Alexander Rossi Added to Borg-Warner

It was 193 days ago today that Rookie Alexander Rossi consumed a cold glass of milk at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. It has been a long wait for the American, but he finally got the chance to see his likeness unveiled on the famous Borg-Warner Trophy at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum.

Rossi’s sterling silver face on the trophy is not only the newest, but one of the most prestigious. He won the 100th Running of the Indianapolis 500, and he did so in dramatic fashion. The Andretti-Herta Autosport driver managed to run the final 36 laps of the race on one tank of Sunoco fuel. The tank was empty halfway through the final lap, but he had just enough distance between he and second place to coast over the yard of bricks.

While he is the winner of the 100th race, he is actually the 103rd face on the massive trophy. There were shared rides in previous years, and of course the special likeness of Tony Hulman that is also included. William Behrends is the sculptor that created Rossi’s likeness. In fact, he has done the last 27 faces on the trophy.

The trophy (estimated value of $3.5 million) resides at the IMS Museum. Rossi will receive his own “Baby Borg” trophy with his sculpture on it. He was amazed at Behrends’ work. “It blows my mind that Will was able to get this so accurate just from pictures. I am so far from being anywhere close to an artist but you can really appreciate what he’s done and I don’t even know where to begin in how you acquire such an amazing skill set.”

Photos from today’s event are below, courtesy of IndyCar.

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