Two-time Indianapolis 500 winning driver Gordon Johncock reflects on his career. Also, BorgWarner’s Michelle Collins

Speakers: Bruce Martin, Gordon Johncock, & Michelle Collins

[Music Playing]

Will Power:

This is Will Power of Team Penske, and you are listening to Pit Pass Indy presented by Penske Truck Rental.

Bruce Martin:

IndyCar fans, it's time to start your engines. Welcome to Pit Pass Indy, a production of Evergreen Podcasts. I'm your host Bruce Martin, a journalist who regularly covers the NTT IndyCar series. Our goal at Pit Pass Indy is to give racing fans an insider's view of the exciting world of the NTT IndyCar series in a fast-paced podcast featuring interviews with the biggest names in the sport.

I bring nearly 40 years of experience covering IndyCar and NASCAR, working for such media brands as NBCsports.com. si.com, ESPN Sports Ticker, Sports Illustrated, Auto Week and Speed Sport.

So, let's drop the green flag on this episode of Pit Pass Indy.

Welcome to this week's edition of Pit Pass Indy, presented by Penske Truck Rental. We are proud and honored to bring Penske Truck Rental to the show as the presenting sponsor of Pit Pass Indy. We will continue to cover the entire NTT IndyCar series community and our new partners at Penske Truck Rental will help us tell those stories.

One of the true legends of IndyCar is Gordon Johncock. As Pit Pass Indy, presented by Penske Truck Rental heads to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the Month of May, we're going to devote today's show to the legendary two-time winner of the Indianapolis 500.

This is the 50th anniversary of Johncock’s first Indy500 win in 1973. The driver from Hastings, Michigan also won the 1982 Indianapolis 500 in the historic and thrilling battle with Rick Mears over the final 10 laps that has set the standards for which all great Indy 500 finishes have since been measured.

It was the closest Indianapolis 500 at that time with the margin of victory just 0.16 of a second. Today it is the fifth closest finish in Indy 500 history in any race that did not finish under caution.

The 1992 finish had Al Unser Jr finishing 0.043 of a second ahead of Scott Goodyear.

Ryan Hunter-Reay’s 2014 victory over Hélio Castroneves as second at 0.0 600th of a second, followed by Sam Hornish Jr’s 0.0635 of a second margin of victory after passing. Marco Andretti for the lead a few hundred yards from the checkered flag.

In 2015, Juan Pablo Montoya defeated Will Power by 0.1046th of a second, followed by Johncock’s margin over Mears in 1982.

But that 1982 finish was the first time in Indianapolis 500 history that anyone had ever seen such a fierce fight to the checkered flag. It remains the standard to which all Indianapolis 500s since have been measured.

Johncock celebrated in the sunshine in Victory Lane, the crowning achievement to his legendary racing career that included 25 IndyCar race victories from 1965 to 1983, and he finished second or third 51 times in his career.

He started 24 Indianapolis 500’s and led seven races for 339 laps at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

He also won the 1976 USAC National Championship in IndyCars. 50 years after winning the 1973 Indianapolis 500, the 86-year-old Johncock received his retro Baby Borg for his outstanding racing career.

His entire family, including his wife, Sue, his sons and daughters, and in-laws and grandchildren and great-grandchildren as well as many of the crew members from his 1973 and 1982 Indy 500 victories attended a special ceremony for Johncock presented by BorgWarner at Binkley's Kitchen and Bar in the broad ripple section of Indianapolis on April 24th.

It was preceded by a special tour of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum that morning for the entire Johncock family.

The 86-year-old Johncock even drove one of the IMS museum tour buses around the 2.5 mile oval that Johncock mastered so well during his spectacular racing career.

Johncock grew up in the late 1950s and early 1960s racing super modifieds and had most of his success on paved tracks, though he did get some memorable wins on the dirt.

In 1964 driving a USAC sprint car, he set a half mile world record at high banked Winchester Speedway in Indiana, turning a blazing lap of 104.773 miles per hour.

Johncock was a rookie in 1965 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and finished fifth. Jim Clark won. Parnelli Jones was second. Mario Andretti finished third to earn Rookie of the Year honors. Al Miller was fourth and Johncock fifth in a roadster, one of only six front engine cars in the field that day.

At 86, Johncock continues to put in a hard day's work. He has owned Johncock Forestry Products since 2010. There are 21 employees. Johncock Forestry Products mainly saws logs in the pallet material and uses the bark from logs to make landscaping mulch.

He lives in South Branch Michigan, population 841, with his wife Sue. They were married in 1990 and both have children from previous marriages.

The man from Michigan is more home in a flannel shirt and blue jeans than in a coat and tie. That was the theme for the Baby Borg event is the dress code was Johncock casual, flannel shirts required.

Here's my exclusive interview with the legend and hero, Gordon Johncock for Pit Pass Indy presented by Penske Truck Rental.

Joining us now on Pit Pass Indy presented by Penske Truck Rental is a true Indianapolis 500 racing legend. It's two-time Indy 500 winner Gordon Johncock, who on April 24th was awarded a Baby Borg Trophy for the 50th anniversary of year 1973, Indy 500 win.

How emotional was that to receive that and see the outpouring of support and love from the IndyCar community and from your own family?

Gordon Johncock:

Yeah, it was great. A couple things, my whole family was here from the East Coast to the West Coast and all their kids with them, some of them I had never seen their two or three-years-old.

But in all the news media and the people here from Indianapolis that supports us and supports racing, and it really made you feel good to come back here after so many years. I can't even count the years since I've been here or raced here, but it was a great feeling to come back and see everybody and be greeted and talk to different people.

Bruce Martin:

I was at your house back in 2019 and one of the things you told me then was that you looked at racing as a job and once that job was over, you moved on to a different job. Now you run a forestry service, which takes trees, turns them into lumber, and that's what you're involved with now.

But in a lot of ways, unlike a lot of drivers that retire or get out of racing where they keep looking back, you always looked forward. Why was that?

Gordon Johncock:

Well, I don't know. You can't set around. If you set around, you really get old and you don't last very long. You got to continue to do something. And I've always been a farmer or a forester, a woodsman, which we have a sawmill now and about 17 employees where we saw strictly cans to make pallets out of. We don't saw any grade lumber. We just saw cans.

And we have equipment out in the woods. It cuts the tree down, cuts it to lengths, trims it at the same time. It's called a Ponsse processor.

And we have all sorts of equipment. We have all the trucks, we haul all of our own wood in that we cut, plus we haul all the cans that we cut. And then we have bark, we have sawdust, we have chips, and we transfer all that, transport all that to different mills.

Bruce Martin:

How old are you now and what is a typical workday like for Gordon Johncock?

Gordon Johncock:

Well, I'm 86 now. I don't do as much work as I used to. I have a lot of good employees now. I say we got about 17 employees and throughout the years we've got some good ones.

We have an old fella now, I guess he isn’t that old. But he used to have a garage and a business, and he quit that, and he came to work for us and he just kind of seems to take over and really do things. He knows what to do and he's learning all the time.

And we have a lot of good mechanics and good guys in the mill. We just have a pretty good organization at the time.

Bruce Martin:

You're a true Indianapolis 500 legend. You're near the top when it comes to the achievements in the records at the Indianapolis 500, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

But I remember you telling me in 2019 that a lot of the employees that worked for you at the mill didn't even know you were a race driver. How have you been able to keep the two parts of your life so completely separate?

Gordon Johncock:

Well, I don't know. I don't even talk about racing really with people. I don't say anything about, well, I ran at Indy and won a couple races. They find it out in other ways and then they're kind of surprised. Some of them don't find it out for a long time.

But that was my first career. And I guess my second one is in the timber business, and that's what I talk and think about.

Bruce Martin:

How special was it for a Michigan based company like BorgWarner to give a Baby Borg to a son of Michigan? Hasting Michigan's own, Gordon Johncock, who now lives up in South Branch, Michigan, I believe you're the first driver from Michigan that got the Baby Borg. So, in a lot of ways, how special was that?

Gordon Johncock:

Well, it's certainly special. No question about it. There's a lot of guys that are probably capable of doing it maybe, but they don't get a chance.

I had several good chances and rides and good mechanics, people behind me that really, if it wasn't for them, no one person does this by themself. It takes a lot of people to make success like I've had. Like I'd say, I never would've been able to do it by myself. I have to thank all the mechanics and sponsors and all the people, owners, that were involved.

Bruce Martin:

Do you believe that in a lot of ways your accomplishment by winning the 1973 race doesn't get the credit it deserves? Because everything that happened in that race, there was some fatalities, it was a bad Month of May.

But as far as your drive that day, you did exactly what you needed to do to win the Indianapolis 500. You led a lot of laps; you had a great car, and you were in front when it finally rained and the race was cut short.

Do you think in a lot of ways people overlook exactly how good of a drive you had in that race?

Gordon Johncock:

Yes. I look at it as if I'd have been in a car sitting up there in front when they called it, that I hadn't led a lap, I'd run 10th, 15th, 20th all the time, and I happened to be sitting there, but we were one of the top cars. I think it was 133 laps and I think we led 70 some laps of the 133 laps. So, I felt that we really earned the race. We just didn't luck into it.

Bruce Martin:

Now, after that, 1977, you had the best car in the field that day back in ‘77, and you were closing in on your second Indy 500 victory before the car broke. Everybody remembers ‘77 as being A.J. Foyt's fourth Indy 500 victory, but in a lot of ways he didn't have the best car that day.

You had the best car. What do you remember about that ‘77 race and how good that car was that day?

Gordon Johncock:

Yes, it was really good. I can't remember for sure, but seemed like we might have had a bad pit stop or I got behind a slow car and coming in for a pit stop, but we got quite a ways behind.

But we caught up with Foyt and passed him and I think let's see, we had 13 laps to go and a 17 second lead on him when the engine blew coming down the front straightaway.

I guess I have to say that probably is the biggest disappointment in my life is when the car broke that day, that would've been my third one and Foyt wouldn't have picked up his fourth one.

Bruce Martin:

But the memory of that day was you got out of the car, and you jumped into the creek.

Gordon Johncock:

Yeah.

Bruce Martin:

And you go walking up pit lane and Chris Economaki on ABC stops you and says “Gordon, you're all wet. Why?” And you said, “I jumped in the creek.” And he asked you, “Why?” And you said, “Because I was hot.” It was a very hot day that day. What do you remember about how hot it was?

Gordon Johncock:

Oh yeah. I remember it being extremely hot. And when I parked down near the creek there and turned one, and my first thought was, I'm just going to lay down here in the creek and in the cool water and get cooled off. And that's what I did.

Bruce Martin:

And of course, the 1982 finish, first time anybody at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway had seen a dual like that between you and Rick Mears over the closing laps. At that time, it was the closest finish in Indianapolis 500 history, sets the standard now by which all great Indianapolis 500s are measured by.

From your point of view, what do you remember about that victory and what it was like to have that fierce of a duel with a clean driver like Rick Mears?

Gordon Johncock:

Well, there was no question at that point that Rick had a better car than I did. If I'd have listened to my pit crew, George Huening, it wouldn't have been that close of a race. He wanted to give me two turns in the wing up front because I was in a pushing condition and I said, “Well, I think I only better have one.”

And if I'd have listened to him, we had two, it wouldn't have been that close, but that's just decisions that you make. And the more I went, the more the car pushed, and I had to run on the bottom of the racetrack with the left side of the wheel, almost in the grass. It was on the apron down because I needed that kind of room coming out of the corner because the car was pushing so bad. And if I'd have backed out of the throttle, Rick would've drove right on by me.

And when I got to turn three, I went way down to the grass too, which I'd never been before at high speed. They had it slowing down, coming into the pits, but it was so rough, it set my car kind of sideways. Rick himself thought, he was right tight behind me and he thought I'd lost it too.

But I was able to save it and come out wide open without backing off and coming down the straightaway. And I had a good engine that day. Sonny Meyer had put an engine in the car that was really strong. If I hadn't had a strong engine, I wouldn't have been able to hold him off.

Bruce Martin:

Rick Mears says he had more fun in that race finishing second than in some of his victories. And to have a class act like that come down to that race, what did that mean to you?

Gordon Johncock:

Yes, Rick was the class act to begin with from start to finish. There was no better drivers running Indy cars than there was Rick Mears.

Bruce Martin:

You continued to be a star through the 80s. You drove a few more races into the 90s, but what was it that led Gordon Johncock to close his racing career and move on to other aspects of his life?

Gordon Johncock:

Well, at that age, it was hard to get a good ride. There was so many drivers coming up and it was just hard to get a good ride. And I was farming. And so, I just decided, well, at my age, I guess — which in a way, I wish I'd have kept on going, but because I didn't feel that I was really slowing up that much. I might have been a little bit, but I still felt that I could get the job done, but decided to go farming.

Bruce Martin:

When's the last time you've attended the Indianapolis 500? I believe it was 2012.

Gordon Johncock:

I'm not sure. Well, I don't remember.

Bruce Martin:

But would you like to come back sometime or is it just too long of a day for Gordon Johncock to really devote to?

Gordon Johncock:

Well, it's a pretty long day and it's much easier for me just at home and watch it on TV, than it is to drive down here and be in the crowds again, especially with this COVID, this disease that we have, I couldn't afford to get it, only having one lung that functions right. And so, I kind of try and stay away from the crowds.

Bruce Martin:

And wrapping up here with Gordon Johncock, two-time Indianapolis 500 winning driver who got his Baby Borg trophy on Monday, April 24th in Indianapolis. How much IndyCar do you watch on TV? What do you think of the style of racing and who are your favorite drivers?

Gordon Johncock:

Well, to be honest, I don't really watch it that much anymore. If I got work to do over to the mills, especially on a weekend when the crew's not there and I'm working out in the yard, leveling the yard or moving logs around or something, I like to come in maybe and watch the first few laps and then go back to work and try and get back towards the end of it.

But I don't know. I really don't know the drivers anymore. We have so many new drivers and young drivers that are 18, 19, 20-years-old that I've never seen before or heard about. So, I guess I really don't have a favorite driver.

Bruce Martin:

He's a man who's never been afraid of hard work. He's continued to work hard at the age of 87, only this time in the forestry business, but he remains a true legend of the Indianapolis 500.

Two-time Indy 500 winning driver, Gordon Johncock. Congratulations on receiving your Baby Borg Trophy. Congratulations on a Hall of Fame career. And thank you for joining us today on Pit Pass Indy presented by Penske Truck Rental.

Gordon Johncock:

Thank you very much. It's been a pleasure.

Bruce Martin:

We'll be right back to Pit Pass Indy after this short break.

[Music Playing]

Scott McLaughlin:

Hi, I'm Scott McLaughlin, driver of the number three, Team Penske Chevy, and you're listening to Pit Pass Indy presented by Penske Truck Rental.

Bruce Martin:

In many ways, the Month of May at the Indianapolis 500 actually kicked off in late April with Johncock receiving his Baby Borg.

It also begins a very busy month for BorgWarner and its involvement and long-standing relationship at the Indianapolis 500 and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, heading into the world's biggest race on Sunday, May 28th, 2023.

Michelle Collins is the Global Director, Marketing and Public Relations for BorgWarner. She tells us about her company's long involvement with the Indianapolis 500, and how the Month of May is one of the most exciting times for BorgWarner, in this exclusive interview for Pit Pass Indy presented by Penske Truck Rental.

Joining us now on Pit Pass Indy presented by Penske Truck Rental is Michelle Collins, Global Director of Marketing and Public Relations for BorgWarner. Michelle has been on the show quite often, including this year when we gave the Baby Borg Trophy to 106th Indianapolis 500 winning driver, Marcus Ericsson.

Michelle, today we're going to do something a little bit different. We're going to go back in time and give one of the great legendary drivers of the Indianapolis 500 his Baby Borg, for the 50th anniversary of his first Indianapolis 500 victory.

It's going to be Gordon Johncock. We're here at Binkley's in Indianapolis for probably one of your favorite events of the year.

Michelle Collins:

Yes, exactly. These are always so great to do. It's really neat to honor the past winning drivers. Give them a proper Baby Borg and truly recognize the great and tremendous feat they have by winning the Indianapolis 500.

Bruce Martin:

It didn't used to be that the winning driver received a Baby Borg, used to give a plaque, for years where it was a plaque with a partial Baby Borg, probably half a Baby Borg put on it.

When did the concept of the Baby Borg come into play, and also when did you decide to start honoring those drivers who only received the plaques for their victories to get a regular Baby Borg like today's drivers get when they win the Indianapolis 500?

Michelle Collins:

Yeah, so I think it was sometime in the 90s that we made this decision to switch over to the full-size Baby Borg. To be honest, I can't remember exactly, that predated my time with BorgWarner.

But I think it was a way just to really reinvigorate what we had been doing and really a way for a driver to have a more tangible replica of the trophy. The plaque isn't really something that you can kind of pick up and handle and look at from all angles. You put it on the wall and that's it.

This is a much more realistic rendition of the trophy and something that the driver can pick up and move and look back on and reflect on their win. That more so looks like our trophy, which we know that they can't keep. So, this is a nice alternative second to that.

Bruce Martin:

And as a native of Michigan, are you most honored today in the fact that you're giving it to a son of the state of Michigan, Gordon Johncock he's from Hastings, Michigan now lives in South Branch Michigan, way up there. He's really excited about this. And you, as somebody from Michigan, how excited are you that you're finally getting a chance to give the trophy to somebody from your home state?

Michelle Collins:

It's really cool. I mean, you see the excitement when a driver wins that's from another country and just the pride that the people from his home country and hometown especially take. I think this is a really neat story because I'm sure there's people that may be in the area that he lives in Michigan that really don't know of this past that he's had. And that's something pretty cool, I mean to say, wow, I won the Indianapolis 500.

And so, it's just neat, yeah, as a native of Michigan and also just to be able to recognize him for that. It's just really cool.

Bruce Martin:

Of Gordon Johncock’s two victories in the Indianapolis 500, one will be remembered forever, his duel in 1982 with Rick Mears that at that time ended up being the closest finished in Indianapolis 500 history.

His first win, however, the one, it's his 50th anniversary this year, was one that a lot of people at the Speedway and at the Indianapolis 500 would probably prefer to forget because of all the stuff that surrounded it.

There was some fatalities that year in the race, including one of the crew members on Gordon's team. Also, his teammate Swede Savage was injured, would later die from those injuries.

And in a lot of ways people have kind of forgotten Gordon's great drive that day. And the fact was, even though it was a rain shortened race, he deserved that because of all the laps he led in that race and the way he drove in that event.

So, do you think in some ways this brings a little bit of light in a positive way to that 1973 race?

Michelle Collins:

Yeah, I hope so. I mean, that's always something that we know as a risk in this sport that these drivers do. I mean, it really is life or death and yeah, unfortunate events that day, but still, it doesn't take away from the fact that he ultimately won and just in keeping with the tradition that we hold felt that it was the right thing to do to recognize him for that.

Bruce Martin:

And also, oftentimes is what happens in auto racing when something like that happens one year, IndyCar, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway at that time, it was USAC, made dramatic changes to the safety of the event and the safety to the cars, which prevented those things from happening again.

It's still a risky sport, but they've made great strides since then in safety. So, just how important is that, especially when you work for a company that's technological and innovative thinking?

Michelle Collins:

Yeah, well, it's great to see, I mean, of course you want them to run a clean and safe race knowing that there are potential for accidents, but that it's been greatly reduced, like you said, just by this continued innovation over the years, to ensure that not only the safety of the drivers, but the pit crew and the people in the audience as well.

Bruce Martin:

It's a big month for BorgWarner. It's the Month of May, start of the Indianapolis 500. On May 28th, it'll be the 107th Indianapolis 500 where the winning driver will be presented, but he will be greeted in Victory Lane at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway by the permanent BorgWarner Trophy that goes all the way back to 1935. It appeared for the first time in the 1936 race.

From a corporate standpoint, how exciting of a month is this for you and for BorgWarner?

Michelle Collins:

Well, we've got a lot of exciting things coming up this year for the race. A lot of things that we haven't done in the past that I'm excited to unveil in the coming weeks that I think will excite a lot of fans.

But this is just a great time for us. I mean, Fred, our CEO, is getting excited. We're preparing kind of our outline of what we're going to do that weekend, taking guesses on who might win.

And I have to say that IndyCar and Team Penske have also done a tremendous job in trying to amplify and excite fans and new fans this year, especially with the TV series that will be premiering Thursday this week on the CW. I think a lot of people are really excited about that. I know I am. And it's great to be a partner with them and take part in that.

So, like I said, we'll have a lot of things coming up over the coming weeks that we'll be putting out some press releases about that, hopefully we'll really excite fans.

Bruce Martin:

What do you think when you see spectators, when you see fans from all over the world, it's like the BorgWarner Trophy is the star of that event. Everybody wants to see the trophy, everybody wants to pose next to the trophy. You as a member of BorgWarner, how important is that to you and for the company?

Michelle Collins:

Well, it's something we're very proud of, something that's very unique only to us. I mean, what other company can say that they have something that exists like this and really almost in perpetuity, it has so much history and it's kind of followed the history of our company too.

What I hope people take away from it is putting a connection together with the name of the trophy and the company, that they might be interested to look and see what it is that we do and how we're affiliated with the race and also with this iconic trophy.

So, I think it's a good way to take an exciting kind of consumer facing event and really connect it back to more of a B2B company. And hopefully that's interesting for people.

Bruce Martin:

How many guests will BorgWarner have at the Indianapolis 500?

Michelle Collins:

We're still compiling our list, but we've got a couple hundred this year. A pretty large contingency that comes down to spend the weekend, enjoy the festivities, enjoy the race, but everything that goes along with it. It's just such an exciting weekend that we look forward to every year.

Bruce Martin:

And will you have one suite, two suites? I know that there's a lot of events and things that the trophy will be at. How do you take care of all the guests that will be coming from BorgWarner?

Michelle Collins:

So, we have one suite at the track but then we've got guests all around the speedway. So, there's some people in club seating, there's some in grandstand seating, all with an exciting vantage point really from every angle.

Bruce Martin:

And getting back to Gordon Johncock, the man's in his mid to late 80s, but he still gets up to go to work every day. He runs a wood business where they take trees, turn it in the lumber. The man's always been a hard worker his whole life.

But you can really see by the reaction just how special this is for him to receive this Baby Borg. What do you think of his reaction?

Michelle Collins:

Well, I can't wait to see it. And what I've been hearing from people who have been around him for the last couple days, they said they've never seen him this excited about anything.

And I think a lot of times it's hard for people to accept that recognition. And I think now he's at the point where he's just kind of soaking it in and really enjoying it like he should be. It's just a cool moment that I think he can take pride on. His family can take pride in and reflect this great thing that he's done.

And it's interesting to see, like you said, he lives a very unassuming lifestyle now. People who may not know him that well, but may be affiliated with his business now, may have no idea.

I mean, what an incredibly cool story. When I think about it, it kind of reminds me of the movie Cars where Lightning McQueen didn't know that Doc was this premier race car driver in the day. And so, I feel like there's almost a little bit of like trajectory from that movie to this. When you explain it, it's essentially the plot of that movie too. So, I guess you could say Gordon is Doc.

Bruce Martin:

Also the fact that so many racing legends when they get their Baby Borg trophy, you can see just how emotional they get. Mario Andretti's received his. Bobby and Al Unser while they were alive, received theirs. A lot of the great drivers when they get a chance to get their Baby Borg, A.J. Foyt received his last year. You see the emotion that these guys normally don't display. And how important is that to you?

Michelle Collins:

Yeah, you hit the nail on the head there. A lot of these drivers I may not have had interaction before the trophy that we give to them, maybe see each other in passing or know about each other, but haven't really had an in-depth conversation. And people always describe them a certain way, like you're saying, maybe a little rough around the edges or maybe not showing a lot of emotion.

But nearly every single one of them have cried when I've given this trophy to them. And that is just really special. You can see it means a lot to them and I'm honored to just be a part of that.

Bruce Martin:

And also your connection with the Indianapolis Motor Speedway goes all the way back to the 1930s, and it has continued since then. Easily the longest running sponsorship sporting event connection that there is on earth. You probably can't put a value on just how important that is for BorgWarner.

Michelle Collins:

Yeah, you're exactly right. And like I said, the company has evolved so much from those early days too, and so has racing. But we're all in this together. We all have the same end goal, to promote the race, to promote the drivers and the great partnership that we have with each other. And we're just looking to really collaborate and share that excitement with others. I mean, that's the whole point for us, is really to leverage this event and the excitement that we all share.

Bruce Martin:

Michelle Collins, Global Director, Marketing and Public Relations for BorgWarner. Congratulations on another successful Baby Borg event. Good luck in this year's Indianapolis 500. And thank you for joining us on Pit Pass Indy, presented by Penske Truck Rental.

Michelle Collins:

Thank you, Bruce. So good to talk to you as always.

[Music Playing]

Bruce Martin:

And that puts a checkered flag on this edition of Pit Pass Indy, presented by Penske Truck Rental. We want to thank our guest, 1973 and 1982 Indianapolis 500 winning driver and IndyCar Racing hero, Gordon Johncock and BorgWarner’s, Michelle Collins for joining us on today's podcast.

Along with loyal listeners like you, our guests helped make Pit Pass Indy presented by Penske Truck Rental, your path to Victory Lane for all things IndyCar.

And because of our guest and listeners, Pit Pass Indy presented by Penske Truck Rental is proud to be the winner of the best podcast by the National Motorsports Press Association. For more IndyCar coverage, follow me at Twitter at @BruceMartin_500.

This has been a production of Evergreen Podcasts. A special thanks to our production team. Executive producers are Brigid Coyne and Gerardo Orlando. Recordings and edits were done by me, Bruce Martin and final mixing was done by Dave Douglas.

Learn more at evergreenpodcasts.com. Until next time, be sure to keep it out of the wall.