The Indy 500 Tradition Continues With New BorgWarner CEO Joseph Fadool

Forbes

20-03-2025

Team Penske owner Roger Penske (left), BorgWarner CEO Joseph Fadool (center) and two-time and ... [+] back-to-back Indianapolis 500 winner Josef Newgarden with their Baby Borgs and the famed Borg-Warner Trophy.
The Indianapolis 500 and BorgWarner are part of the world's longest-running sports sponsorship, creating a historical legacy that has continued uninterrupted since 1935.
There's a new CEO in charge of BorgWarner, as Joseph Fadool succeeded Frederic Lissalde on February 7. Although BorgWarner is part of the history of both the Indianapolis 500 and the NTT IndyCar Series, Fadool sees a bright future for the company and the World's Most Famous Race.
BorgWarner is a global company specializing in the automotive industry and has prepared for its future with electrification and charging systems for the global passenger car industry.
Since 2012, BorgWarner has been a key IndyCar partner. All turbochargers on every Indy car in the series is manufactured by BorgWarner.
That history goes much deeper. It began in 1935 when BorgWarner created the permanent trophy for the Indianapolis 500.
The Borg-Warner Trophy appeared in Victory Lane at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the first time in 1936, when Louis Meyer became the first three-time winner of the Indianapolis 500.
Louis Meyer admires his three faces on the Borg-Warner Trophy as the first three-time winner of the ... [+] Indianapolis 500.
Coincidentally, Meyer asked for an ice-cold bottle of buttermilk to quench his thirst after 500-miles of racing on a hot Memorial Day in Indiana. That created another tradition with the American Dairy Association of Indiana giving the winner of the Indy 500 a 'Bottle of Milk' to commemorate the career-defining victory.
Since that time, the Borg-Warner Trophy has appeared in Victory Lane after each Indianapolis 500. The majestic trophy is one of the most famous in sports with the face of the winner of each year's Indianapolis 500 attached to the trophy, cast in sterling silver.
Times have certainly changed for both BorgWarner and the Indianapolis 500, but the bond the two share is immensely strong.
I had a chance to interview Joseph Fadool shortly after he took over for Lissalde, who retired after an incredible term at BorgWarner.
BorgWarner CEO Joseph Fadool with the Borg-Warner Trophy.
'It's such an incredible part of BorgWarner,' Fadool told me of the company's relationship with the Indianapolis 500. 'We are very passionate about our involvement with IndyCar racing as we have been since the 1930s. And we commissioned the trophy, which we started to award every winner since the race in 1936. We go back a long way. This was really a heritage for the company.
'We believe it's the longest sports partnership in history. We can't find any views opposing that. It's extra special since 2012 as we became the official turbocharger partner for the IndyCar Series and that also makes us proud.
'IndyCar for us parallels a lot of what we stand for as a company. When you think about teamwork and collaboration, trust, winning, resilience, these are all things that you find in the racing world, and it fits so well with what we try to achieve as a company and with all of our people around the globe.'
Back in 1909 when Indianapolis Motor Speedway founders Carl Fisher, James Allison, Arthur Newby and Frank Wheel created an incredible, 2.5-mile racing facility, Indianapolis was one of the largest manufacturers of automobiles in the United States.
The original owners of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway envisioned the Indianapolis 500 to be a proving ground for the automotive industry.
Times and technology have changed in the 117 years since the Indianapolis Motor Speedway opened, but there remains an element of technology transfer between the Indy car and the automotive industry through electronic control units and engineering processes.
That includes the turbochargers that BorgWarner develops and supplies to IndyCar.
The BorgWarner Turbocharger from an IndyCar engine.
'There are parallels and things we do transfer,' Fadool told me. 'Just to give you an idea of an IndyCar engine, a 2.2-liter engine, it's a very compact, high-powered density, high-temperature environment. These turbochargers are built for performance.
'Knock on wood, we haven't had a single failure in a race since 2012, and that's because of, you know, the materials we're using and the high engineering in those products, a lot of robustness.
'We are able to transfer that knowledge to the passenger car side. The environments are not as extreme, but we learn things when we really push the limits on our technology.
'The other thing, it helps us build a brand in the aftermarket side engineered for racing, EFR, and we have quite a bit of pull on that product line and we otherwise wouldn't have that if we didn't participate in Indy.'
For the 109th Indianapolis 500 on May 28, 2025, the field of 33 drivers will be led to the green flag by Chevrolet Corvette E-Ray ZR1.
The 2025 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 coupe will be driven by Pro Football Hall of Fame member Michael Strahan. It features a 5.5-liter, twin-turbo flat-plane crank V8 with 1,064 horsepower and 828 lb-ft of torque.
The electric motor powers the front wheels, making the E-Ray the first-ever all-wheel-drive Corvette. The E-Ray has a "Stealth Mode" that allows for limited all-electric driving, enabling silent operation for short distances at speeds up to 45 mph.
The E-Ray uses a 1.9-kWh battery pack to power the electric motor.
Michael Strahan with the 2025 Chevrolet Corvette E-Ray ZR1 — the Pace Car for the 2025 Indianapolis ... [+] 500.
The ZR1 is the top-performance model of the Corvette, known for its high-performance engine and aerodynamic enhancements. The E-Ray ZR1 combines the E-Ray's hybrid technology with the ZR1's performance capabilities.
'General Motors chose BorgWarner as a strategic partner; innovation partner some years ago when they were starting to think about that ZR1,' Fadool said. 'Each one is equipped with two turbochargers. The vehicle is going to create 655 horsepower, and we're just proud to be a part of it.
'General Motors and BorgWarner, we've got a partnership that goes long into the past, and I think it's just one more recent example.
'We think there's room for all these products, whether they're ICU or hybrid or electric, depending on the use case and the markets herein. We're just excited to continue to be a part of the tradition with IndyCar and partnered with such a great company and customer like General Motors.'
BorgWarner is a global leader in the charging industry and believes electrification will play a major role in the future of the automotive industry. But for now, it appears hybrid technology combines the best of electrification with the power of the Internal Combustion Engine (ICE).
Cars like the Corvette E-Ray ZR1 prove that electrification can be part of high performance.
'I think this is just a tip of the iceberg,' Fadool said. 'I think people see what the internal combustion engine can do when it's really pushed to its limits with technology like our turbochargers and I think you can see in F1 and also, in other tough environments hybrids and pure electrics have their own great characteristics.
'Independent of the propulsion that's being used there's great technology and BorgWarner is proud to be able to be at the forefront of all of it. Who knows? Soon these vehicles are rumored to be hybridized and let's see where that takes us. So, but we really can't comment too much on the future of what Indy's doing, but I think we got a lot of excitement planned ahead.'
IndyCar is currently planning and developing both a new car and potential changes to the engine formula to create its next generation of racing machines on the race track. It moved into hybrid technology in 2024 with the introduction of the Hybrid Assist Unit.
BorgWarner is assisting IndyCar through its technical expertise.
'We advise as requested,' Fadool admitted. 'They (IndyCar) keep a lot of it top secret, but we do consult with them on the technologies we feel we can bring value on. I can't really comment too much past that, but I think I think you'd be really pleased and uh by the new vehicles are launched a couple years from now.
'We definitely have a seat at the table.
'We're just looking forward to another great race this year in May and hope to see you out there and be rooting for all the car drivers and their teams. And by the way, every one of those cars have BorgWarner turbochargers, so we're excited for whoever wins.
'It should be another great weekend.'
The Indianapolis 500 is the highlight of the racing season. It includes an annual tradition unlike any other in sports, attracting 350,000 fans to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway to witness a race that began in 1911.
It also brings together key corporate partners of IndyCar, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway as well as many other businesses who use the Memorial Day Weekend classic to entertain important guests and conduct additional business.
BorgWarner sees it as a key element to its business portfolio.
Racing action on a restart during the 108th Running of the Indianapolis 500 on May 26, 2024, at the ... [+] Indianapolis Motor Speedway. (Photo by Michael Allio/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
'I don't know if there's any official statistics on it, but I can just tell you, we use that weekend and all the time leading up to it to really do a couple things,' Fadool explained. 'One, make our employees really proud about the company and what we stand for. It's just such a great weekend and we also want to bring along our customers and other stakeholders to show them, 'Hey, you're not only part of a great event celebrating these incredible drivers and the teams but we're all making history together.
'Every year the race is different it's unique it's absolutely exciting you know last year's race probably one of the most exciting races I've ever witnessed in terms of the finish so it's a lot about bringing our stakeholders along making them proud that they're part of The BorgWarner family.
'We don't have any statistics on it, but it's hard to measure the pride and the excitement and the enthusiasm that our teams feel that race weekend.'
Fadool has been with BorgWarner for nearly 15 years and was most recently the COO of the company.
When Lissalde announced he would retire at the beginning of 2025, Fadool was groomed as his successor.
Former BorgWarner CEO Frederic Lissalde congratulates two-time, back-to-back Indianapolis 500 winner ... [+] Josef Newgarden after wining the 108th Indianapolis 500 in 2024.
'Fred has been a great mentor for me,' Fadool admitted. 'Just to give you some context, he and I were both promoted to president of our respective business units back in 2011 at the same time, so we've shared a lot of time and experience together, both as peers and then as he was the CEO.
'He's just been a tremendous supporter for me.
'How we handled the succession this time is I was announced as the COO in July. I came out of my business unit role, and we used that time, for me to first learn the rest of the business, especially the businesses that we bought in the last five years that maybe I didn't have as many insights too. So, I spent a lot of time on the road learning those businesses, meeting the folks and some of the customers.
'And then I spent some of the time just working with Fred and going to investor meetings. That's a new part of the role of CEO. He has given me great advice and coaching throughout the whole period.
'So, it was a pretty seamless transition six weeks ago when it happened.'
When a new CEO takes over a company, such as BorgWarner, a fresh set of ideas and a different vision may come with them.
That creates a transition period for the company. But in this case, many of Fadool's ideas and practices are a continuation of BorgWarner's ingredients for success.
BorgWarner CEO Joseph Fadool (left) talks with Penske Corporation President Bud Denker (right).
'A good example of how we handled this, we reorganized last July,' Fadool explained. 'So commensurate with me becoming the COO, Fred and I had worked together with our strategy board a few months before to adjust our organization to what we saw as an emerging change to our strategy.
'Organization always follows strategy and what we had started to see is that electrification, the growth wasn't going to be as strong as we had thought it would be. It's still growing, but it's not as strong, especially in the western markets. We were also incubating some of our new E assets and they were ready to stand on their own.
'In essence, we worked very closely together so we didn't lose any time as we reorganized in July. I spent the better half of last year shaping our strategy leading up to a senior management meeting in November. We feel this approach works really well. We didn't really lose any time Fred being the gracious leader he is, gave me lots of room to adjust and reshape things. He's not one to have an overt sense of pride in what he's done. He realizes the markets are moving fast and a lot of what he did was successful.
'Some of the things we had to make some changes to, and he just gave me a lot of room to make those adjustments.'
During Lissalde's tenure, BorgWarner has been active in acquiring companies internationally, diversifying its efforts, continuing its growth in other areas of technology.
Fadool explains in detail the company's recent past and its vision for the future.
The IndyCar turbocharger produced by BorgWarner.
'As we've all witnessed, the automotive industry is probably one of the most transformational industries on Earth right now,' Fadool said. 'When you think about electrification, you think about autonomous driving. You think about the growth of the Chinese OEMs and coming into the Western markets, it's full of change.
'Innovation is fast and exciting and at BorgWarner, the way we approach it is to first lean on our organization to grow organically, bring new products to market, the ones we already have in the market, scale them, diversify our customer base, close the top line.
'We've done that also inorganically. We've done seven acquisitions in six years, starting with the Delphi acquisition that brought us power electronics, which we didn't have in the past.
'Since then, we've built what we think is arguably the strongest powertrain portfolio in the industry. It's a very resilient whether customers choose to continue with combustion engines. We've got great foundational products like four-wheel drive, turbochargers, EGR, and timing systems. Or as they move into hybrids, we were fortunate. We can pull from that great foundational set of components I mentioned, but now we're starting to pull from the E-side -- inverters and motors and onboard charging, things that we've acquired over the last five years.
'We think we're in a great spot depending on what region goes where and it's something we're really proud of. We didn't have this resilient portfolio five years ago.
'The last thing that really, we benefited from is leveraging our customer intimacy as we move from combustion to E.
'Give you a little example of that. We're very strong in exhaust gas management, which requires a lot of thermal management competence and thermal transfer knowledge. One of our strategic customers in Europe, premium luxury brands, really loved what we were doing for them on that side, and they decided to pull us into the inter-cell cooling technology for batteries.
'Out of ten players, we ended up winning that business, so it's a brand-new product line for us.
'It's not always just about technology and innovation, it's having great customer trust and that's a great example of where they pulled us into a space we weren't playing yet. We're about to launch that program by the end of this year.
'I think that speaks to really the customer relationships we have.'
Many consumers have heard of the Borg-Warner Trophy but may not have an understanding of BorgWarner as a company.
It's a technology company that specializes in the automotive industry. The turbochargers in most of the passenger vehicles that are on the road today, were either manufactured by BorgWarner, or has BorgWarner parts are in them.
Josef Fadool (center) chats with Indianapolis Motor Speedway President and Penske Corporation ... [+] Founder Roger Penske (right).
'That's a great example,' Fadool said. 'We're a B-to-B (business-to-business), so we fly under the radar of a lot of consumers. But you're absolutely right.
'If you look at the vehicles going down the road, the chances are you've got BorgWarner technology inside. About a third of the turbocharged engines in the world are boosted by BorgWarner. About a third of the four-wheel drive businesses, they are cranked out by us.
'A lot of folks outside of the automotive space don't maybe see that, but we're certainly a leader in most of products that we serve to the market.'
When BorgWarner began its involvement with the Indianapolis 500 in 1935, it was heavily involved in the automotive industry, but of course, times were much different than today's hybrid or electric world.
Many of the gauges on the dashboard and other automotive parts that went in the cars all the way back then were manufactured by BorgWarner.
'We've been in so many different businesses,' Fadool said. 'One of the areas that we're most known for are transmissions. We used to make complete transmissions. In fact, we've set up even a joint venture with Aisin, a Japanese company to produce transmissions to the Japanese market too.
'We've been in and out of products. We're a 130-year-old company.
'A lot of folks don't realize, one of our first patents back in 1890 was through a guy George Morse, he's a the one that started Morse timing systems, and it was for a leaf spring buggy to improve the ride.
'I think it just shows we've got a long history of products supporting the automotive space and innovations at our core.
'We've also been in marine. We've done some aerospace in the past and also off highway work.
'Today we're mainly focused on passenger cars and commercial vehicles, but we've touched a lot of industries in the past.'
BorgWarner is also involved in the automotive aftermarket industry. A trip to the Auto Parts store will reveal many BorgWarner brand products on the shelves.
'We have an aftermarket business,' Fadool said. 'It's about 2 percent of our overall business but growing amid the high single digits every year. We are mostly serving the markets with products that we serve the OEMs with. Turbochargers, we have a really great aftermarket brand, and we've got a performance line of turbos which is what we modeled the Indy 500 engines after, and we turn that into its own aftermarket brand called EFR.
'Turbos, exhaust gas management, ignition coils, clutches, friction plates, a lot of the products that we're known for through the OE side we serve in the aftermarket business.'
Fadool believes Lissalde left a legacy of excellence for BorgWarner. It was a period of rapid growth and a transformation of the company's portfolio.
He also built up a tremendous team that makes BorgWarner a leader in innovative technology. According to Fadool, over 30 percent of the team at BorgWarner was hired during Lissalde's tenure as CEO.
Fadool is now at the helm and has an aggressive vision for BorgWarner's future.
'Well, given that we've done so much great work on the portfolio, and we've got a lot of competence now in the company, I've got three priorities,' he said. 'The first one is we don't just want to grow on the electrification side. That had been our focus for the last five six years and we funded that with the foundational product.
'We now want to grow across the entire company.
'Our four businesses which make up our 14 billion dollars of revenue, they all have the mandate to manage both their short and long term.
'That's a lot of what BorgWarner has done the last 80 or 100 years is identify customer problems, solve those problems with innovative products and properly grow that top line.
'The second priority is to leverage our core competence and keep building on it. We don't want to stand still. We need to continue to leverage and build our product portfolio, and that may include also some potential acquisitions in the future.
'The third is really to execute that growth. Expanding margins, converting, every dollar that comes in the door as revenue, we want to convert in the mid-teens to profit and create value for all.'
Fadool believes he has the right team and vision to create an exciting future for BorgWarner and the Indianapolis 500.
Josef Newgarden kisses the Borg-Warner Trophy after the 107th Indianapolis 500 in 2023. (Photo by ... [+])