In 1987, Carroll Shelby Drove a Majestic Chrysler LeBaron Around Indy

Posted by Jeff Perez  

@ BOLD RIDE                              

 

Beautiful, majestic, sensual; those words together in a single sentence can only be describing one thing — the Chrysler LeBaron. In 1982, the LeBaron took the world by storm with its new K-body platform, and never looked back, riding its high horse all the way to the Indy 500. In 1987, it took to the track.

Top down and 146 horses firing on all cylinders, the LeBaron was ready to show Indy what it was made of as the official pace car. Only problem was, it needed a driver. So who better to manage all this raging, Chrysler fury better than the god of all things speed, the master of all muscle himself — Carroll Shelby.

This was Shelby’s first trip around Indy, and while the LeBaron’s pure muscular persona should have been enough to satisfy, we assume there was some compensation involved to make it all happen.

 At any rate, the Chrysler LeBaron made its way around Indy like a purebred racer, with a true professional at the wheel, making Corvettes and Camaros of the past seem sluggish.
It was a beautiful moment in history, to say the least. And if we had a time machine, this is exactly where we would go.