Mark's 1999 Corvette Website

Once upon a time....

Actually it was almost like a fairy tale. My trip to Bowling Green for the Grand Opening of the National Corvette Museum began in Atlanta on the morning of September 2, 1994. Two of my buddies ('71 War Bonnet Yellow 454 & '79 Black L82) and I started our trip at 3:00 am. Our goal was to get to Nashville and join the National Caravan for the trip into Bowling Green. It rained most of the way, but we got into Nashville and heard on the radio that the Caravan was already on its way. We got on I-65 and picked up the speed to catch up. Little did we know that we had actually past the highway where the Caravan was preparing to merge onto the interstate. We unknowingly became "point" for the rest of the "troops". Lucky for us, however, since the traffic ended up being a mess!!

My buddies and I pulled into Bowling Green about a half hour before the Caravans arrived.

To this date, I have never experienced anything more incredible (Vette related) than exiting off of I-65 in Bowling Green and being ushered into the Corvette Assembly Plant's "Corvette Only" parking!! This picture shows my white '79, my friend Rod's black '79 L82, and my friend Mark's War Bonnet Yellow '71 LS5. It still gives me goose bumps remembering back what it was like to see the "sea" of Corvettes parked all over the place. It was absolutely unreal!! I cannot believe that there will ever be that many Corvettes located in one city ever again!! However, the goosebumps were to continue.

We walked over to the Museum and there was a lot of activity still going on in preparation for the Opening Ceremonies. A lot of people walking around. Just as I got to the podium area, I found myself face-to-face with Mr. Corvette himself, Zora Arkus Duntov. I reached out and shook his hand and he said, "It's a pleasure to meet you young man."!!! Luckily my friend was ready with the camera. (you can also see Dan Gale in the background of the picture). Since the ceremonies were delayed due to the Caravan traffic, we had a great opportunity to mingle w/ the celebs. I shook Paul Zazarine's (sp?) hand, got Doug Stone (sang National Anthem) to pose for a picture. But best of all got Zora and Elfi's autographs (pictures to prove it!!). It kept getting better!!!

If I remember correctly, the Opening Ceremonies got postponed until around 1:00 or 1:30. Word was that the Caravan from Nashville was 32 miles long and the one from Louisville was 26 miles long. I-65 was at a stand still!

Eventually the ceremony started. My friends and I found a spot on a curb right in front of the location where the time capsule was to be buried. This picture is right at the moment the red ribbon was cut. Corvette history was being made!!! AND we were there!!!

After the ceremonies we stood in line and finally got in the museum. It was just as awesome as I expected. Just as we walked into the area with the history of Corvette race cars I noticed Larry Shinoda standing there getting ready for some pictures to be taken. Well, as you can see I was ready with my camera!

After the museum, we walked over to the assembly plant and did the plant tour. Being an engineer, I was in heaven. I really wanted to "stroll" off the desiganted path, but they were watching too closely. I knew I should have interviewed with the "boys in Detroit"!!!

The final two events for the weekend made it complete:

We went out to Beech Bend Raceway. The ZR-1 club was there and a lot of the guys were running them down the 1/4 mile. All I can say is...UNBELIEVABLE!! There were other Vettes and some non-Vette drag cars, but NOTHING compared to a stock ZR-1 driving up, rolling up the power windows, turning off the A/C, and then doing a 1/4 mile run in the 12s!!!

The last event was the Beach Boys concert! The Beach Boys were real late showing up. The real show began when Corvettes driving by the stadium resulted in the crowd waving, yelling and giving standing ovations! Even when the Beach Boys arrive, the crowd seemed to ignore them everytime a Vette drove by. We left the show so we could drive by and get a picture of the crowd waving. Incredible ending to an incredible weekend!!