Grassroots Motorsports
Issue link: http://grassrootsmotorsports.epubxp.com/i/397024
(continued on page 34) A New Kentucky Home It Took a While, but Corvette Lovers Now Have Their Own Playground Y ou can't see what's ahead: That's what's scary about the celebrated cork- screw at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. What's scary about the downhill after the carousel at the National Corvette Museum's new motorsports park? Just the oppo- site: You can see what's ahead. You get a full view of a nearly four-story plunge into a wicked left-hander that will seriously test your ride's underpinnings–and your pucker factor. Toilet Bowl describes it well. But kibitzers familiar with the chasm below the museum's signature yellow skydome that swallowed eight Corvettes last February have already dubbed it The Sinkhole. The track is a remarkable $20 million adventure on 186 rolling acres in Bowling Green, Ken- tucky. It stretches a little over 3 miles in its maximum confgura- tion and features multiple long straights, hairpins and twisties. As the crow fies across Inter- state 65, it's a convenient quarter-mile from the Corvette assembly plant and the museum. But there's more to celebrate about America's newest motor- sports venue, and way high on the list is its availability. See, it's not just a Corvette playground. The welcome mat is laid out for vintage racers, motorcycles, law enforcement driver training, club racers, driver education, corporate team build- ing, and major-league stock car and open-wheel testing. And yep, at 3.1 miles, the long course is tailor-made for those 5K run/ walks sweeping the ftness scene. The facility's fexibility is another impressive trait. General Manager Mitch Wright can run simultaneous events on two sepa- rate track layouts plus a 22-acre skidpad. In a year there will be a control tower, RV hookups and Mid-Ohio-style garages. As of Labor Day, Wright had already booked more than 60 high-pro- fle events through 2015. Further down the road is development of another 200-plus acres the NCM has under option. But the most stunning part about this park is that it exists at all. Insurmountable Obstacles At its August 28 grand opening, Doug Fehan, the Corvette Racing boss, put it bluntly: "Roadblocks to race track construction any- where in the U.S. today are virtu- ally insurmountable." How this one got built along- side a major interstate, at the edge of a bustling municipality, and so conveniently close to the Corvette museum, the assem- bly plant, and Bowling Green's dozens of hotels and restaurants is a study in serendipity. Here's how it went down: Since the early 2000s, the National Corvette Museum has DRIVERS MEETING courtesy national corvette museum