It’s hard to believe that a single man’s passion for Corvette pace cars has made such history over the years. This personal collection of Corvette cars recently sold for big bucks at the 2022 Indy Mecum Auctions event.

The Backstory

It all started in 1954 when a man took his 12-year-old son to watch the Indianapolis 500 event for the first time. From that very moment, that pre-teen kid, Richard Foster, fell in love with the Brickyard. Eventually, he became Dr. Foster and started collecting cars. Many pieces of his collection were Corvette cars, including a large assortment of Indy 500 pace cars and several replicas. His private museum contains a total of 42 cars, with the star attractions being his pace cars, pace car replicas, and festival cars.

The Corvette Collection

Now, at 80 years of age, Dr. Foster decided to pass on his coveted pieces of Corvette history to someone else. His collection of Corvette pace cars ranges from 1978 to 2022 in age. Together, these 18 collector-quality cars are a huge part of Chevrolet’s history. This ultimate Corvette collection sold as a single lot at the Mecum Auctions event this year in Indy for a whopping $1.3 million. This Indy pace car collection includes both documented and factory-produced original Corvette pieces and IMS-approved indistinguishable reproductions.

The Star Attraction

The star of this coveted Corvette collection was the 1978 Corvette Pace Car Edition. The model year of this Bloomington Gold Benchmark marked the 25th anniversary of the only true production sports car in America. To celebrate the occasion, Corvette was selected as the official Indianapolis 500 Pace Car for the first time that year. The model also holds several other records up its sleeve. It was the first fiberglass-made Pace Car, the first two-seater car since WWII, and also the very first production-based car to pace the Indy 500 field with a factory-stock drivetrain.

Lando Norris made his country proud when he broke a record on Formula 1’s return to the track in July. The British driver made an impressive run for the podium, and in doing so, managed to break a record held by the legendary Lewis Hamilton.

Kicking Things Off in Style

Formula 1 kicked off its 2020 season with a bang thanks to an exciting race in Austria. We are just one race in, and there is already a new British record as Lando Norris became the youngest Brit to secure a podium finish at 24 years old. He beat Lewis Hamilton’s record, setting up what appears to be an exciting future for the young driver.

Fighting for the Podium

Things weren’t easy for Norris to make it onto the podium, and he had to drive his car to its limits. Norris entered the hunt for a podium place late in the race when it was clear that Hamilton was getting a five-second penalty. The penalty would be awarded at the end of the race, so the chasing pack knew they needed to be within five seconds to leapfrog Hamilton. That’s when Norris put the pedal to the metal, earning the fastest lap of the race and securing his podium spot by just 0.2 seconds.

Unexpected Finish

Norris acknowledged a podium place was better than McLaren had expected. McLaren has been a struggling team for many years, but the team knew it had a fast car for the beginning of the 2020 F1 season. Norris said it was an unexpected bonus to finish on the podium, but he’d gladly take it.

This is just the beginning for Norris and McLaren as the driver and team look to make an impact at the championship end of the standings. McLaren might have been down and out for years, but it seems like the iconic racing team has found its groove once more.