Back in 1993, right as I was beginning my magazine career, New Smyrna Beach Chevrolet sold a brand-new C/K1500 77th Indianapolis 500 Pace Truck to New Smyrna Speedway for just that purpose: to serve life on the half-mile oval, aka Clyde’s Place, as a pace vehicle. Eventually, the now-OBS ended up being sent out to pasture, as it were, sitting dormant for years before pace truck collector Mike Autry ended up adding the Chevy to his collection in Kentucky.
In 2020, just as we were biting the bullet and starting In The Garage Media, construction manager Ty Zito purchased the Indy Pace Truck from Autry and relocated it to Louisiana where he enlisted Stafford’s Garage and Third Coast Customs to bring the truck up to new millennium standards—updated/modernized chassis and wheel stock, fresh interior, and so on. That seemed to suit Ty—until he got the itch to take the Chevy even further the following year.
By February 2022, Ty had teamed up with Eli and Justin at Twin States Rod Shop in Meridian, Mississippi, to give the OBS that INDYKLR look that, upon its debut in the summer of 2024, earned it the Triple Crown of Rodding’s Truck of the Year 1988-98 honors, as well as well as Goodguys Truck of the Year Late.
The process of taking Ty’s pickup to the next level meant incorporating some traits from the early years of sport trucks—most notably that custom paint by Twin State’s Eli Griffin and Gooch Customs (covering a handful of non-stock upgrades, including “cowl-less” hood, tucked bumpers, and so forth). The vivid color scheme carries into the undercarriage as well, from the Edelbrock Pro-Flo XT EFI-equipped 496 big-block to the one-off Surf Punx–style Little Shop Mfg. six-piston calipers (perched behind 22- and 24-inch Schott Mod 5 wheels) on the still-static but now Stone Fab outfitted, fully shaved/smoothed chassis. (The engine also features custom Keith Eicket valve covers, Bab Habitz/Borla exhaust, and a CVF Racing serpentine.) The interior, though still adorned in gray, was completely redone by Twin States and now features MTI Automotive Designs (neon-infused) door panels and MTI-Slosh Tubz bucket seats, Dakota Digital gauges, and Vintage Air A/C, Sparc Industries color-matched steering wheel on an Ididit column, and a Power Bass sound system.
If given the choice between an original Indy Pace Truck such as Ty started out with, the first rendition (mildly modified original), or the current version, the decision would be tough between the last two, but ultimately, INDYKLR would end up in our garage. Congrats on the Truck of the Year (plural) honors, fellas!
Check out this story in our digital edition here.
