
Add another to the list of races paced by a Ford Mustang. A 2015 Mustang GT will pace the field at the Quicken Loans 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Michigan International Speedway this Sunday, June 15. The Race Red 5.0 fastback will wear white Le Mans stripes and Mustang “50 Years” graphics, 50 years and two weeks after a 1964.5 Mustang convertible paced the 1964 Indianapolis 500. The race airs at 1:00 PM on TNT.
Mustang V6, GT, California Special, Mach 1, Bullitt, SVT Cobra, SVT Cobra R, and Shelby GT500 and 427 Super Snake Mustangs have all led pre-race laps for various series. A Mustang test mule, clad in camouflage padding, paced a field of vintage racers for the Kohler International Challenge race at Road America in 2010, and it’s been rumored, though not confirmed, that a 1964 Mustang paced a stockcar race at the Huntsville (Alabama) Motor Speedway days before the April 17, 1964 public unveiling. As the story goes, a crowd of fans stormed the track to see the new car, delaying the start of the race.
Ford offered replicas of the 1964, 1979 and 1994 Indy 500 and the 2011 Daytona 500 pace cars for retail sale. Although the pace car was a convertible, the 1964 replica was only available as a coupe, all red 1994 SVT Cobra Convertibles came with Indy 500 Pace Car graphics and badging that owners or dealers could install, and 2008-2009 Shelby GT500KR and 427 Super Snake owners could purchase a pace car graphics kit for their cars. Ford has no current plans to offer replicas of this pace car to consumers.