The most important 500 miles of the road to racing immortality travel a 2.5-mile asphalt oval every Memorial Day weekend in Indiana, but two other vital mile markers on that journey are found in separate artist’s studios in North Carolina.
Engraver Reid Smith and sculptor Will Behrends put their skilled hands to work to carve the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge winner’s name, winning year and average speed and create the three-dimensional image of each “500” winner on the Borg-Warner Trophy. Smith works from a studio near Charlotte, while Behrends does his magic from a studio in Tryon, located south of Asheville near the South Carolina border.
Smith has engraved the base of the Borg-Warner Trophy every year since 2021, when Behrends and BorgWarner – sponsor of the world-famous trophy – chose him for the important job. Perfect timing – the first name Smith engraved was that of Helio Castroneves after he earned his record-tying fourth “500” win in 2021 with a race-record average speed of 190.690 mph.
“Although this was only my fourth year engraving the Borg-Warner Trophy, it's something I look forward to each year,” Smith said. “It re-energizes me every time I get to work with the trophy. I'm honored BorgWarner and Will Behrends asked me to join them in 2021.
“Engraving Marcus Ericsson's 2022 Indy 500-winning name, year and speed on the Borg-Warner Trophy was my favorite engraving job ever. I knew I'd ‘passed my rookie’ in 2021 getting everything right following Helio's fourth win. It's just absolutely great to be part of such an historic American event and trophy.”
It takes Smith between six and eight hours to engrave the winner’s name, speed and year on the Borg-Warner Trophy from prep work to final polishing. One might think that exacting work would require silence in the studio – not with Smith.
Smith is an avid fan of many music genres, with an impressive, eclectic record collection that ranges from Rush (his favorite), John Coltrane, AC/DC, Frank Sinatra and Little Richard to The Zombies. Instead of silence, he turns up the music when engraving.
The two artists who work on the Borg-Warner Trophy each year share more than incredible talent with their minds and hands – they’re both also fans of “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing.” Both watch the race every year, and Behrends shared vivid memories of Josef Newgarden’s thrilling, last-lap pass of Pato O’Ward to win this year during a videoconference last week with Newgarden.
“I'm so impressed with all the logistics that go into the Indianapolis 500 – everything that makes it happen,” Smith said. “The flyover, the pre-race activities, drivers getting from one place to the next, bands, celebrities. It takes so much to make all that happen, and it seems, maybe I'm a little partial, that the trophy is quite the focal point.”
Since Newgarden was a repeat winner in 2024, Smith had familiarity with how to fit his longer name into the fixed space under each driver’s face.
Sculptor Behrends could have simply taken his mold of Newgarden’s face from his 2023 victory and made a few changes for this year’s visage. But that’s not how true craftsmen like Behrends work.
Behrends instead has started fresh every year since he became the trophy’s sculptor in 1990 after Arie Luyendyk’s first victory, regardless of whether the driver previously has won the “500.” He gets pictures of the winner’s face from many different angles the day after the race and then returns to his North Carolina studio to create the clay sculpture that will be used as the mold for the small sterling-silver, 3D face on the trophy,
“I put last year’s away,” Behrends said. “I don’t even look at it and start from scratch.”
Newgarden visited Behrends’ studio in the western North Carolina mountains last year to see his first clay image on the trophy in person. But catastrophic damage to the area from Hurricane Helene prevented the studio reunion from happening this year and from Behrends to get some up-close feedback from Newgarden.
So, Behrends pulled the cover from Newgarden’s clay face on a videoconference call with the Team Penske driver, who will aim for an unprecedented third consecutive Indy 500 victory May 25.
“I wanted you to look at last year’s (face) and look at this year’s and see if I had improved any,” Behrends said to Newgarden. “I always try to up my last year’s work, so I wanted your eye to tell me whether I had or not.”
Newgarden responded, with a smile, “Maybe that’s the best strategy – to win it multiple times so you’ve got an opportunity to get better at it.
“Will, amazing job. You are the best of the best. For me, it was a privilege coming to your shop last year. I’m sorry we couldn’t make it there this year.
“Our team is going to do our best job possible to win this three years in a row. I don’t even mind saying that. I don’t want to jinx us, but it’s not going to change what we’re going to do. We do have an opportunity to win three years in a row. It would be an honor to come back and see you, and I hope we’re the first to be able to do that.”
Smith said he doesn’t root for any driver to win the race, although shorter names take less time to engrave. Still, he wouldn’t mind seeing Santino Ferrucci break through with a win next May – for artistic reasons.
“In 2025, a fun winner would be Santino Ferrucci because I’d love to see how William Behrends would sculpt his image with all that hair,” Smith said. “Engraving his name would be the easy part, but that would be some work for Will, just like his 1990 Arie Luyendyk image.”
