The 2009 93rd Running of the Indianapolis 500 - 2009 Corvette Convertible Event Cars!

While the "actual" Camaro Pace cars had high tech painted graphics, the support Camaros had similar / simpler vinyl graphics applied at the Speedway to what you see on the Corvettes.

Below are some shots of the Silver with Black Interior and convertible top 2009 Corvette Festival cars that were provisioned to the Festival Committee and used in support of the race this year. Once again this year, the graphics for these support vehicles were applied in Indianapolis. There were thirty-five Corvettes used in total, and their numbers ran from 26-60. All Automatic transmissions of course since they were assigned to 500 Festival Directors to use!

After the race, a handful of Corvettes were retained and rebadged for the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard NASCAR race held later in the year. As is tradition, the rest of the cars were distributed to Indiana Chevrolet dealers and sold to the public shortly after the Indy 500.

Celebrating 52 years of tradition, the IPL 500 Festival Parade returned to the streets of downtown Indianapolis on Saturday, May 23, 2009, and these Corvettes proudly carried the drivers for the race!

More than 300,000 spectators kicked-off race weekend while enjoying time with family and friends by watching the pageantry and larger-than-life floats light up the city.

Children were amazed by the sight of some of their favorite costumed characters. Last year's event featured Donnie and Eliza Thornberry, Cosmo and Wanda, Pink Panther, and the Care Bears.

The tradition continues with the 33 starting drivers of the Indianapolis 500 serving as honorary grand marshals the day before the race, riding in the traditional rows of three, with the winner of the pole position bringing up the rear.

The 2009 Grand Marshal was college basketball analyst and basketball hall of famer Dick Vitale. Nationally-known celebrities, costumed characters, marching bands, patriotic units, specialty units, spectacular floats, and giant helium balloons filled the streets to celebrate the world's largest single-day sporting event, the Indianapolis 500.