The 1967 Camaro convertible was selected as the official pace car for the 1967 Indianapolis 500. Photo from www.broachbuster.com

The Indianapolis 500 race started the tradition of using a pace car to keep the starting field in order to begin the race from a rolling start. It has also become part of the winner’s prizes. Since 1936, the winner of the Indianapolis 500 has been presented with one of that year’s pace cars, or an exact replica of the pace car. Several of these pace cars have gone on to become legendary classics, and we count down the top ten Indianapolis 500 Chevy pace cars of all time.

1967 Chevrolet Camaro

The best of the best and a true pacesetter. The legend behind the story is as good as the car itself. According to the story, which has been retold numerous times, the 1967 race winner, A.J. Foyt, refused the car because it didn’t have air conditioning or a power top. Chevrolet had built three of the actual pace cars, which were confirmed by GM documentation (Engineering Build Order 98168). There were a number of replicas built for a special advertising promotion called the “Pacesetter” campaign. No one knows exactly how many of the pace car replicas were built but numbers range from 81 to 560 for the promotion.

The dealers in Canada felt they were excluded from the promotion and GM ordered up 21 more cars under another order code (#80055).  Of these 21, there were 11 396ci/325 hp turbo 400s and 10 Powerglide equipped models. A.J. Foyt was given one of the cars built in the special Canadian run, with air conditioning and power top. A.J. Foyt had close ties to Ford Motor Company and this is more likely the reason that Super Tex turned down the original pace car.

The Start of the 1967 Indianapolis 500:

Of the 1967 Pace cars that have been registered with the United States Camaro Club Registry, 49 of these cars were outfitted with the 295hp 350ci SBC, 22 were fitted with the 325 hp 396ci BBC, and five were fitted with the 375 hp 396ci BBC. Because this pace car was the first year Camaro, it is a very desirable car. GM’s lack of decent records make it a difficult task to determine if a pace car replica is one of the factory versions and which are fakes that were done years after the manufacture. Despite the problems in verifying an original 1967 Camaro pace car, they remain highly sought after by collectors.

The 1967 Camaro pace car remains one of the most sought after collector cars of the era. Photo from www.pacecarregistry.com

The original pace car used to pace the Indianapolis 500 in 1967, that was driven by Mauri Rose and Foyt turned down, was orginally owned by Dan Young. The car is displayed periodically at Dan Young Chevrolet in Indianapolis or that the Indy Speedway Museum. At one point Young sold his dealership and the car was sold to Camaro collector Charlie Lilliard.