Will the C8 Corvette Pace the Legendary Indy 500?

Corvette has a rich history at America’s most iconic race. So the question is, when will we see the C8 pace the 500?

As you may or may not already know, no singular car model has paced the Indianapolis 500 more than the Corvette. And it isn’t even close. Chevy’s iconic sports car has served as the Indy pace car a whopping 15 times since the tradition began in 1911, way ahead of the Camaro (9) and a four car pack tied for third place with 3 appearances. And every single Corvette generation has made at least one appearance dating back to the C3. So you can’t blame Corvette Forum member rm50 for wondering if it’s about to happen again.

“Any chance the C8 will be the pace car at the Indy 500? The Indy 500 would be a great showcase for the C8.”

Aside from keeping up the tradition, America’s most historic race would also be a fantastic place to debut the groundbreaking car, as many members point out.

“As good a chance as any at this point I would guess,” said Darion. “Indy 500 is at the end of May, right? Would be nice to see it out there representing the future.”

“It would be a GREAT venue,” adds TBIRD57. “But if car isn’t mechanically ready, it would be a disaster if it stumbled. To be honest, I personally can’t come up with another venue that would maximize publicity for the intro.”

Foosh is more skeptical, given the aggressive timeline.

“Pace cars are always production cars, and they are frequently recently introduced production cars. I don’t recall any ‘coming soon’ concept or developmental cars serving in that function. I don’t think there’s any chance the ME will be in production by Memorial Day because we would have already seen it.”

So perhaps, as roadbike56 points out, the C8 Corvette will pace the Indy 500. Just not this year.

“Yes!! Absolutely it will lead the Indy 500. In 2020 or 2021. And Danica will drive it. We’re doomed.”

And that’s pretty much what we’re thinking, honestly. It just doesn’t seem like the C8 Corvette is quite ready for prime time just yet. But you can bet that we’ll see at least one, and likely more than one C8 pace car over the next several years. If there’s one thing we know about history, it’s that it always repeats itself. But still, we want to know what you think. So head over here and let us know if and when you expect to see the C8 at Indy!