This was the 25th anniversary for the Corvette, and Chevrolet introduced the most extensively redesigned Corvette since 1968. Twenty Five years after the birth of "America's Sports Car", the Corvette finally got a chance to pace the Indy 500 in 1978.

The car came standard with a 350 ci. (L-48) 185 hp motor. An optional 220-horsepower, 350 ci engine (L-82) was available. It was the first Pace Car in history to use an entirely stock drivetrain.

The 1978 Corvette was driven by 1960 Indy 500 winner Jim Rathmann, his fifth time at the wheel of the pace car.

Although only 300 replicas were originally planned to match the production number of the 1953 model, Chevrolet eventually had to produce 1 for approximately every dealer for a total of 6502.

The race winner for 1978 was Al Unser, driving his First National City / Chaparral Lola / Cosworth.