Ken Griffey Jr. to drive Indianapolis 500 pace car

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Baseball Hall of Fame inductee Ken Griffey Jr. has been named honorary Pace Car driver for Sunday’s 108th Indianapolis.

Griffey will drive the 2024 Chevrolet Corvette E-Ray and lead the field of 33 drivers to the start of “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing.”

“Driving the Pace Car and leading the field to start the Indy 500 is one of the coolest experiences,” Griffey said. “I came to the track a few years ago as a photographer and look forward to seeing the race from a different perspective.”

Known as “Junior” and “The Kid,” Griffey played 22 years as an outfielder in the Major League Baseball (MLB). He spent the majority of his career with the Seattle Mariners and Cincinnati Reds, with a short stint with the Chicago White Sox.

The first overall pick in the 1987 draft and a 13-time All-Star, Griffey is one of the most prolific home run hitters in baseball history. His 630 home runs rank as the seventh-most in MLB history. Griffey was also an exceptional defender and won 10 Gold Glove Awards in centerfield. He is tied for the record of most consecutive games with a home run (eight, with Don Mattingly and Dale Long).

One of only 31 players in baseball history to have appeared in major league games in four different calendar decades, Griffey was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2016. He received 99.32 % of the vote, breaking pitcher Tom Seaver’s record of 98.84%, which had stood for 24 years. He also was inducted into both the Mariners Hall of Fame and the Reds Hall of Fame.

“Every baseball fan knows Ken Griffey Jr.,” IMS President J. Douglas Boles said. “Two legends will come together as Griffey hops into the Corvette E-Ray to lead the field at the Racing Capital of the World.”

Corvette has paced “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing” more times than any car. The 2024 race marks the 35th time for Chevrolet to pace dating back to 1948 and the 21st time overall and since 1978 for America’s favorite sports car.