National Corvette Museum In Bowling Green Kentucky
During our trip to Bowling Green, Kentucky, we visited the National Corvette Museum.
The museum opened in 1994 but has recently had national attention after a 60-foot sinkhole at the museum on February 12th that damaged eight irreplaceable vehicles on display at the museum.
The museum begins with a few corvettes and a short film about the history of the Corvette.
The cars in the museum are drivable art.
They are so beautiful and each has so much detail to appreciate.
Zora Arkus-Duntov, who designed the Corvette, is even buried at the museum! The image above is the only Corvette he ever personally owned.
The are several areas for kids to enjoy. There was this interactive section where kids could practice working on cars. There was also a fun interactive maze to go through.
National Corvette Museum Campus
Not only is the Corvette America’s favorite sports car, but it’s also the longest-running model car in the nation’s history! And no other automotive museum in the world is dedicated to a single model car. So it’s no wonder that enthusiasts and visitors alike are entranced by the 115,000 square foot National Corvette Museum located just off I-65 in Bowling Green, Kentucky, the Home of Corvette!
Consistently named among the top “Best Attractions for Car Lovers” in the USA Today 10Best Readers’ Choice awards, this top rated Kentucky museum features over 70 Corvettes, mostly on loan by private donors, that are showcased in periodic settings including mint classics, prototypes, rare finds and racing champs. Families will enjoy the KidZone with hands-on activities for children, and the exhibit hall features rotating exhibits not always focused on the Corvette. Big kids love making their friends jealous when sharing photos of themselves in the “sitter” Corvette available in the lobby.
Hungry? The on-site, newly renovated Stingray Grill can help refuel your tank, currently open for breakfast and lunch daily when the museum is open. Chef-created dishes like Blueberry Stuffed French Toast, Watermelon Cucumber Salad, Pasta Fungi and Bourbon Bread Pudding offer a refined meal one would expect among such beautifully-designed cars.
Open the full listing below for more details and links to the Museum’s website and social media channels.
The Andy Pilgrim Driving Experience
Spend a day with Corvette Hall of Fame Inductee and Pro Racer, Andy Pilgrim! This 1-day program has been hand crafted by Andy and includes autocross runs and laps on track driving the C8 Corvette with 1-on-1 feedback from the Pro himself.
The day will begin with breakfast in the Holley Control Tower alongside Andy Pilgrim. Next, participants will strap into the drivers seat and grip the unique, 2-spoke steering wheel of the C8 Corvette for timed autocross runs on a course designed by Andy that will challenge both the driver and the Corvette. There will be a brief intermission and lunch before heading out on the 3.2-mile road course, a track that Andy claims is one of the best in North America! Each participant will receive 1-on-1 feedback between each 20-minute lead/follow session totaling over an hour on track.
Class participants will be invited to join Andy for a dinner and reception. There, youll hear highlights and stories from Andys 37-year racing career.
*subject to tax & processing fee
Must be 18 years or older and have a valid drivers license to participate in the Corvette Experience.
Participants must sign a Vehicle Damage Policy and Indemnity Agreement.
Helmets provided. Must wear closed toe shoes and long pants.
Cancellations made 7 days or more in advance of the event date, will receive a 100% refund. Event will run rain or shine. No refunds will be made after completion of services.
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Visiting Ncm Motorsports Park
The National Corvette Museum built its $20 million, dual-track motorsports park in 2013 today, it is one of the best race tracks in America that allows drivers to bring their own vehicle for some laps. We arrived on a crisp fall morning, Kristin immediately crawling into the passengers seat after we got a quick briefing about the racetrack. We would be chasing a driver over four laps on the 3.15-mile closed course. This was to ensure that we got the maximum benefit of the experience instead of poking around and having to test the unfamiliar environment of a twisty track, and it was really helpful for me to have a vehicle in front.
Right out of the gate and after wed passed the pitstop area, the pace driver punched it and it was on. He told me prior to hopping into his new-model Camaro that if I fell behind hed ease off the throttle slightly to let me catch up. While he most definitely needed to do that occasionally, we caught him a few times and triggered the traction control system often as I unleashed the 500 horsepower beneath the hood of this cherry-red animal.
The course itself has a handful of high acceleration corridors with numerous technical chicanes and blind drops, making it a worthy challenge to a racecar like the Corvette. When we were leaving a couple of earlier model Vettes were lining up for some fun runs and the manager told us that car clubs from across the region come in on a regular basis bringing in their own hotrods, including foreign models.
National Corvette Museums Motorsports Park To Receive $24 Million In Improvements After Tornado Damage
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. â After sustaining heavy damage from the tornadoes that devastated western Kentucky last year, the National Corvette Museum in Bowling announced it is building back better than ever.
What You Need To Know
- The museum announced $2.4 million in improvements
- Plan includes new event spaces, restaurant and bar options, and upgraded garage facilities
- Motorsports Park will remain open during construction
- The improvements are in the wake of the devastating tornadoes in Kentucky last year
On Thursday, July 14, the museum announced $2.4 million in improvements to its Motorsports Park. In December 2021, the Motorsports Park was heavily damaged when an EF-3 tornado touched down in Bowling Green. The National Corvette Museum and its board of directors leveraged the unfortunate circumstances of the tornado to create opportunity with plans to make significant improvements to the parkâs facilities, according to a news release.
âThe National Corvette Museum, along with our board of directors, looked at the extent of the damage to the Motorsports Park and decided to find the silver lining in a really difficult circumstance,â said Sharon Brawner, National Corvette Museum President and CEO. âThe improvements we have planned will take our already world-class racing facility to the next level, including much-needed indoor and outdoor event spaces, bar and restaurant offerings in our track observation areas, and upgraded garage facilities.â
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National Corvette Museum To Debut New Driven By Design Exhibit
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – After 14 years of planning, researching and constructing, the National Corvette Museum is opening up a new exhibit called Driven By Design.
The 6500 square foot exhibit was designed to inspire, educate and entertain National Corvette Museum guests about the history of the Corvettes design process and the diverse individuals responsible for the famous sports car.
The exhibit is interactive and shows National Corvette Museum guests the thought process that individuals had when creating the models behind the Corvette.
This is something Sharon Brawner, President and CEO of the National Corvette Museum, says is one of the most beautiful things about this new exhibit.
Right now we are telling a lot of unsung heroes stories, people who are behind the scenes that maybe no one ever hears about, she said. That is the beauty of this. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of people who have been involved in the design of Corvette over the last 70 years. We will have plenty of great history to draw upon, so that we can keep evolving the story over time.
The Driven By Design exhibit is an interactive experience for National Corvette Museum guests to learn more about the process that goes into creating the vehicle. With all of the new-age technology that went into building the exhibit, it is an experience a person of any age can enjoy and learn something from.
Full Press Release from the National Corvette Museum:
Copyright 2022 WBKO. All rights reserved.
National Corvette Museum And Its Collection
The National Corvette Museum showcases the Chevrolet Corvette , an American sports car that has been in production since 1953. It is located in Bowling Green, Kentucky , off Interstate 65 ‘s Exit 28. It was constructed in 1994, and opened to the public in September of that year. The museum is located only a quarter mile from the Bowling Green Assembly Plant , where Corvettes have been made since 1981. Public tours of the assembly plant are unavailable as of June 16, 2017, and GM has given no indication when or if they will resume. Patrons can, through their local Chevrolet dealership, add package option R8C which can give them a VIP tour of the Corvette Museum and assembly plant and patrons can have the option to build their own engine for their Corvette to the car).
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Put The Pedal To The Metal: Drive A Corvette In Bowling Green
I slid into the cockpit of the car with a quick spike in adrenaline coursing through my veins. Having some experience with high-horsepower hotrods since junior high, the thrill of crawling into the drivers seat of a new, mid-engine Corvette was something else entirely. Yes, I finally fulfilled a dream of driving a Corvette in Bowling Green.
The track was sleepy on a weekday, and while Id thought about the experience a bit before driving up to Bowling Green, the reality of it didnt truly sink in until I saw a line of six Corvettes on an empty racetrack. Im about to mash the throttle in one of those, I thought, my pulse quickening. The goosebumps didnt subside one iota when we got into the seats and I was shown how to start it up, horsepower gurgling in the chambers and echoing in my ears.
This post is in partnership with Visit Bowling Green. All track photos are by ABI Photography.
General Admission To The National Corvette Museum In Bowling Green
- Enjoy a day of artistic inspiration, engineering, and fun like what has made the Corvette a symbol of American pride for over 60 years
- Make the most of seeing over 70 Corvettes
- Explore the museum at your own pace
- Learn about the car’s evolution from the earliest classics, race cars, prototypes, one-of-a-kind cars to the late model beauties
- Gasp at the Corvette Cave In exhibit to witness the aftermath of the sinkhole that swallowed eight Corvettes
Do you like cars? Are you curious to discover why the Corvette is “Americas Sports Car”? If so, this museum entrance ticket which features over 70 Corvettes is for you!
Travel in time as you explore from the earliest classics, race cars, prototypes, one-of-a-kind cars to the late model beauties. See Corvettes history unfold in period settings, vintage film, and photography. Make your way through the area called “Concept and Design” to look at the evolution of Corvettes cutting-edge technology.
Then, at the Corvette Cave In exhibit, witness the aftermath of the sinkhole that swallowed eight Corvettes. A day of art inspiration, engineering, and fun – just like what has made the Corvette a symbol of American pride for over 60 years.
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The Camaro & Corvette Package
This package showcases the performance capabilities of all three GM sports cars, the C7 and C8 Corvettes along with the Camaro SS 1LE! Guest will have the opportunity get behind the wheel of all three cars for four laps each on the 3.2-mile, 23 turn track. Thats a total of TWELVE laps!!
Participants must sign a Vehicle Damage Policy and Indemnity Agreement.
Helmets provided. Must wear closed toe shoes and long pants.
Cancellations made 7 days or more in advance of the event date, will receive a 100% refund. Event will run rain or shine. No refunds will be made after completion of services.
C7 Corvette Touring Laps
Test out the performance of Americas sports car on our 3.2-mile racetrack! Drive a C7 Corvette on track in a lead/follow format for 4 laps.
Grand Course 3.2 mile
West track Drive 5 Laps on our 2.2 mile west track in a C7 Corvette!
**Must be 18 years or older and have a valid drivers license to participate in the Corvette Experience.
Participants must sign a Vehicle Damage Policy and Indemnity Agreement.
Helmets provided. Must wear closed toe shoes and long pants.
Cancellations made 7 days or more in advance of the event date, will receive a 100% refund. Event will run rain or shine. No refunds will be made after completion of services.
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Touring National Corvette Museum
After a morning at the track, the National Corvette Museum was a natural next stop. Ive been to a lot of car museums over the years and this destination is by far the most interesting, thorough and timeless for an American hotrodder.
It is a gorgeous edifice that personifies the bespoke, peel-your-face-off hotrod and well worth the visit, even if you dont drive.
Simply put, they have every Corvette model through the years and many, many one-of-a-kind versions that will knock your socks off in their rarity.
The site of the museum is perhaps most famously the very spot where a sinkhole opened up in 2014 and gobbled eight Corvettes. Luckily, no one was injured, and the museum now has an exhibit at the site of the sinkhole that explains this natural phenomenon.
My History With Hotrods
My dad was an avid hotrodder who grew up in the 50s he and his brother owned a matching pair of 57 Bel Air Chevys, and very early on in life, this passion was transmitted to me.
When I was 14, he bought another Chevy, this time an early 70s pickup truck that had a tuned dragster engine beneath the hood. It had a 350-cubic-inch motor, port and polished heads, hydraulic lifters, headers, a Holly carburetor and a high lift camshaft, making it a fire breathing beast of a power plant that I put to good use by wearing out the rear rubber and letting the factory installed smoke drift into the neighborhood while in high school.
Having spun the rods or floated the lifters a few times on that truck because I have a chunk of lead in my right foot, I quickly learned how to remove, rebuild and reinstall these engines. My auto shop teacher was a saint and these projects consumed the every day. This marked the start of a love affair with oil, horsepower and the thrill of acceleration that occurs when youre in the drivers seat of an American-made muscle car.
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Sports And Event Venues
, located on the campus of , is a multi-purpose arena with a seating capacity of 7,500 persons. Built in 1963 and renovated in 2004, the arena has hosted college sports such as basketball and volleyball. It also hosted the state championship event in high school basketball from 2001 to 2015, after which it moved to at . The arena has also played host to various traveling rodeos and circuses. In 2006, Diddle Arena hosted the first event to be held in Bowling Green in over ten years.
The city and surrounding area is home to the Warren County Inline Hockey League. It also is home to the Western Kentucky University Hilltoppers team, which competes in the , and has several members in the Bluegrass Hockey League and Central Commonwealth League.
is a new stadium currently in use in Bowling Green. It is primarily used for baseball, for the High-A organization of the . The Hot Rods began play in the spring of 2009 in the , transferring to the for 2010. In 2021 as part of ‘s realignment they began play in the newly formed High-A East. They are a farm team for Major League Baseball’s .
The Bowling Green Hornets of the are based in Bowling Green, although they play their home games in . The Hornets are coached by Russellville native Nathan Thompson.
Bowling Green has six and eight courses.
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Touring The Bowling Green Assembly Plant
To cap off your experience driving a Corvette in Bowling Green, head across the street to the assembly plant, the only facility in the world that manufactures and builds Chevrolet Corvettes. Bowling Green Assembly has produced more than a million Corvettes since it opened in 1981 and, for the first time in five years, is opening to the public for tours after GM invested $439 million in a new paint shop and other facility upgrades.
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Corvettes Pulled Out Of The Sinkhole
I was really intrigued to see the damaged cars that they pulled out of the sinkhole. Its so sad that it happened to these irreplaceable historic treasures.
There is a window for guests to see where the sinkhole was and the most recent vehicle pulled from the wreckage. There is also a live webcam where you can see the work being done in that sinkhole area.
We really enjoyed our visit to the museum. You dont have to be a huge Corvette fan to appreciate all that this museum has to offer.
Admission to the National Corvette Museum is: $10.00 adults, $5.00 children 6-16, 5 years or younger are FREE, family rate $25.00 and Senior Citizens $8.00.
The museum is open daily from 8am -5pm daily except for major holidays. Check the website for more details and special events.
The National Corvette Museum is located at 350 Corvette Dr., Bowling Green, KY.
Disclosure: I was given complimentary accommodations and admissions from Visit Bowling Green for review purposes. All opinions are my own.
