1980 Indianapolis Indy 500 Pace Car 8x10 Gelatin Silver IMS Photo J Parsons

Description: This 1980 Indianapolis Indy 500 Pontiac Trans Am Turbo Pace Car 8x10 Gelatin Silver IMS Photo Johnnie Parsons Driver is the exact item you will receive and has been certified Authentic by REM Fine Collectibles. This image was acquired along with 100s of other Official Indianapolis Motor Speedway photographs from famed Indianapolis 500 Photographer Jim Haines' personal collection. The Indianapolis 500 auto race has used a pace car every year since 1911. The pace car is utilized for two primary purposes. At the start of the race, the pace car leads the assembled starting grid around the track for a predetermined number of unscored warm-up laps. Then if the officials deem appropriate, it releases the field at a purposeful speed to start the race. In addition, during yellow flag caution periods, the pace car enters the track and picks up the leader, bunching the field up at a reduced speed. The 64th 500 Mile International Sweepstakes was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana on Sunday, May 25, 1980. Johnny Rutherford won the pole position, led 118 laps, and won the race by a commanding 29.92 second margin. After failing to finish the race the year before (with Al Unser behind the wheel), Jim Hall's radical new Chaparral 2K ground effects chassis was a heavy favorite entering the month, and drove a flawless race. Rutherford, the winner in 1974 and 1976, became the sixth driver to win the Indy 500 three times. Prior to the first "500" in 1911, in the interest of safety, Indianapolis Motor Speedway founder Carl G. Fisher is commonly credited with the concept of a "rolling start" led by a pace car. Nearly all races at the time, as well as all Formula One races even to the present, utilize a standing start. Sarting in the mid-1950s, the auto manufacturer who provided the official pace car started selling replica pace cars to the general public. In many cases, the official on-track pace car was modified from its street-legal counterpart. Strobe lights, roll bars, multi-point harnesses, television camera mounts, two-way communication (for officials), and removing the air conditioning, are among some of the more routine modifications made for the actual pace car. Some official pace cars, however, have undergone extensive performance modifications, including suspension, transmission, or even engine modifications from their production counterpart (the 1990 Chevrolet Beretta is an example of this). Race-duty pace cars may also have the factory fuel tank replaced with a fuel cell, and usually have an on-board fire extinguisher installed. The special edition production replicas available to the public usually come with full paint and "Indy 500" decals, and may be part of a performance package upgrade. In addition, the track typically is provided with dozens of lower-end ("base model") pace car production replicas (or different makes by the same manufacturer) for use as festival cars throughout the month. Examples of this practice date back to the mid-1920s. The company who provides the pace car also often provides safety trucks for use at the track. The replica pace cars and the festival cars are usually worth significantly less than the actual car used to perform the pace car duties. Few festival cars may actually have been driven on the track. Actual pace cars are rare and most are kept and owned by the Speedway museum and the manufacturers. Since 1936, the winner of the race has traditionally been awarded a pace car. In some years, and in most cases for the past several decades, the winner is actually presented with one of the official street-legal pace car replicas.

Price: 99 USD

Location: Beverly Hills, California

End Time: 2025-01-09T16:19:06.000Z

Shipping Cost: 0 USD