Josef Newgarden

Newgarden started racing at an early age. When he was 13, he and his family ventured far outside of Tennessee to find a competitive karting environment. This led Josef to a new state of the art racing facility in New Castle, Indiana that had recently been launched by IndyCar driver Mark Dismore. In an order to stay efficient with funding, Newgarden would focus on local and regional championships rather than competing nationally, as a result, New Castle Motorsports Park would become like a second home.

In just his first year of karting (2005), Josef would finish 2nd and 3rd in the Kart Racers of America (KRA) Junior Can Championship. He would also compete in the TAG world championships that year in the junior division, securing the title.

In 2006, he would have his most successful year in karting, securing two championships in the KRA Junior Can division and repeating as the TAG World Champion in the junior division.[3]

He would go on to compete in junior car racing in 2007, but would return to karting several times down the road, racing in the highly competitive Robo-Pong 200 at New Castle Motorsports Park several times over the next few years. He would win the 200 mile endurance race twice with both successes coming with members of the Dismore family as his teammates (Mark Dismore Sr in 2011 and Mark Dismore Jr in 2013). In addition to being track owners and teammates, the Dismore family was instrumental in guiding Josef's early years in karting.

Newgarden started his single-seaters career in the Skip Barber Racing School series in 2006. A highly cost-effective junior formula car series, Skip Barber presented an economical bridge from karting to car racing. He finished as runner-up in the Southern Regional Series with three wins and another seven podium places.[4] He next competed in the 2007 BFGoodrich / Skip Barber National Presented by Mazda championship, finishing sixth with two wins.[5] Newgarden remained in the series for 2008 and improved to second place, with three wins.[6] His second-place finish in 2008 would lead to his biggest opportunity yet, a scholarship to compete with Team USA at the Formula Ford Festival in Europe.

Josef Newgarden wins the 2008 Formula Ford Festival

At the conclusion of the 2008 season, Josef was selected for the Team USA scholarship. This scholarship brings young up-and-coming drivers to England to compete at the prestigious Formula Ford Festival and Walter Hayes Trophy. The scholarship has helped launch the careers of world famous American drivers like Jimmy Vasser, Bryan Herta, Memo Gidley, and others.

Josef would quickly show his speed amongst the fierce competition in Europe. He would secure the Formula Ford Festival title, becoming the only American to ever do so.

At the Walter Hayes Trophy event, Josef would win all of the qualifying races leading to the main event. He would also start the event from the pole position. Unfortunately, mid-way through a rain stricken race Josef made a rare mistake and crash from the lead, finishing a disappointing 6th place.

Both of these events would lead to a significant transition in Josef's career. In 2009, he would move to England to compete in the British Formula Ford Championship and start his European career. He would finish runner-up in 2009, leading the series in total race wins and amassing 550 points.[7]

Newgarden competed in the opening round of the 2009 Formula Palmer Audi season at Brands Hatch, taking two wins and a fourth in the third race.[8]

Josef Newgarden - 2010 GP3 Series

2010 was an interesting year for Newgarden. He had set his sights on moving up to the ultra-competitive British Formula 3 Championship but funding for the season would prove difficult to acquire. A lifeline appeared to have materialized as a new investor was interested in supporting Josef's racing efforts. He had made a seat with a prominent team in the series and was at the first pre-season test of the season ready to go. The check from his new found investor just needed to clear and he was in the car. Ultimately, the funds would never materialize and the investor soon disappeared. This heartbreak led to an opportunity to compete in the newly formed 2010 GP3 Series with the highly successful Carlin Racing Team.[9] With the fallout from the F3 opportunity, the race was on to get prepared to compete in this new F1 support series. 2010 would end in Josef's most disappointing championship position of his young career, finishing 18th in the points. The season was highlighted by a pole position at Hockenheimring and a best finish of fifth at the season finale at Monza.

Josef Newgarden clinching the Indy Lights Championship

At the start of 2011, Josef was at a cross-roads. He'd just come off the most difficult year of his career and was low on the critical funding that was required to continue his pursuit of a professional racing career. He would return home to the United States with little hope of securing a top-level ride in a prominent junior series. A ray of hope would appear in an opportunity with Indy Lights team owner Sam Schmidt and his successful team, Sam Schmidt Motorsports.[10] Josef would secure this opportunity, forgoing a return to Europe, to compete in the United States. It was clear from the start that he'd made the right decision, he won his first Indy Lights race in the season opener on the Streets of St. Petersburg.[11] He followed his opening win in St. Petersburg with four more wins and ten podium finishes out of thirteen races in 2011,[12] clinching him the points championship with one race to go.[13] In New Hampshire, the 11th race of 2011, Newgarden lapped the entire field and went on to win. He was the first Indy Lights driver to do this since Thiago Medeiros in March 2004.[14] Josef, as a rookie, would also lead the series with the most number of wins for the 2011 season.

On December 7, 2011, Newgarden was announced as the driver for Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing. It is quite rare in IndyCar for a rookie driver to be offered a multi-year contract but Sarah and her team saw promise in Josef. Sarah's team was viewed as the smallest outfit in the series and Josef was certainly headed for a significant challenge in his first entry into professional motorsport. He competed in IndyCar from 2012 to 2014 with Sarah Fisher's team, steadily progressing and improving with each weekend. He would earn his first podium at the 2013 race in Baltimore. 2014 would be his standout year with SFHR, he would very nearly secure wins at both Long Beach and Mid-Ohio, and would stand on his second career podium at Iowa Speedway.[15]

During his fourth full season in IndyCar, Newgarden raced under the merged team of Sarah Fisher and Ed Carpenter.[16] Under this new team banner, Newgarden was ready to build on his momentum from 2014 and he started 2015 strong, finishing in 12th position at St. Petersburg and improving his position with each race.

During the fourth race weekend in the 2015 season, at his "home" race at Barber Motorsports Park, Josef would see all of his hard work pay off and he would earn his first Indycar Series victory at the 2015 Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama, moving from 5th to 2nd on the first lap of the race, and leading the most laps on the way to a 2.2-second win.[17]

Proving that his win wasn't luck he would win again later in the season at the 2015 Honda Indy Toronto[18] and finished the 2015 season 7th in the standings with 431 points, a personal best in IndyCar.

Sarah Fisher ended her participation in IndyCar after the 2015 season, leaving Newgarden to drive for the reformed Ed Carpenter Racing. Newgarden started the 2016 season strong with a podium at the 2016 Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama at Barber Motorsports Park. He barely missed pole position during qualifying for the 2016 Indy 500 and started in the middle of the front row. He finished the 100th running of the Indy 500 in a strong 3rd.[19]

At the 2016 Firestone 600 at Texas Motor Speedway Newgarden crashed hard into the wall, breaking both his hand and clavicle.[20] Remarkably, he returned to the car two weeks later, working his way to a top 10 spot at the 2016 Kohler Grand Prix at Road America.[21]

Only 28 days after his crash at Texas, Newgarden won the 2016 Iowa Corn 300 in dominating fashion, leading 282 of 300 laps.[22] A remarkable achievement with a broken hand and shoulder.

At IndyCar's return to Watkins Glen International, the 2016 Grand Prix at the Glen, Newgarden claimed another podium, finishing 2nd.[23] After a 6th-place finish at the 2016 GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma,[24] he finished the season in fourth place overall in the season standings. In a testament to their hard work and success, Josef and ECR would finish the season as the highest non-Team Penske car in the series. A considerable feat for a small team.

Newgarden celebrating after winning at Texas in 2019

On September 29, 2016, ECR owner Ed Carpenter confirmed that Newgarden would not be back with the team in 2017.[25] Newgarden moved to Team Penske for the 2017 season,[26] with the team making an official announcement on October 5.[27]

Newgarden won his first race with Team Penske during round 3 of the 2017 season at Barber Motorsports Park; clinching the victory after a duel with Scott Dixon in the final laps.[28] Newgarden moved into the IndyCar points lead following back to back victories at Toronto and Mid Ohio.[29]

At Gateway, Newgarden held off his teammates and Scott Dixon to clinch his fourth series victory of the season but not without controversy as late in the race, Newgarden went under teammate Simon Pagenaud very late going into Turn 1. After bumping tires, both continued but, as Pagenaud nearly hit the wall, he was not pleased with his teammate's move. The following week at Watkins Glen, Newgarden had a sizable cushion in the points over second-place Dixon. Coming back onto the track after a pit stop under green on cold tires, he lost control of the car as Sébastien Bourdais made contact with him damaging the suspension. Newgarden ended up leaving the Glen with a three-point lead, later a four-point lead as he won the pole for Sonoma, setting a track record. Newgarden needed to finish 4th or higher regardless of Pagenaud's result and he finished 2nd to clinch his first title.[30] Newgarden became the first American born driver to win the Astor Cup since Ryan Hunter-Reay in 2012.

Newgarden won the opening race of the 2019 season at St. Petersburg and followed that up with wins at Detroit, Texas and Iowa. He led the points standings after every race except the Indy 500 where Team Penske teammate Simon Pagenaud led from the pole position. Newgarden won his second IndyCar title at Laguna Seca by only 25 points. [31]

Josef continues to cement his place in the IndyCar series. He has led the most laps of any driver in the 2017, 2018, and 2019 seasons and he has secured the most race wins of any driver since 2014.

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

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