[1]You’ve watched him on the Food Network show “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives,” but now you’ll be getting a whole lot more of Guy Fieri because he was just named the celebrity pace car driver for the 96th running of the Indianapolis 500 later this month. As we found out from Indy Star [3], the culinary genius was named the official driver of the ’13 Corvette ZR1 pace car [4] this morning. Olivia Newton-John and Martina McBride will also help kick off the event in two weeks.
[5] While Fieri is most known for his talents in the kitchen, he is also a major car guy. As of last year, he owned several performance cars, including a ’11 Camaro SS convertible, ’70 Chevelle, and an ’07 Corvette. Although he could choose to drive any one of these cars on a daily basis, we’re sure that driving the official pace car at Indy probably tops the list of cool car-guy things he’s been able to do. After all, who wouldn’t want to drive the brand new ZR1 around the track at Indianapolis Motor Speedway?
Fieri will pace the field for the 500-mile race come Sunday May 27th, a milestone for Chevy as the Corvette model paces the field for a record 11 times, but he’s not the only celebrity set to make an appearance at the event.
Actress and singer Olivia Newton-John will act as the grand marshal for the 2012 IPL 500 Festival Parade, as well as give the command for racers of the Firestone Indy Lights Freedom 100 race to start there engines on Friday, May 25th. Newton-John is the aunt of Indy Lights driver Emerson Newton-John. She will also be at the Indianapolis 500 on Sunday. Country singer Martina McBride will help kick off the event by singing the national anthem.
Fieri will take to the track on May 27th just before noon behind the wheel of the ‘13 ZR1 complete with a 60th Anniversary-style livery. The race kicks off at noon and will be broadcast by ABC, so don’t miss your chance to see the last C6 pace car take to the track.