The Ford Mustang turned 30 years old in 1994 and was met with corporate-sponsored enthusiasm.As a demonstration of this renewed enthusiasm, trio of SVT Cobra convertibles served as pace cars for the 78th Indianpolis 500race on May 29, 994.The three cars were modified byJack Rouschat his shop in Allen Park, ichigan, or heavy-duty pacing on race day.The pace cars were installed with heavy-duty four-speed automatic transmissions, 5-gallon racing fuel cells, eavier rear springs (to accommodate the weight of television camera equipment), Halon fire-extinguisher system, rollbar with 50,000-watt strobe lights built in, nd special lights in the rear spoiler.Parnelli Jones,a seven-time Indy 500 competitor who won the 1963 race, rove the official pace car at the event.
To commemorate the special occasion, VT produced 1,000 Indy 500 Pace Car Replicas for the buying public.All 1,000 cars were painted Rio Red and fitted with Saddle leather interiors and matching Saddle vinyl tops.These special editions had the Indy 500 winged-tire logo emblazoned as a chrome cloisonné badge on the deck lid and embroidered on the front seat backs.A set of "Official Pace Car" decals came with each special-edition Cobra. These decals were not installed at the factory; rather, hey were shipped inside the trunk and left to the buyer's discretion to install them.There was one very small difference between the decals worn by the three official pace cars and the replicas' decals. The tire on the official decals was white, nd on the replica decals, t was gray.
The 1994 SVT Mustang Cobra was only the third Ford Mustang chosen forofficial pace car duties at Indianapolis 500 race. The other two Mustangs that served as official Indy 500 pace cars were the very first Mustang in 1964and the newly redesigned Fox bodied Mustang in 1979