Q: Do the Indy 500 pace car drivers get any training?
A: Piloting the pace car is a big honor, but it’s no walk in the park. Celebrity drivers, including Colin Powell, Guy Fieri, and 2025 pick, NFL analyst Michael Strahan, must parade around the 2.5-mile oval with 33 Indy cars close behind, then pull into the pits before the race starts. And they do it in front of a massive crowd watching their every move. Given the high stakes, it’s miraculous only one guy has ever choked. In 1971, the owner of a local Dodge dealership drove the pace car into the photographers’ stand. No one was seriously injured, which was lucky—his passengers were astronaut John Glenn and IMS owner Tony Hulman Jr. Since then, a professional driver (Sarah Fisher in recent years) familiarizes noobs with the vehicle and track. And no, the celebrity driver doesn’t command the pace car after a wreck or before a restart. Of late, that duty has also fallen to Fisher.
