Josef Newgarden at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum
Josef Newgarden visited the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum last week for the first “An Evening With” event in the newly renovated space.
Fans bought tickets and waited in line for this sold out event to meet one of their heroes, a back-to-back winner of the Indianapolis 500.
If you don’t follow racing, it’s important to note that back-to-back Indy 500 wins is a huge deal. Newgarden is only the 6th driver in 108 races to win two years in a row (2023 & 2024).
In May 2025, he’ll have the chance to become the very first driver to win three titles. He has to qualify first, though!
“An Evening with Josef Newgarden,” was hosted by Doug Boles (below left), INDYCAR and Indianapolis Motor Speedway President.
Before the event, Josef Newgarden checked out the Penske Gallery at the IMS Muesum. The gallery houses Indy 500 winning cars, drivers’ helmets, rings, trophies and more from Team Penske. Newgarden has been a Team Penske driver since 2017.
Team Penske has 20 Indy 500 wins, more than any other team. Team owner Roger Penske bought the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 2019.
During the event, Newgarden told stories and answered questions from the crowd. The fan in the photo below asked him if it was true that he named his cars after Disney princesses.
He told a story about how when he was young and new to racing INDYCAR, when he met and started dating his wife, she worked at Disney as a princess. So yes, he said, he did at first name his cars after Disney princesses, but he stopped doing that a while ago.
After the Q&A session, Newgarden posed for photos and signed autographs for fans.
Behind his table is the Borg Warner trophy, which has been presented to winners of the Indy 500 since 1936. It stands over 64 inches tall and weighs 153 pounds. Each winning driver has a sculpture of their face on the side of the trophy.
And yes, if you win multiple times, you get your face on the trophy for each win.
Whenever I photograph events like this where people are having such a great time, I always get swept up in the fun of it. Thanks to the IMS Museum for having me photograph their grand reopening events this spring!
Related Posts
To see more of the newly renovated Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum, click here. And if you love racing, or are just curious about all the hubbub, check out my other posts and photos from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
You can also book tours of the museum on their website here.
