For the first time since 1993, a Chevrolet Camaro will pace the Indianapolis 500 IndyCar race, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway announced yesterday, after presenting a special silver and red-painted pace car to the media. The 2009 pace car will be the fifth Camaro to ever pace the Indy 500.
Though no announcement has been made on the pace car’s ceremonial driver, Indy 500 winners Johnny Rutherford, Al Unser Jr. and Eddie Cheever Jr. were in attendance at the car’s official unveiling at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame Museum.
“The Chevrolet Camaro first paced the Indianapolis 500 in 1967 with one of the most loved Pace Cars of all times, followed by the 1969 Indy 500 Camaro Pace Car with the hugger orange paint scheme,” IMS president and COO Joie Chitwood said. “Just 40 years after that car made its mark as a Pace Car favorite, we’re pleased to have Camaro return to the streets and to the track at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway to start our Centennial Era.”
IMS says that the Camaro required no suspension or drivetrain modifications, only a fully-integrated strobe light system. The pace car will be a 2009 Camaro SS with a six-speed manual transmission.
GM has an exclusive contract with IMS – no non-GM product has paced the race since 1996, when Bob Lutz, then Chrysler ’s product guru, drove a Dodge Viper GTS. The Corvette has served as the race’s official pace car since 2004 and has seen such celebrities as Morgan Freeman, General Colin Powell, Lance Armstrong and Patrick Dempsey serve as pace car drivers.
