When I drove the new Corvette Z06 for our inaugural Car of the Year Awards, pace car was not the first thing that came to mind. It was only a letter off, though.

The 650-horsepower beast really is a racecar for the road. It has the power, grip, and incredible handling to mop up lesser machines around almost any arena, assuming you have a driver brave enough to give it the beans.

For the 99th running of the Indianapolis 500, Chevrolet found just the guy for the job. Four-time Nascar Sprint Cup champion Jeff Gordon will drive the Z06 pace car this year, marking the 13th time a Corvette has been recruited for safety duty.

“Indy is hallowed ground for racers like me and I couldn’t be more thrilled to drive the Corvette Z06 pace car around the track that helped drive my success over the years,” said Gordon. ”The Indianapolis 500 is one of [...]