{"id":133273,"date":"2026-05-24T18:24:53","date_gmt":"2026-05-24T22:24:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/curt-cignetti-jokes-he-had-to-coach-the-hell-out-of-undefeated-hoosiers-to-be-indy-500-pace-car-driver-133273"},"modified":"2026-05-24T18:24:53","modified_gmt":"2026-05-24T22:24:53","slug":"curt-cignetti-jokes-he-had-to-coach-the-hell-out-of-undefeated-hoosiers-to-be-indy-500-pace-car-driver","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/curt-cignetti-jokes-he-had-to-coach-the-hell-out-of-undefeated-hoosiers-to-be-indy-500-pace-car-driver-133273","title":{"rendered":"Curt Cignetti jokes he had to ‘coach the hell out’ of undefeated Hoosiers to be Indy 500 pace car driver"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Indiana head football coach<\/a> Curt Cignetti added yet another bucket list moment for himself on Sunday afternoon, as he jumped into the cockpit of the Indianapolis 500 pace car as its honorary driver.<\/p>\n

Cignetti was in charge of leading the way in his USA-themed Chevrolet Corvette<\/a> ZR1X for the 33-car field that would embark in the 110th running of the signature IndyCar race.<\/p>\n

OutKick\u2019s Dan Dakich caught up with the Hoosiers\u2019 head coach at Indianapolis Motor Speedway before the race, which Felix Rosenqvist won in the closest finish of all time, where he asked Cignetti if there\u2019s something people don\u2019t know about his 2025 team that went 16-0 and won the title.<\/p>\n

CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

“I\u2019m going to go off topic here since we\u2019re at the [Indy] 500. I had to coach the hell out of that team so I could be the pace car driver,” Cignetti joked. “Look, we had a great bunch of kids. When you get 11 guys doing their job at a high standard, play in and play out, consistency and performance. They accomplished a lot of things, and you can\u2019t lose a game before you win it. We made the plays that had to be made and won the close games.”<\/p>\n

Dakich followed up with Cignetti about his latest side quest, which is a prestigious honor. However, it\u2019s one that the entire state of Indiana loved seeing after leading the Hoosiers to its<\/a> first-ever national championship in football.<\/p>\n

INDIANA COACH CURT CIGNETTI IS PUTTING IN SOME PACE CAR REPS BEFORE THE INDIANAPOLIS 500<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

There has been a star-studded group of honorary pace car drivers over the years, including Dale Earnhardt Jr., Danica Patrick<\/a>, Ken Griffey Jr. and Michael Strahan. Cignetti, as you\u2019d expect, took the role very seriously, which began days before the race to make sure he was up to snuff with the vehicle.<\/p>\n

“We hit 177 [mph] yesterday, so we\u2019ll see how it goes today,” he told Dakich.<\/p>\n

Cignetti added that he was supposed to go 175 miles per hour, followed by 190 twice, and the last lap would be “sort of TBD,” as he wasn\u2019t sure what exactly the pace would be.<\/p>\n

Either way, Cignetti, like his players on the gridiron, made sure to make the best of practice before the big day.<\/p>\n

“Well, I had two different sessions,” he told Dakich. “So, it took me a while to get to know the track, the car. My biggest thing on the turns is where I need to work because it\u2019s natural to want to slow down. The car will take the turn, so you just got to let it.”<\/p>\n

When the race came down to its final lap, after dealing with rainy weather and multiple caution flags on the track, Rosenqvist overtook American David Malukas down the final stretch to spoil the youngster\u2019s first-ever IndyCar win and pick up his first Indy 500 victory.<\/p>\n

Rosenqvist finished 0.023 seconds ahead of Malukas, with Scott McLaughlin and Pato O\u2019Ward finishing in third and fourth place, respectively.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Source – https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/outkick-sports\/curt-cignetti-jokes-coach-hell-undefeated-hoosiers-indy-500-pace-car-driver <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Indiana head football coach Curt Cignetti added yet another bucket list moment for himself on Sunday afternoon, as he jumped into the cockpit of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"twitter_2902945987_2902945987":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[16563],"tags":[],"stock_ticker":[],"class_list":["post-133273","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-market-news","entry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nCurt Cignetti jokes he had to 'coach the hell out' of undefeated Hoosiers to be Indy 500 pace car driver - Wall Street PR<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/curt-cignetti-jokes-he-had-to-coach-the-hell-out-of-undefeated-hoosiers-to-be-indy-500-pace-car-driver-133273\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Curt Cignetti jokes he had to 'coach the hell out' of undefeated Hoosiers to be Indy 500 pace car driver - 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