There’s no shortage of traditions when it comes to the Indianapolis 500, but the major part that Will Behrends plays in the race's heritage — crafting the race winner’s likeness on the famed Borg-Warner Trophy — had to forgo its own usual tradition after the devastation caused by Hurricane Helene.
Helene formed in the Caribbean Sea on September of this year, developing into a Category 4 hurricane in just four days as it moved through the Gulf of Mexico and broke landfall in the Big Bend region of Florida. Crushing winds reaching 137 mph left wreckage in its path across Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia and Tennessee. The aftermath saw more than 230 deaths as Helene became the deadliest mainland hurricane since Katrina in 2005.
Behrends’ town of Tryon, located in Polk County at the base of the Blue Ridge Escarpment in western North Carolina , has an estimated population of 1,600 people, and was among those hit by Helene. The state of North Carolina, in particular, was victim to flooding, mudslides, countless downed trees, washed-out bridges and impassable roadways, while also leaving more than 700,000 residents without power.
Behrends counts himself among those more fortunate.
“There’s a lot of devastation around us,” Behrends told Motorsport.com. “For those two weeks that we were down, my wife and I were out there doing volunteer work, bringing and getting supplies to other people.
“We were without power, but we have a generator and Starlink internet, so we were the lucky ones. We are on high ground, so we didn’t get flooded. A lot of people right around us lost their homes and had nothing.”
Uniquely, Helene swept through the same week that Josef Newgarden, winner of the last two Indy 500s, was originally scheduled to come in for a sitting — a moment when Behrends adds final details to a life-sized facial sculpture before transferring it all to the small version that's cast in silver and installed on the historic trophy. Behrends was nearly finished with Newgarden's life-sized head, ready for the last step, when the storm hit.
Behrends used the generator to provide power to the house, but any time spent working on the final stages of the clay model in the studio only came courtesy of the natural light filtering through his many windows.
“This year was already a challenge because the latter part of my process is casting these images in silver — and for the last 34 years, I’ve had one person doing that who I’ve come to trust. And he retired,” Behrends said. “So, on top of all these other challenges, that came up.
“Nothing got done for two weeks because we had no power for 12 days. And that was during the time that Josef was going to come here. Him not coming here, basically, took away what has become a very valuable tool for men— and that is, being able to sit with the person face-to-face, talk to them. For a portrait sculpture that is very valuable, because you can only get so much from photographs. You do better work, and it’s more enjoyable, when you can actually engage with them eye-to-eye. We didn’t have that, so that was another challenge.”
The sittings initially began in 2015 after Juan Pablo Montoya captured his second Indy 500. That's also when the life-sized models became a part of the process. Before then, Behrends worked off a brief 15-20 minutes with the winner the day after the race and any portraits gathered from it.
Helene’s impact set his practice back a decade, but added its own specific challenges. Roughly 60 percent of Newgarden's face remained unfinished when the “freak storm,” as Behrends calls it, struck. He wasn't sure he would even make the deadline.
“It came down to the wire,” he said. “Fortunately, it turned out well. We got a really good product and got it on time, but there were a lot of wheels turning during that time.”
With an illustrious career in his own right, Behrends has spent the past 50 years creating sports-related sculptural masterpieces. Beyond the Borg-Warner Trophy, he's created statues of Major League Baseball legends such as Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, and Jackie Robinson, most living at their teams' ballparks. In looking back over this latest challenge, there is a sense of pride in crafting Newgarden’s likeness, especially against the odds that Mother Nature provided.
“This one I am satisfied with,” Behrends said. “It’s funny, this is the only thing that I’ve done in my 50-year career that I do year after year. Everything else is one-of-a-kind. Doing this year after year, how do you make it fresh every year? My challenge to myself is that I try not to do what I did last year; to bring a little bit more to it every year. Which, after 35 years, becomes a little difficult.”
Newgarden, who became the first back-to-back winner of “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing” since Helio Castroneves in 2001-02, was finally able to see his likeness unveiled on the Borg-Warner Trophy earlier this month in a ceremony at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Behrends couldn't attend, but the moment left the Team Penske driver all smiles, while also heaping praise on the sculptor for being able to push through and finish the project.
“I think it just speaks to Will’s character,” Newgarden told Motorsport.com. “He’s such a lovely person. He’s got a beautiful family, got to meet all of them, including his granddaughters. They had a lot of obstacles this year, including everybody in that region, and he still just charged forward and made an incredible piece. He’s a true professional.”
The ruin left by Helene in just North Carolina alone likely caused $53 billion in damages and recovery needs, according to Gov. Roy Cooper, with 126,000 homes damaged by the force of Helene. The previous record set for damage was $17 billion from Hurricane Florence in 2018, which hit the eastern part of the state.
“It’s just a really sad situation,” said Behrends. “There were a lot of trees down around us, but we survived it better than most around us. Right below us in the valley, there is a restaurant that everybody loved because it’s right on the river and has a covered bridge going across the parking area to the restaurant. The bridge, the restaurant, it’s all gone now. It’s just washed away. People lost businesses, as well as homes.”
Among one of the oddities, though, was that one of BorgWarner’s facilities in Asheville was also in the hurricane’s path, but was fortunately spared, along with the employees.
Michelle Collins, the Global Director of Marketing and Public Relations for BorgWarner, shared her sympathies for the people enduring the aftermath. She was also grateful that Newgarden had the experience last year with Behrends after winning his first Indy 500.
“It would have been great to have done it again this year, but I was happy that he already had that experience,” Collins told Motorsport.com. “Of course, it’s entirely possible he can still win again. And we’re counting on that from him, too. But Will, like always, did a fantastic job and works with what he’s got.”
And there are already thoughts for Newgarden to make history as the first driver to ever win three consecutive Indy 500s in 2025 and getting a chance to return to Tryon.
“It was just unfortunate that we didn’t get down there this year,” Newgarden said, “but I told him I’d love the opportunity to win three years in a row and to come back and visit, and I hope we get that chance.”
