Actor Jeffrey Dean Morgan, best known for his role as ‘Negan’ in the wildly popular AMC series ‘The Walking Dead’, will drive the pace car for this Sunday’s 101st Indianapolis 500.
This year’s Indy 500 pace car is a specially prepared C7 Corvette Grand Sport. The car continues a long standing tradition of Chevy’s pacing the race that dates back all the way to 1948.
“We’re honored to welcome Jeffrey Dean Morgan to IMS to drive the 2017 Corvette Grand Sport Pace Car,” IMS President J. Douglas Boles said in a statement. “He’s used to playing the ultimate villain in ‘The Walking Dead,’ but he’ll be an envied hero to millions of race fans around the world when he gets to lead the field to the green flag of the 101st Indianapolis 500 in such a beautiful Corvette.”
In addition to his Walking Dead role, Morgan is also a recurring character in the hit ABC series ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ and also in the CBS series ‘The Good Wife’. Fans of the show ‘Supernatural’ may also recognize him as his ‘John Winchester’ character.
Dean is a famous face, but he’ll be far from the most well-known person at Indy on Sunday. Vice President Mike Pence confirmed Thursday that he plans on attending  Sunday’s race, forcing race organizers to quickly try and meet the required security requirements. Pence is an Indiana native and says going to the Indy 500 is a family tradition.
Comments
Car and Driver had a list of some of their favorite INDY 500 Pace Cars and when you look over the list, you really begin to see how much technology has improved over the past 30 years like the 1980 Pontiac Firebird Turbo Trans Am that was powered by a turbocharged 5.0L V8 that made just 210 horsepower while today’s Chevrolet’s base Camaro has a 2.0L DOHC-4v 4-cyl turbo that generates 275 hp.
http://www.caranddriver.com/flipbook/leaders-of-the-pack-our-all-time-favorite-indy-500-pace-cars?src=nl&mag=cdb&list=nl_dvr_news&date=052617
I expect the day that a performance hybrid or electric will become the next Indy 500 Pace Car. Both Ford and GM are working on it!!