What happens when the ‘iconic’ Indy 500 Borg-Warner Trophy runs out of room?

Bruce Martin
Special to FOXSports.com

INDIANAPOLIS — When the Borg-Warner Trophy appeared for the first time in Victory Lane after the 1936 Indianapolis 500, it had plenty of room on the original trophy to display the faces of the winning drivers, beginning with Ray Harroun in 1911.

But it ran out of room on the original trophy after Bobby Rahal won the Indianapolis 500 in 1986.

The solution was to mount the 80-pound, 4-foot-tall trophy on an additional base, beginning with the 1987 Indianapolis 500.

Rahal was the last driver’s face on the original trophy and Al Unser the first on the base after he won his fourth Indy 500 in 1987.

Today, the Borg-Warner Trophy is 110-pounds and 5-foot-four-inches-and-three-quarters tall.

As each Indianapolis 500 has passed and more winners have been added to the base of the trophy, it will once again run out of space in 2034.

BorgWarner’s creative team is working on a solution when the base fills up with the addition of a second base that will feature the winner of the 2035 Indianapolis 500 as its first face.

"We're still throwing that around — what the second base is going to look like. But the last time we did this, we added on a complete additional base, which makes the trophy stand even taller, allowing for many more faces to come," BorgWarner CEO Joseph Fadool said Saturday at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. "Between now and then, we'll figure out the right approach to do it or maybe something a little bit different.

"The unique thing over time, the trophy actually grows in size and stature and importance, so I think it's just fitting for the importance of Indy."

The Borg-Warner Trophy is really a measurement of time and the history of the Indianapolis 500. Each face