My Indy Fiero paced the races at Twin State Speedway Friday 8-6
Indy-1
08-08-2004, 07:07 PM
To help celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Fiero and the fact that the Fiero paced the Indy 500 in '84, I was asked to pace the races at Twin State Speedway this past Friday.
The evening started out on a sad note as a safety worker was hit and sadly died later at the hospital when he apparently went out on the track to pick up some debris and ran out right in front of a race car doing some test laps. My thoughts and heartfelt prayers go out to the family for their loss.
After a two hour delay due to the police investigation, the drivers, race crew and pace drivers including myself joined in for a pre-race prayer for the fallen worker and his family. I watched from the sidelines as Mr. Fleury and his crew handled wjat was a sad and tragic event with class and the up most respect to everyone involved. My hat goes off to them.
Then everything went back into gear and they had a race that was delayed from a few weeks previously and then started the qualifying heats for the nights races. Once those were concluded we all prepared for the feature races for the evening.
The first race was the biggest of the night as it had a Nascar type car class (kind of like a farm team for Nascar). I followed the tracks official pace truck down an entrance ramp and out onto the speedway with all of the race cars follwoing behind me. The crowd went wild as we paced the 17 race cars around the speedway. We paced for about 3 laps and then as we came up on turn one we pulled up and stopped as the race cars were all lined up facing the stands for their introductions right in front of the fans. The night was electric as many could see with the addition of an Official Indianapolis 500 pace Car was present that tonight, even with the tragic event that had happened earlier, was going to be an extra special night. After the 17 race cars had been lined up and the drivers climbed out to stand proudly next to their ride, they announced each driver and their qualifying position to the roars and cheers from the crowd on hand. Then they played the national anthem while they had a very impressive fireworks display going off. Then they announced that my Indy Fiero was guest pace car for the evening and read a little facts about it to the race fans on hand. Due to the races already running late they did not read the whole write up that I had provided them but due to the circumstances it was certainly understandable.
There was a local TV cameraman from Bellows Falls there and he had asked me earlier if he could ride along in the car to get some shots of the race cars behind the Fiero. Earlier I had shown him the pace car book I had and a picture in it showing the cameraman hanging out the sunroof back during the races back on May 27, 1984 during the 68th running of the Indianapolis 500 Motor Speedway. So I did the same thing with my Indy Fiero. Before the start of the first race I had taken out the Indy Fieros sunroof and stored it up front under the hood. When they did the count down and announced "Start your engines", the cameraman and I were already in the Indy Fiero ready to go. He leaned out the open sunroof and shot some spectacular footage of all the race cars following behind the Fiero as we paced the 17 awesome race cars around the speedway in preparation for the start of the nights races.
After about 4 more laps as we came around turn two the pace truck signaled to me that the race was about to begin, so I shot off the track to the right as we came up on turn three on the back straightaway and up into the pits, as the pace truck pulled off to the left and into the center of the Speeday. As both of us were now off the track the race cars sped up as they came around turn four and onto the front straightaway and the first race of the night was on as they crowd roared and cheered.
I quickly pulled through the pits and came back around and lined up again in front of the speedways entrance to the track so they could line up the next class of race cars behind me. Within minutes we were all ready for the start of the next race. I paced 6 races I believe and it was a blast and something I will always remember.
I would like to thank Dennis Fleury, owner of Twin State Speeday, for giving me the oportunity to help celebrate the Fiero 20th Anniversary by making history by having my Indy Fiero pace arce once again, something that an Indy Fiero has not done in 20 years.
I would also like to thank my father Russell for helping me to not only obtain but then restore such a rare and unique vehicle in automotive history. A rare Indianapolis 500 Official Indy Fiero pace car.
Steve Kelley
Here are a couple pics from the evening:
http://memimage.cardomain.com/member_images/6/web/210000-210999/210386_699_full.jpg
http://memimage.cardomain.com/member_images/6/web/210000-210999/210386_680_full.jpg
http://memimage.cardomain.com/member_images/6/web/210000-210999/210386_683_full.jpg
To see some more of the pics and some of the story click here:
http://www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum1/HTML/044319.html
Steve
The evening started out on a sad note as a safety worker was hit and sadly died later at the hospital when he apparently went out on the track to pick up some debris and ran out right in front of a race car doing some test laps. My thoughts and heartfelt prayers go out to the family for their loss.
After a two hour delay due to the police investigation, the drivers, race crew and pace drivers including myself joined in for a pre-race prayer for the fallen worker and his family. I watched from the sidelines as Mr. Fleury and his crew handled wjat was a sad and tragic event with class and the up most respect to everyone involved. My hat goes off to them.
Then everything went back into gear and they had a race that was delayed from a few weeks previously and then started the qualifying heats for the nights races. Once those were concluded we all prepared for the feature races for the evening.
The first race was the biggest of the night as it had a Nascar type car class (kind of like a farm team for Nascar). I followed the tracks official pace truck down an entrance ramp and out onto the speedway with all of the race cars follwoing behind me. The crowd went wild as we paced the 17 race cars around the speedway. We paced for about 3 laps and then as we came up on turn one we pulled up and stopped as the race cars were all lined up facing the stands for their introductions right in front of the fans. The night was electric as many could see with the addition of an Official Indianapolis 500 pace Car was present that tonight, even with the tragic event that had happened earlier, was going to be an extra special night. After the 17 race cars had been lined up and the drivers climbed out to stand proudly next to their ride, they announced each driver and their qualifying position to the roars and cheers from the crowd on hand. Then they played the national anthem while they had a very impressive fireworks display going off. Then they announced that my Indy Fiero was guest pace car for the evening and read a little facts about it to the race fans on hand. Due to the races already running late they did not read the whole write up that I had provided them but due to the circumstances it was certainly understandable.
There was a local TV cameraman from Bellows Falls there and he had asked me earlier if he could ride along in the car to get some shots of the race cars behind the Fiero. Earlier I had shown him the pace car book I had and a picture in it showing the cameraman hanging out the sunroof back during the races back on May 27, 1984 during the 68th running of the Indianapolis 500 Motor Speedway. So I did the same thing with my Indy Fiero. Before the start of the first race I had taken out the Indy Fieros sunroof and stored it up front under the hood. When they did the count down and announced "Start your engines", the cameraman and I were already in the Indy Fiero ready to go. He leaned out the open sunroof and shot some spectacular footage of all the race cars following behind the Fiero as we paced the 17 awesome race cars around the speedway in preparation for the start of the nights races.
After about 4 more laps as we came around turn two the pace truck signaled to me that the race was about to begin, so I shot off the track to the right as we came up on turn three on the back straightaway and up into the pits, as the pace truck pulled off to the left and into the center of the Speeday. As both of us were now off the track the race cars sped up as they came around turn four and onto the front straightaway and the first race of the night was on as they crowd roared and cheered.
I quickly pulled through the pits and came back around and lined up again in front of the speedways entrance to the track so they could line up the next class of race cars behind me. Within minutes we were all ready for the start of the next race. I paced 6 races I believe and it was a blast and something I will always remember.
I would like to thank Dennis Fleury, owner of Twin State Speeday, for giving me the oportunity to help celebrate the Fiero 20th Anniversary by making history by having my Indy Fiero pace arce once again, something that an Indy Fiero has not done in 20 years.
I would also like to thank my father Russell for helping me to not only obtain but then restore such a rare and unique vehicle in automotive history. A rare Indianapolis 500 Official Indy Fiero pace car.
Steve Kelley
Here are a couple pics from the evening:
http://memimage.cardomain.com/member_images/6/web/210000-210999/210386_699_full.jpg
http://memimage.cardomain.com/member_images/6/web/210000-210999/210386_680_full.jpg
http://memimage.cardomain.com/member_images/6/web/210000-210999/210386_683_full.jpg
To see some more of the pics and some of the story click here:
http://www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum1/HTML/044319.html
Steve
feduke
02-21-2005, 06:04 PM
Where did you find the wheels ? I called the manufacturer that made the wheels for the real pace cars, and they said they never made any more.Yours look pretty close.
I have an Indy 4spd and an SD4.
I have an Indy 4spd and an SD4.
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