Chevrolet has announced that popular young adult fiction author and Indiana native John Green will serve as the honorary pace car driver at the Verizon IndyCar Series Angie’s List Grand Prix of Indianapolis on Saturday, May 14th. Green will pilot a Torch Red 2016 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray Coupe around the track at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Green is best known for his sixth novel, the best-selling The Fault in Our Stars (not to be confused with Mary Barra’s work of non-fiction which documented the GM ignition switch recall, The Fault in Our Cars). The novel debuted at No. 1 on The New York Times Best Seller list in 2012, and the film adaptation opened at No. 1 at the box office two years later.
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“This is such an honor to be chosen to drive the pace car at one of the most iconic race tracks in the world – which just happens to be in my backyard,” Green said. “I’m looking forward to driving on the same track as so many of the greatest drivers in the world.”
Though he won’t have a chance to experience its full potential, Green’s red Corvette will be equipped with the Z51 Performance Package, highlighted by a 455-horsepower LT1 V8 engine. No performance modifications were made to transform the Stingray into a pace car, the only changes made being the additions of a light bar and fire extinguisher.
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“John is a huge IndyCar and Indianapolis Motor Speedway fan and we have been looking for the right opportunity to get him involved in one of the events,” said Indianapolis Motor Speedway President J. Douglas Boles. “Having him drive the Chevrolet pace car for the Angie’s list Grand Prix of Indianapolis is a great way for him to be part of this historic month.”
Patrick Grieve was born in Southwestern Ohio and has lived there all of his life, with the exception of a few years spent getting a Creative Writing degree in Southeastern Ohio. He loves to take road trips, sometimes to places as distant as Northeastern or even Northwestern Ohio. Patrick also enjoys old movies, shopping at thrift stores, going to ballgames, writing about those things, and watching Law & Order reruns. He just watches the original series, though, none of the spin-offs. And also only the ones they made before Jerry Orbach died. Season five was really the peak, in his opinion. See more articles by Patrick.