9th Birthday of The National Corvette Museum - Parallel Lives

Sunday is usually a day of rest and relaxation before many begin the journey home. Many did leave; those who stayed around were treated to more seminars and the presentation of the awards to the Celebrity Choice car show winners in the front "circle" of the museum. That was a fine display. Cars ranged from a pristine '58 from Maryland to a brand new '04 Z06 owned by Buzz Nielsen and "seven banks"-according to NCM Board Chair Elect Larry Martin. Dollie Cole presented the trophies to the winners.

After the presentation of the car show trophies, those remaining had one question on their minds...where am I gonna park that new blue convertible? It was time to make someone very happy by drawing the winning ticket for this year's NCM give-away car, a '04 LeMans Blue convertible. Wil Cooksey drew the winning ticket from the barrel. With a bewildered look on his face, he showed the ticket Larry Martin. Larry mirrored the question in Wil's face. Larry read the name (due to legal restrictions we can't print the winner's name) and said "No Phone." The winner had written "no telephone" on the ticket! We didn't have our annual opportunity to call and congratulate the winner "live." Bummer! Not only did I not win (again), but we couldn't call the guy! I did hear from Gary Cockriel of the NCM staff that they did finally get in touch with the winner. Congrats go out to the winner and better luck next year to the rest of us!

With that came the close to another birthday bash at the National Corvette Museum. As was discussed in the beginning of this piece, the Corvette and the National Corvette museum have lead nearly parallel lives. As the Corvette, the museum has grown to be a self-sustaining entity to hush the naysayers. As the Corvette, with vision, passion, and dedication, the National Corvette Museum will stand the test of time and will continue to improve with age. Happy ninth birthday NCM!