Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 To Pace 109th Indianapolis 500
INDYCAR
The 2025 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 – capable of 233 mph, the highest top speed of any car ever made in America by an auto manufacturer – will lead the field to the green flag for the 109th Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge on Sunday, May 25 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Designed for speed and performance, the Corvette ZR1 is up for any challenge, and the exterior and interior of the Corvette ZR1 will be on full display as the car fulfills responsibilities on and off the track.
Michael Strahan, a Pro Football Hall of Fame member, two-time Daytime Emmy Award winner, longtime 'FOX NFL Sunday' analyst and 'Good Morning America' co-host, has been named honorary Pace Car driver and will pace the field of 33 drivers in the Corvette ZR1 to start 'The Greatest Spectacle in Racing.'
'Chevrolet is proud that the 2025 Corvette ZR1, our fastest Corvette ever, will be the Official Pace Car for the 109th Running of the Indianapolis 500,' said Scott Bell, global Chevrolet vice president. 'With a top speed of 233 mph, the Corvette ZR1 is the perfect fit to lead the Indy 500 field to green."
The Corvette ZR1 delivers 1,064 horsepower at 7,000 rpm from a 5.5L twin-turbo V8, which is the most power ever from a factory Corvette and the most powerful V8 ever produced in America from an auto manufacturer. For Pace Car duty, the ZR1 is equipped with the Carbon Aero package, including dive planes on the front bumper, underbody aero strakes and the rear wing, which creates more than 1,200 pounds of downforce at top speeds.
The Corvette ZR1 achieves incredible acceleration – capable of zero to 60 mph in 2.3 seconds before rushing through the quarter-mile in 9.6 seconds at 150 mph, making it the quickest Corvette ever.
Arctic White exterior paint and Jet Black interior accents pair nicely with the Indianapolis 500 logos on the Pace Car. The jewel tone, emerald green and gold of the logo are highlighted in racing stripes and additional exterior design elements. Carbon fiber wheels complete the car's iconic, race-ready look.
'As we anticipate another iconic Indianapolis 500, we are once again excited to have the incredible American sports car Corvette pacing the field,' IMS and INDYCAR President J. Douglas Boles said. 'The race car-like performance of the Corvette ZR1 makes it the perfect car to pace the Indianapolis 500, and the distinctive sound of the Chevrolet V8 engine will echo brilliantly inside the walls of IMS.'
Corvette is the longest-running car nameplate in automotive industry history, so it's no surprise Corvette has paced 'The Greatest Spectacle in Racing' more times than any car. The 2025 race marks the 36th time for Chevrolet to pace dating back to 1948 and the 22nd time overall, all since 1978, for America's favorite sports car.
Visit IMS.com for tickets and more information on all Month of May events and activities at IMS.
Founded in 1911 in Detroit, Chevrolet is now one of the world's largest car brands, available in 80 countries. Chevrolet models include electric and fuel-efficient vehicles that feature engaging performance, design that makes the heart beat, passive and active safety features and easy-to-use technology, all at a value. More information on Chevrolet models can be found at www.chevrolet.com.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
6 hours ago
- Yahoo
The Hybrid Corvette ZR1X Was Too Quick At The Drag Strip For Its Own Software
For almost my entire career in automotive journalism, I've been having the "cars are getting too fast for normal people" discussion. Of late, that quarrel has extended to the enthusiast realm: Are cars getting too fast even for those who love them and presumably can handle the speed? Then along comes the Corvette ZR1X and the entire debate is completely obliterated. The ZR1X was literally too quick in the quarter-mile for its own software, as I'll explain in a moment. Accept the new reality. The ZR1X makes 1,064 horsepower from a twin-turbo 5.5-liter V8 and adds a 186-hp electric motor over the front axle, bringing combined output to 1,250 hp. The two motors aren't connected, and the 1.9-kWh battery providing juice for the front wheels doesn't need to be plugged in to recharge. Instead, it uses only "regenerative efforts" on the front motor. The estimated performance is staggering: 0 to 60 mph in under 2 seconds and a quarter-mile run in less than 9 seconds at over 150 mph. Read more: 2025 Cadillac Escalade IQ Is All About Big Numbers The ZR1X takes its electric motor from the Corvette E-Ray but ups the oomph by 26 hp. Chevy's engineers realized the ZR1X powertrain was going to make the car so quick that it would hit 150 mph before it completed the quarter-mile on a drag strip, disengaging the front motor in the process (as it does in the E-Ray). So in order to get through the quarter-mile with both drivetrains engaged, they had to juke the software so the disengagement happened at 160 mph, enabling the ZR1X's "trap speed" to be registered with the full propulsion system activated. Road & Track has the full story, which is worth a read. (Trap speed, just so you know, is basically a measure of how fast a vehicle is going when it crosses the quarter-mile marker on a drag strip.) You might rightly ask yourself, "Of what use are these velocities in real life?" After all, the ZR1X, if you believe Chevy's numbers, can hit the legal speed limit in much of the U.S. before you can say "Mississippi" twice. It's technically able to accelerate quicker than an F1 car. Clocking 160 mph in 9 seconds or less is actually sort of terrifying. It's not a gigantic step down from a top-fuel dragster or funny car. Still, the ZR1X's ridiculous levels of power, as with all versions of the current C8 generation Vette, look incredibly affordable as we speculate on where the apex-trim will be priced. The ZR1 starts at about $190,000 for 2026, so we're probably looking at something well north of $200,000 for the ZR1X. And yet, the pulverizing speed is a bargain. The Ferrari F80 makes a mere 1,183 hp and costs 4 million bucks. Back in 2019, on a trip to Detroit, I drove the C7 Corvette ZR1 and was mighty intimidated by its 755 hp. I told a couple of top GM execs about this and they sort of mocked me, in a friendly way, for not reflexively craving the power. I realized then and there that the horsepower wars had left me in the dust. On the horizon was the addition of electric motors to the hyper-tuned combustion powertrains, opening up new vistas of velocity. Not for me. But there's no doubt that Chevy's engineers deserve considerable props for their innovation. Even the quarter-mile drag strip had to bow down before their awesomeness with the ZR1X. Want more like this? Join the Jalopnik newsletter to get the latest auto news sent straight to your inbox... Read the original article on Jalopnik.
Fox News
8 hours ago
- Fox News
Alex Palou Breaks Mini Drought and Races to Victory in XPEL Grand Prix at Road America
Alex Palou's dominance in the 2025 INDYCAR season took a brief pause after he won the Indianapolis 500. He was knocked out of the race at the Detroit Grand Prix early and finished eighth at the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 last week. That ended up being the end of Palou's drought. He raced to victory again on Sunday, finishing first in the XPEL Grand Prix at Road America. Felix Rosenqvist finished second and Santino Ferrucci finished third. Kyle Kirkwood and Marcus Armstrong rounded out the top five, finishing fourth and fifth, respectively. Scott Dixon held the lead late in Sunday's race. But he had to go to pit road with two laps remaining, allowing Palou to regain the lead. Palou led for six of the 55 laps on Sunday, while Dixon finished ninth after leading for 27 laps. Sunday's win marked Palou's sixth victory in nine INDYCAR races this season. He sang "Red Solo Cup" right after the victory, too. There were also plenty of cautions in Sunday's race. Spin-outs and crashes forced Josef Newgarden, Sting Ray Robb and Robert Shwartzman to not finish the race. Christian Lundgaard, meanwhile, spun out late in Sunday's race, causing a caution as he fell out of the leader's pack to finish 24th. Here's a full look at Sunday's leaderboard: 1. Alex Palou2. Felix Rosenqvist3. Santino Ferrucci4. Kyle Kirkwood5. Marcus Armstrong6. Kyffin Simpson7. David Malukas8. Nolan Siegel 9. Scott Dixon10. Rinus Veekay11. Louis Foster12. Scott McLaughlin13. Alexander Rossi14. Will Power15. Callum Ilott16. Colton Herta17. Pato O'Ward18. Christian Rasmussen19. Devlin DeFrancesco20. Graham Rahal21. Marcus Ericsson22. Conor Daly23. Jacob Abel24. Christian Lundgaard25. Josef Newgarden (DNF)26. Sting Ray Robb (DNF)27. Robert Shwartzman (DNF) Want great stories delivered right to your inbox? Create or log in to your FOX Sports account, and follow leagues, teams and players to receive a personalized newsletter daily!
Fox News
8 hours ago
- Fox News
Fuel-Saving Maestro Scott Dixon Can't Save Enough To Beat Alex Palou
ELKHART LAKE, Wis. — Scott Dixon knows he doesn't have a shot at a seventh INDYCAR title this year. So going for race victory No. 59 is the strategy every week. Even if it means a roll of the dice. Putting Dixon in a position to save fuel to potentially win a race doesn't always equate to a roll of the dice. But Sunday, at Road America, to try to go the final 18 laps on fuel was just a little bit too much at a 4.014-mile track where the fuel run was approximately 13 to 15 laps. Dixon had to pit with two laps remaining, relinquishing the lead to Alex Palou, who won for the sixth time in nine races this year. Now 155 points behind Palou, Dixon expects the strategy to focus on victory lane even more than usual. "We have nothing to lose," Dixon said. "We're just going for some race wins. You're pretty much out of the championship. Nothing to lose. Throw some Hail Marys." Palou has seen Dixon throw some Hail Marys and make them work. So he, at first, was frustrated and confused. He wouldn't be able to beat Dixon straight up because Dixon had on the softer tires and would have been able to hold him off if the caution came out and they had a restart. "When I was following Scott, I could see that he was not saving as much as I was," Palou said. "I was like, 'This guy is crazy. How is he going to do it?' But I didn't know. I don't have a lot of information. "If it was another driver, I would have probably just focused on myself. But I know that Scott can make crazy stuff happen." Palou's strategist, Barry Wanser, had his engineers triple check their numbers to make sure that Dixon couldn't make it on fuel, as they continued to tell Palou to save over the final 10 laps. "I'm like, 'Are we missing something here? Because Dixon is running numbers — lap times. He's not going to be able to get it based on the number we gave him,'" Wanser said. "They double-checked everything, triple-checked. But we were pretty confident we were going to be fine." Once Dixon had to pit, Palou's biggest concern turned to Felix Rosenqvist, who had fresher tires. But Rosenqvist couldn't catch Palou and settled for second, with Santino Ferrucci third, Kyle Kirkwood fourth and Marcus Armstrong fifth. Kirkwood, the only driver other than Palou to win this year, moved to second in the standings, 93 points behind Palou. While it seems everything has worked this year for Palou, it has not for his teammate Dixon, who had to start in Row 13 after a penalty during qualifying for impeding Devlin DeFrancesco. So even with the fast car, he had to try an alternative strategy. "It's been one of those years, man. Anything we do is just kind of crappy," Dixon said. "We'll keep at it, keep knocking on the door. The car has got good speed and hopefully we'll get some winning ways going." It does appear that Dixon's ability to save fuel has been neutralized by the hybrid, which adds about 100 pounds of rear weight. Dixon feels he would have made it without the hybrid, which was introduced during last season (of course, that potentially would have altered the strategy of others). "Fuel mileage is way worse with the hybrid, which makes no sense of why we even have it," Dixon said. "It's the same for everybody. Everybody's got to carry this lump of weight around." And many were hoping for that late caution that never came. Palou could have used it, too, to be more on the attack rather than saving fuel himself. Just not needing to save as much as Dixon. "You're throwing some pretty wild strategies there just to try and make something happen, but it looked like [ours was] actually the conservative one. The one a lot of the others took was just the right one to take," Dixon said. "We had to bank on at least another lap or two [of caution]. The unfortunate part is the car was super fast. Like even with all our speed today, we were just having to save fuel every lap. So it was kind of frustrating." If he is rolling the dice, why not just stay on track and let it run out of fuel and see if a miracle could happen? "You've got pretty good senses," Dixon said. "You know whether you're going to make it or not. You don't want to be that person hanging out on the track for a lap or two." Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR and INDYCAR for FOX Sports. He has spent decades covering motorsports, including over 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @bobpockrass.
