It’s difficult to put into words just what occurred here in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Yes, the National Corvette Museum celebrated their 20th anniversary, a milestone that should be celebrated. And yes, the NCM Motorsports complex opened for business. But there is no way anyone really could have predicted the way the homecoming actually went. I’m not joking or even exaggerating when I say thousands of cars. I might even be short-changing it, I’m not sure. Parking lots, grass fields and the near-entirety of the 22-acre paved “autocross” section of the racetrack were constantly filled with a car taking off every few seconds. Buses were running every few minutes between the museum and the track. Cars would take off in groups (swarms?) to go to the Bowling Green Assembly Plant, or to a local restaurant. The scale was enormous, especially for a one-man band in the middle of his allergy season.
The first clue that anything was up was Wednesday afternoon when I went to pick up my press kit. The parking lots were already filling up, tents were being prepared for the vendors and the covered car, the Guldstrand GS90, was attracting tons of curious onlookers. Thursday morning I woke up early, planning to beat the onslaught of cars into the Museum’s parking lot. I got there at 6:50 a.m. and had to park halfway between the museum and the track. It was that packed. Any air conditioning system that was operating inside the museum was being overruled by tons of human heat. Outside, people were swarming over the C7 Z06 parked in front, and Vendors’ Row was well-occupied. I gave up quickly on the museum and split for the track, skipping the busses and conning a NCM employee to haul me to the track in a new Suburban.
I got there about twenty minutes before the Parade Lap was supposed to get started, just in time to get into the group picture. (I’m still looking for that picture, if anyone can find it…) Once they got it, I started walking down the line to see the variety of cars that made it. These first cars belonged to the Acre Club, the people who paid for an acre of land to support the track being built. Plenty of C5-C7 Corvettes were in attendance (which supported the majority of the cars all weekend) but there were a few C4’s, and a couple of C2’s and C3’s. I didn’t see any C1’s at the track, and oddly enough, there were quite a few of non-Corvette vehicles on the first lap. The Callaway C12 certainly did count, but the Escalade, Express 2500 and the Tahoe were questionable additions, and one guy managed to weasel in a late ’70s Ford Thunderbird that looked like it had been purchased off of a backroad for a thousand bucks and was dead-center in the middle of it all. I asked him why, and he just started laughing and made some mention about pissing off one of the board members.
No Corvette that got onto the track held back, I will give that credit. All weekend you heard the sounds of engines and tires down there, be it from the Chevrolet Ride and Drive event, the C7.R stomping it’s way around the course, or from anyone lucky enough to have paid for a track pass…since they sold all three days out in two hours. Had I thought about it I would have spent the fifty bucks but I was too late. I’ll find a way to drive that track one way or another.
Since the schedule was the same for all three days, I won’t bore you with repeating myself. Chevrolet and the National Corvette Museum threw a fantastic party for the 20th anniversary, with live entertainment, great sponsors and food…and that track is an absolute beauty. It’s a credit to the NCM and to the Corvette enthusiasts that it was even made and it will be a high point of the regional area for motorsports for years to come. That’s no BS, either…if it was I’d call it out. Gold chains need not apply, because there were plenty of people hanging the tail of their ‘Vette around corners and coming off the track laughing and smiling…something that you just cannot get at a car show.
