1969 marked the second time in three years that the Camaro was chosen as the official Pace Car of the Indianapolis 500 mile race. Selection of any model as the Official Pace Car provides the auto manufacturer with an unusual opportunity for publicity. Yet in the prior years, the Big Three auto companies failed to make the most of this opportunity, concentrating instead on providing a limited number of Pace Car replicas to journalist and some advertising. in 1969, Chevrolet was determined to turn the Pace Car selection into a major marketing achievement. After all, this was 1969 and auto sales were beginning to slump along with the general economy. to make matters worse, the highly profitable musclecar field was becoming extremely competitive. Highlighting the Camaro as the Pace Car would be a sure way to grab attention.
RPO Z11 was born. This " Indy sport convertible" was made available on February 4, 1969 and allowed the public to purchase a replica of the actual Pace Car. All together, there would be 3,675 Camaros produced under the Z11 option as Pace Car replicas.
All Pace Car convertibles were Dover White SS/RS convertibles with the base options included in either of these packages, such as front disc brakes and the base 350/300 hp engine. There were several specific exclusions:
- Rocker panels were painted white in lieu of black
- The SS side hockey stripes (D90) were deleted and hood and deck lid Hugger Orange pain stripes were added (same as Z/28 pattern)
- The rear panel remained white on 396 cubic inch cars rather than painted black.
- The RS fender stripes were to be painted Hugger Orange.
In addition to the above, all Camaros with the Pace Car option included an orange houndstooth custom interior and were mandated to have a cowl induction hood and rally wheels. These "mandatory" features were billed on the dealer invoice separately. One last item included in the Z11 INdy Sport option were the Pace Car graphics which were shipped in the trunk and installed at the dealership upon customer request. Thus, not all Pace Cars were sold new sporting the Pace Car decals.
souce: the 1969 Camaro Reference book
by John R. Hooper
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