Quote:
Originally Posted by scottmoyer  The Camaro has been used for Festival activities for years. The Beretta was the official Pace Car for the 1990 race, but not available in convertible trim. The Camaro was used during the pre race festivities during the month of May. There are more than 3 though. Probably more like 50+. The Indy 500 always uses the next years model for the race festivities so a 1990 model will be the choice in the 1989 race. The only time this was not the case was in 2002 when there was no 2003 Camaro to use. They used a 2002 silver Z28 convertible for the 2002 race. There will be minimal information on the car as it wasn't the official pace car. There are a couple of other members here on the board that have these cars also. |
1989 Indy Festival Car Info from Jan Larsson..........No 1990 models were used.
Info about the 1989 cars used at Indy
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Thought I post the info I got many years ago from the gentleman at Indy responsible for the numbering and plating of the pace cars, parade cars and support vehicles for the 1989 event ....
This is what he sent me:
All of this information is from the 1989 Indianapolis 500 Pace Car program file. As all of you already know the Turbo Trans was the "Official Pace Car" that year with GMC being the "Official Truck"
As we do this every year all of the cars that are going to be used during the months from March until May for this event are assigned a number. All cars receive this on the front windshield down low by the VIN number with the trucks and vans to have them applied to both the front and rear glass. The plate that is issued matches this number. The basic guide is that all of the "Official Pace Cars" that are used by the Speedway are numbered 1-80. These are then broken down again and the 500 Festival Committee then gets 34 cars with the remainder to be kept and issued by the Speedway. The Press cars are then numbered 81-100 and the last are usually Administrative units.
Vehicles numbered in the high 200 are normally support units or as they have been issuing Teams vehicles and that is why you see such a high number. We do have the BMV press plates up to 300 to 350 as sometimes the manufactures usually send more in after the first group arrives and is processed.
I hope this explains how the plating process works and here are the numbers from 1989 and there assignment.
Cars plated 1, 2, 3, and then from the numbers 53-78 were used by the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and these are what we call Track Cars. Cars numbered 4 through 40 were issued to the 500 Festival Committee (now it is called Indy Festivals) All of the cars from 41-51 were used for the parade and on race day for the drivers parade around the track.
Units numbered 79 through 83 were GMC Safari vans with 84 being a Bonneville SSE.
Cars then numbered 85 through 156 were replicas and some of these had press assignments. The GMC Safari vans then were numbered 157-161 for Pontiac Administrative use. Cars numbered 162-171 were Bonneville SSE models and were for Admin usages with 172-206 being Sunfire Convertibles and these were used for the parade and press and Admin and others during the month of May.
Here is the total recap of the different models that were used:
500 Festival Committee
50 Trans Am replicas
Indianapolis Motor Speedway
3 Actual Trans Am Pace Cars
28 Trans Am Replicas
5 Safari Wagons
10 Bonneville SSE
1 Bonneville LE
Support and Courtesy Vehicles
72 Trans Am Replicas
35 Sunbird Convertibles
10 Bonneville SSE
5 Safari Wagons
Total 219 units
RECAP
3 ACTUAL TRANS AM PACE CARS
150 PACE CARS REPLICAS
35 SUNBIRD CONVERTIBLES
10 SAFARI WAGONS
10 BONNEVILLE SSE
1 BONNEVILLE LE
