When professional basketball came to Indianapolis in 1967, one of the key decisions would be what to call the new American Basketball Association franchise.
According to Indianapolis attorney, Richard D. Tinkham, the nickname “Pacers” was decided on through a collective decision of the original investors. Tinkham, one of those investors, recalled that the nickname was a combination of the state’s rich history with the harness racing pacers (investor Chuck Barnes was a horse racing enthusiast) and the pace car used for the running of the Indianapolis 500.
Tinkham said the “Pacers” decision was an easy one, but the real debate was whether the team should be called the Indiana Pacers or the Indianapolis Pacers. Since one of the original ideas for the team was to have it playing throughout the state with its base in Indianapolis, the official team name became the Indiana Pacers.
按照官方的解釋之一，Pacer 就是印第安納州一種叫 Harness Race 的賽馬。Merriam Webster 字典說明––Pacer: A horse that paces, that is, raising both legs on the right side, then, as those legs come down, raising both legs on the left side. 馬匹跑動時會把同邊的腿同時抬起，放下，再抬起另一邊。
官方的另一個解釋是 Indianapolis 500 賽事中的 pace car。印第安納波利斯500英里比賽是印第賽車每年在美國的印第安納波利斯賽車場舉行的比賽。從1911年開跑以來，與摩納哥大獎賽和利曼24小時耐力賽被大眾認為是最重要及最負盛名的汽車賽事。印第安納波利斯 500 沿用一輛前領車（Pace Car）來展開賽事或在發生意外後重新開賽，參賽車可以用一圈的路程來為賽車作熱身。
