[h=2]Making of an American champion[/h]by Marshall Pruett / Image by Bloxham, Cobb, Galstad, Levitt/LAT; Pruett

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Josef Newgarden had a major question to answer on Sunday. Could he withstand the pressure from the four title rivals who placed a bright red target on his back?
Moreover, could he carry the weight of expectations placed on his young shoulders by Roger Penske, Tim Cindric, his sponsors, and all those who helped the Tennessee native get within 85 laps of the championship summit?
Following his mistake during the penultimate round in Watkins Glen – only his second significant slip-up of the year, along with Texas – Newgarden clapped back at Sonoma. Critics, of which there are surprisingly few, were silenced.
It started when the 26-year-old phenom ripped pole position away from reigning champion and teammate Simon Pagenaud on the last lap of qualifying. And it continued, decisively, as he went on to record a perfect drive that never gave Pagenaud, Helio Castroneves, Will Power, or Scott Dixon a glimmer of hope in the points race.
In winning the championship, Newgarden confirmed aspects about his talent and tenacity that were apparent from the beginning. Can you believe the boy from Hendersonville, Tennessee, draped in Old Glory, won a title for the Captain in his debut season with the team? Yes, as a matter of fact. Just ask two of the men who bore witness to his budding brilliance.
"Everything, absolutely everything," Jeremy Shaw said of what stood out with Newgarden when he was chosen to receive the Team USA Scholarship in 2008 along with Conor Daly. "He ticked all the boxes. He was inquisitive. He wanted to expand his horizons and go to Europe. He wanted to learn; he was a sponge. There's only been a handful of kids who stood out like him over the years. And Conor was right with him."
Fresh out of the Skip Barber formula car racing series, Newgarden and Daly caught Shaw's attention after the karting graduates waged epic battles in their first open-wheel cars. With the Team USA Scholarship prizes in hand, the pair were flown to England where they represented America in the legendary Formula Ford Festival at Brands Hatch.
Newgarden, 17 at the time, would go on to stand atop the podium as the first American to claim overall victory at the event. Looking back, Shaw is hard-pressed to find anything today that wasn't on display nearly a decade ago.
"When they got there, they were right on the pace, gelled well with Cliff Dempsey's team, and they were right with the program," Shaw said. "They were good in and out of the car; that's very important for me. I'm not interested in taking someone who is only good at either. They have to be the complete package.
"That year, I found two that fit the bill, perfectly. Their work ethic was good, they were keen to learn, and it couldn't have worked out better. Plus, they were good buddies, which helped, so they could go over there and support each other and feed off each other, even at that early level."

Careers, taken in lockstep through the Team USA Scholarship, took divergent paths after the Festival. One friend went on a journey that ultimately led to an IndyCar championship; the other would soon begin a winding European detour that slowed his ascent to the mountain top.
"It all started from day one," Daly said. "We were literally racing Yamaha karts from the beginning; his family was driving up from Tennessee to Indiana and we would be racing every weekend. The way it went is, I won the championships and moved on, then he'd win and move on, and then we won the Team USA scholarships together. He was a year older than me, so he went to do the Skip Barber national championships before I could, then we both did the full season.
"And we both did the national shootout to win the scholarship for the Skip Barber national championship, but we didn't win it; Connor De Phillippi won it, and it was all really good guys – there were, like, 30 cars. And that was some of the best racing I've ever been a part of in my career. I won the championship, then we went to Europe with Jeremy..."
Newgarden would remain in Europe to contest the full British Formula Ford championship, where he finished second in 2009, and stayed for 2010 to race in GP3 with Carlin. Although the experience of leaving the U.K. to race in Spain, Germany, Hungary, Belgium, and Italy proved invaluable, Newgarden's run to 15th in the GP3 standings cast the first doubt as to whether he was destined for greatness.
At the same time, at home, Daly won the 2010 Pro Mazda championship with Juncos Racing and earned a free ride in Indy Lights for 2011. Newgarden, out of funding to take a second crack at GP3, headed back to Tennessee and was able to scrape together enough budget to join his pal as teammates at Sam Schmidt Motorsports.
As he'd demonstrate a few years later in IndyCar when botched pit stops robbed his first and second shots at victory, or when he broke bones in a nasty crash and refused to let it detract from his performances, or when he stuffed his car into the pit lane exit wall at Watkins Glen, maintaining focus after a setback is a rare gift possessed by Newgarden.
With questions surrounding his humbling season of GP3, the 20-year-old quieted his mind, incorporated what he learned on the European trail, and put five wins on the board along with 10 podiums to capture the Indy Lights title (below). Daly, having opened the door to GP3 with Carlin, scored one Lights win during an abbreviated season and headed east to start his Euro adventure as Newgarden placed his stamp of authority on the Mazda Road To Indy.
"We both had a goal of Formula 1, and it was a crazy rise," Daly said. "He stayed in Europe, didn't have the best time but picked up a lot while he was there, and I stayed in America because I won the Pro Mazda scholarship, then I went over and he came back. We still had that short time together in Lights, though.
"It had been about two years since I really raced against him, but the same exact competition came to life again. This is the guy I had to beat. And I think he felt the same."