Thanks to our friends at the National Corvette Museum, officials from the Chevrolet Corvette Pace Car Registry were very excited and happy to be onsite at the Indianapolis Auto Show on Thursday, December 27th for the historic unveiling of not one, but two 2008 Corvette Pace cars that will be used during the 92nd running of the Indianapolis 500 race (or is it really THREE Pace Cars??).

History will be made at the 2008 Indianapolis 500 when a pair of distinctive yet highly differentiated Corvette models will serve as the Official Pace Cars – one highlighting Chevrolet's commitment to fuel solutions and the other marking 30 years of Corvette's Pace Car heritage.

Below, Indianapolis Motor Speedway President and Chief Operating Officer Joie Chitwood, and Chevrolet General Manager Ed Peper do the honors to take the wraps off of the 30th Anniversary Pace Car....

Speaking during this memorable occasion were (pictured below) Indiana Lt. Gov. Becky Skillman, Indianapolis Motor Speedway President and Chief Operating Officer Joie Chitwood, and Chevrolet General Manager Ed Peper.

The First Pace Car :

A "Special Guest", 1978 Corvette Pace Car #1, was brought over from the GM Heritage Center for this great event and shared center stage to help usher in a new generation of Corvette Pace Cars.

The first "Official Pace Car" is a black-and-silver 30th Anniversary Commemorative edition that marks the 30th anniversary of the celebrated 1978 Pace Car – the first Corvette to pace the field at the Indianapolis 500. The Black and Silver paint scheme is inspired by and honors the contributions made by that 1978 Corvette. Another thing that will be unique is that the 30th Anniversary edition CONVERTIBLE will be used for laps 1-100, and a COUPE will finish the duties of the race during laps 101-200 ! And has been tradition for some time, due to the licensing at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, these Official Pace cars were already wearing their Firestone Firehawk tires for race day (the replicas will of course be wearing Goodyears again).

Get in line ..... Chevrolet will produce a total of 500 Pace Car replicas in both coupe and convertible form (planned to be built during the month of April), each signed personally by Pace Car driver Emerson Fittipaldi at the Corvette's Bowling Green, Ky., assembly plant. The interior of the 2008 edition is in 2-tone Titanium Gray / Ebony and sports the Indianapolis "Wing and Wheel" logo embroidered on the headrests of the seats. The folding top on the Convertible is Gray in color.

Stay tuned .... More information on pricing and availability will be announced a later date.

The second Pace Car is a customized Corvette Z06 E85 concept car that runs on E85 ethanol fuel, a domestically produced alternative fuel similar to the 100 percent fuel-grade ethanol that powers all of the race cars in the IndyCar Series. It will be driven during the race's pace lap by two-time Indianapolis 500 champion Emerson Fittipaldi. Mr. Fittipaldi was unable to attend the unveiling, however he did participate via a recorded announcement on the large screen.

Pictured above: "The Gang" attending with the National Corvette Museum package.

Pace Car Registry participants in attendance included Gary Artis (1998 Director) and wife, Bruce Bryan (1978 Director) and Grandmother Marty Fligor (a three Pace car family!), Jim Egan, Bob Kirsch (2007 Director and Webmaster), Rick Berry and wife, Howard Kirchenbauer (Registry Historian), and LaVelle Hunt with son Cailin. Another highlight of the NCM package was attending a lunch at the show in a designated ballroom to mix and mingle with GM/Chevrolet representatives. A Big thanks to Adam Boca from the NCM for keeping our group on track and making this a fun time for all! And another thanks to Ron McQueeney, for taking this photo so Adam could join the group photo!

Chevrolet Support Vehicles

As is tradition, the total "package" being provided by Chevrolet includes many other support vehicles besides the Corvette Pace Cars. There was one Chevrolet Silverado also on display at the auto show wearing it's event colors.

STAY TUNED TO THE PCR WEBSITE - We are sure there will be a lot of articles about the 2008 Corvette Pace car that you will all enjoy!

Please be sure to visit our official 2008 Indy 500 Pace Car page, which contains the "official" full press release and more on-track Pace Car photos.