Author of Josef Newgarden's children's book recalls the emotional journey of collaborating on Indy 500 story

IndyCar driver Josef Newgarden launched a children's book in May 2024 that became an instant hit. The book was titled ‘Josef’s Big Dream: An Indy 500 Story’ and was co-authored by Andy Amendola and his wife Ashley. The book's author recently recalled the highlights of collaborating with the Indy 500 winner and his family for the book.

Newgarden won the 2023 Indy 500 after racing at the prestigious race for over a decade. The Team Penske driver decided to write a children's book about the same, and talk about the ups and downs of being a racing driver, and not having things go his way.

Andy Amendola was featured in a video uploaded by Greg Kallman on LinkedIn, as he detailed his experience and said,

“Yeah, it's crazy to me how fast it all happened. That was another pinch me moment that I was speaking to a driver, Who was an Indy 500 winner. That's a legendary thing. And the fact that he wanted to create a book with me. He has been an amazing partner and his family too.”

“I wanted to understand kind of his life, you know, when he had this dream of winning the Indy 500, how he approached racing, how he went through all the challenges in life. And, you know, we cover a lot of that in the book,” he added

“There's so many things that maybe didn't go right, and I think that's part of racing. You lose a lot more than you win. That's just a fact. But he never gave up and he just kept going. I'm at a loss for words because it's just such an incredible experience to work with someone like that and bring their story to life.”

However, this wasn't Josef Newgarden's first children's book. The 2X Indy 500 winner collaborated with Author Chris Workman and released a book titled, ‘Josef, The Indy Car Driver’ in the year 2016. The book became so popular that it was even included in Josef Newgarden's IndyCar of FOX promo.

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Josef Newgarden reacted to Alex Palou's cameo in his IndyCar promo

Josef Newgarden’s IndyCar promo was released by FOX in January 2025 and it featured a cameo from 2024 IndyCar champion Alex Palou. A section of the promo was about Newgarden's children's book where it was suggested as America's favourite. The promo then cuts to Alex Palou, who reacted to it by saying, “My kid hated it”.

Newgarden was recently featured on the Pit Pass Indy podcast where he detailed the irony in Palou’s comments, saying,

“It was so funny to me. You know, it showed a little personality for Alex. I think the irony is that he actually has one of those books and I don't think he hates it, but it was very funny.” (10:37 onwards)

Since then, FOX has also released the IndyCar promo starring Alex Palou. FOX took over the exclusive broadcasting rights for IndyCar from NBC and has been actively promoting the series with these videos.