills and the insurance people taking care of the insurance and HR. Just a lot of people.
“It takes a lot of effort on a lot of people’s part to come to a pinnacle of a day like today when you receive the Borg-Warner Trophy.”
There was also a special feeling for Ganassi being given the trophy at Phoenix Raceway, the same track he made his driving debut back in 1982; where he started 11th but was forced to retire with a mechanical issue after 147 laps. “This was the first place I drove an IndyCar,” Ganassi said.
“I think back to that day and that night before when I didn’t sleep and I drove a 750-horsepower Indy car with big fat tires on it. My feet were out in front of the front axle. I was scared shitless going into, in those days, Turn 1, which is now Turn 3. You’ve got 750 horsepower underneath you.
“You’re going down into turn one at 170 miles an hour in those days. You’ve got Gordon Johncock and Johnny Rutherford and (A.J.) Foyt and Mario (Andretti) and those guys breathing all around you.
“So to come back here and receive this trophy here 35 or 36 years later, it’s pretty special.”
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Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: motorsport.com
