Back in 1991, a Dodge Viper Paced the Indy 500 and Carroll Shelby was the Driver. The big news for the race was that an all new Dodge Viper will perform the honors of being the Pace Car for the Start of the Race and will be driven by Carroll Shelby and when the Race gets underway and the Viper Pace Car pulls off the Track, Carroll was to pull it behind the Wall and the new Dodge Stealth was to take over the Duty of being the Pace Car for the remainder of the Race. But….. Carroll Shelby liked driving the Viper so much that he refused to pull behind the Wall, instead, he pulled the Viper into the space reserved for the Pace Car and ended up Driving the Pace Car for the whole Race. I have always wandered what happened to the Viper Pace Car and the Dodge Stealth’s that were supposed to be the Pace Cars. Does anyone on here know? David
It's my understanding that the winner of the race keeps the pace car. I wouldn't have a clue what happened to the Viper, but if the Stealth was yellow, I think I actually have a picture of it stored with other Indy pace cars won by a particular team owner. They're housed in a building that has his personal collection of cars. I tried to attach the picture. Not sure if it worked or not. If you'd like I can email it to you.
My brother was at that race and has a helmet signed by all the drivers. I think it was given to Carroll and he gave it to my brother. That was very soon after Carroll's heart transplant and there were concerns about whether he could handle driving the pace car...but of course, he was fine. I'm not sure what happened to the cars but I believe crzy4shelbys is correct that at least one of the pace cars goes to the winner. There were promotional photos taken of Carroll standing with the Viper. If I find one, I'll post it. Randall
But which Car did the Winner get, the Viper or the Stealth? The Stealth was the original Pace Car and usually, 3 Pace Cars are built for each Indy 500 (3 Stealths were built but only One Viper for this event). One goes to the winner, One paces the Race and One is a Back Up. If the winner got the Stealth, what happened to the Viper? I believe this was the ONLY Indy 500 that had 2 different Pace Cars slated to Pace the Race (Stealth & Viper).
I don't think they get the real Pace Car anymore. In the last 20 years, they have become highly modified, and will not meet the Federal emissions standards. So, if the winner still gets a car, I figure it's a replica By the way, seems the 65 Mustang A.J.Foyt won is one of the "we wish we knew where it was" cars. And here's another Shelby Pace Car story: He was in Indy to practice driving the pace car a week or so before the race. The Indiana SAAC club has thier annual "Spring Fling" the weekend before the Indy 500 every year. This is always at Brown County State Park, about one hour south of Indy. On Show day, a Saturday, about noon, a Dodge mini van with "official car-Indy 500" decals showed up. Out pops Carroll Shelby. They let him sit under a tent signing autographs for about an hour and a half. Then he gets up and says "let's go sign some cars". He must have signed 200 cars that day. Including my 67 GT 350 -twice. The first time I took out the dash center section and took it to the tent. Then when he came around, I had him sign the passenger visor. Oh, and this was before he ever charged for an autograph.
You are correct in that the winner of the race recieves one of the pace cars. Rick Mears won the race that year. He did not get a Viper from the Speedway because they were not in production yet, that is also why the Stealth continued on as the Pace Car. Rick did finally get a Viper almost a year after his win, but that was arranged by Roger Penske.
I remember watching that race with my Dad because Carroll Shelby was there. I don't remember seeing the Stealth doing any of the Pace Car duties. I remember the guys comintating the Race kept talking about how Carroll Shelby was so pleased with the Viper that he would not get out and ended up driving it for the Pace car duties for the whole Race. David.
