Curt Cignetti selected as Indy 500 honorary pace car driver for 110th edition

The Indy 500 will have a special person highlighting the festivities this year for the 110th edition of the famous race. Indiana football coach Curt Cignetti will be the honorary pace car driver.

Indianapolis Motor Speedway reported the development on Tuesday evening. It is Cignetti that will lead the field to green for the prestigious event.

Curt Cignetti’s selection will provide some local ties to the big race. But the honorary pace car driver is not always someone that has direct ties to the area or to the sport.

Some of the honorary pace car drivers in recent years? How about the likes of Michael Strahan (2025), Ken Griffey Jr. (2024), Tyrese Haliburton (2023), Danica Patrick (2021), Dale Earnhardt Jr. (2019) and Victor Oladipo (2018).

As for credentials, Curt Cignetti’s are well-established by this point. He helped lead Indiana to its first national title in football this past season, upsetting the traditional college football paradigm. He’s one of the most popular men in the state.

Curt Cignetti, Indiana change narrative

For decades, college football operated as a bluebloods paradise when it came to winning it all. If you weren’t a traditional power, chances are you had very little chance to become one.

That might be changing in the NIL and transfer portal era. Curt Cignetti proved its possible to turn around a program quickly and make it competitive on the national stage.

“I think we sent a message, first of all, to society that if you keep your nose to the grindstone and work hard and you’ve got the right people, anything’s possible,” Cignetti said. “In our particular situation in the athletic world, college football has changed quite a bit. The balance of power, also.”

For decades, championships were largely reserved for programs built on top-five recruiting classes stacked with five-star talent. Indiana’s rise shattered that assumption. The Hoosiers didn’t overwhelm opponents with first-round draft picks, they overwhelmed them with cohesion and their belief.

“We had the right people on our staff, in the weight room, in the locker room,” Cignetti said. “We had great senior leadership and togetherness, and we had a really good quarterback that played his best when the chips were down.”

That quarterback, Fernando Mendoza, helped anchor a team that consistently met every challenge placed in front of it. It’s part of why he was rewarded with the Heisman Trophy in December.

“If you prepare the right way, which this team did week in, week out, and put it on the field. We met the challenge every single week,” Curt Cignetti added. “We’re 16–0.”

On3’s Steve Samra also contributed to this report.