Chevrolet’s Early Indianapolis 500 Pace Cars

The first Indianapolis 500 pace car to pace a race was the Stoddard-Dayton in 1911. Amazingly, a Chevrolet wouldn’t pace an Indianapolis 500 race until 37-years later when the 1948 Fleetmaster convertible appeared.

After the 1948 race, Chevrolet would wait another 7-years before pacing the race again in the newly introduced classic 1955 Chevy Bel Air.

While Chevrolet wouldn’t pace another race for 12-years, when they returned they brought the all-new 1967 Chevrolet Camaro RS/SS convertible, which was quickly followed up by Chevrolet in 1969 with another Chevrolet Camaro RS/SS convertible.

Although various manufacturers would provide pace cars for the Indianapolis 500, the race has been exclusively paced by Chevrolet since 2002 – unevenly rotating between the Chevrolet Camaro and the Chevrolet Corvette.

Here are some of Chevrolet’s early Indy 500 Pace Cars with an interesting fact at the end!

1948 Chevrolet Fleetmaster

The 1948 Chevrolet Fleetmaster was the first Chevrolet to pace the Indianapolis 500. It was driven by Wilbur Shaw, who would also drive the 1949 pace car, a Oldsmobile 88.

1955 Chevrolet Bel Air

Chevrolet at Indy Centennial — *1955 Chevrolet Bel Air*. *Photo: Chevrolet.*

Chevrolet would return to pace the 1955 Indianapolis 500 with their breakthrough 1955 Chevrolet Bel Air. Chevrolet spokesperson, Dinah Shore was on hand to sing the iconic, “See the U.S.A. in your Chevrolet.” The Bel Air was driven by T.H. Keating.

1967 Chevrolet Camaro RS/SS

1967 Chevy Camaro Pace Car — *1967 Chevrolet Camaro RS/SS. Photo: Chevrolet.*

While 1967 would mark the first time since 1955 that Chevrolet would pace the Indy 500, they returned in 1967 with the all-new 1967 Camaro RS/SS convertible. The pace cars were painted ermine white and featured bright blue interiors with Chevy’s 5.7L 350 engine. The 1967 pace car was driven by Mauri Rose.

1969 Chevrolet Camaro RS/SS

Fresh off of pacing the 1967 Indy 500, Chevrolet again returned in 1969 with an updated Camaro RS/SS. The 1969 Camaro SS/RS pace cars were all painted Dover white with orange Z/28 style exterior stripes and featured orange houndstooth interiors. All were powered by Chevy’s 396 big block coupled with an automatic transmission. Replica pace cars were powered by Chevrolet’s 5.7L 350. The 1969 race was paced by former Indy 500 winner and Chevrolet dealer Jim Rathmann.