When the earth began swallowing Corvettes.
Eight valuable Corvettes at Bowling Green, Kentucky’s National Corvette Museum fell victim to a 40-foot-wide, 20-foot-deep sinkhole that opened up in the facility’s yellow Sky Dome wing shortly after 5:30 a.m. The museum unofficially estimates it caused millions of dollars in damage. The cost to owners, restorers and mechanics is almost immeasurable.
Katie Frassinelli, a spokesperson for the museum, said: “The hole is so big, it makes the Corvettes look like little Matchbox cars.”
Corvette Nation is in shock and the automotive world is still in disbelief. Ford devotees even feel a sense of remorse about the catastrophe involving America’s Sports Car. They too feel a sense of loss in the wake of such an incident.
The damaged portion of the museum will be closed indefinitely; geologic drones have surveyed the scene and determined that there is no structural damage to the museum. They have discovered that there is a cave underneath the spot of the sinkhole.
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Any Corvette is priceless and these were no exception. Eight cars fell victim to the opening of the earth, six were donated to the museum by Corvette enthusiasts, and two are owned by the car’s maker, General Motors. It may be painful to look at, but we will share the list of the fallen:
1. 1962 “Black Corvette”
2. 1984 PPG Pace Car
3. 2009 ZR1 “Blue Devil”
4. 1992 white “1 Millionth Corvette”
5. 1993 ruby red “40th Anniversary Corvette”
6. 2001 Mallett Hammer Z06 Corvette
7. 2009 white “1.5 Millionth Corvette”
8. 1993 ZR-1 Spyder
By the time you read this, all of the cars should have been removed from the room. The cars that were present also included Indianapolis 500 and Daytona 500 Pace Cars. The last Corvette was suspended on a riser directly above the sinkhole. Amazingly, it acts as a testament to the spirit of the team working to rebuild the Sky Dome wing. Frassinelli said: “We want to move forward as soon as possible.” Without even a moment’s hesitation, she responded to the timeframe of reconstruction by saying, “We want to start repairs and recovery.” The folks at the museum are definitely working hard toward making everything as normal as possible during the recovery process.
The sinkhole couldn’t have come at a worse time, as the museum was in the process of preparing to celebrate its 20th anniversary and open up a 184-acre Motorsports Park in August of this year. About 5,000 people had already pre-registered to attend the grand opening of the new park.
We will keep you abreast of the progress as well as any ways we can help support the rebuilding efforts. If you are in or near the Bowling Green area, stop by and tip your hat, offer to grab a broom or just encourage the recovery team. They are repairing the damage to the cathedral for The All-American Car; a car that has propelled astronauts, athletes and American dreams.
