The 2014 Chevrolet Camaro Z/28 will be this year’s Indianapolis 500 pace car, with three-time Indy 500 winner Dario Franchitti behind the wheel. The May 25 race will mark the eighth time a Camaro has been the pace car, starting in 1967, and the 25th time a Chevrolet has paced the race.
Franchitti won the Indy 500 in 2007, 2010 and 2012, but was forced to retire last year because of injuries suffered in a fierce crash in an October IndyCar race at Houston. Franchitti’s appearance in the Camaro Z/28 pace car signals a new start in his career as he embarks on a driver development role with Chip Ganassi Racing, which will use Chevrolet power in the 2014 IndyCar season.
“It is a tremendous honor for me to be asked to drive the Pace Car for the Indianapolis 500. As a historian of motorsport and as a three-time winner of this great race, I will appreciate every minute of getting to pace the field in the new 2014 Chevrolet Camaro Z/28. Although I won’t be competing in the Greatest Spectacle in Racing, this will be as close as one person can get to the action. I can’t wait until May in Indianapolis,” Franchitti said.
The track-focused Camaro Z/28 is powered by a 7.0-liter LS7 V8 engine producing 505 horsepower and 481 lb-ft (652 Nm) of torque.
By Dan Mihalascu
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