Corvette Museum

[JThomas]

The National Corvette Museum received a call at 5:44am from their security company alerting them of their motion detectors going off in the Skydome area of the Museum. Upon arrival it was discovered that a sinkhole had collapsed within the Museum. No one was in or around the Museum at the time. The Bowling Green Fire Department arrived on the scene and secured the area. The Fire Department estimated the size of the hole as 40 feet across and 25-30 feet deep.
Eight Corvettes were affected by this incident. Those cars include:

• 1993 ZR-1 Spyder on loan from General Motors
• 2009 ZR1 “Blue Devil” on loan from General Motors

The other six vehicles were owned by the National Corvette Museum including:

• 1962 Black Corvette
• 1984 PPG Pace Car
• 1992 White 1 Millionth Corvette
• 1993 Ruby Red 40th Anniversary Corvette
• 2001 Mallett Hammer Z06 Corvette
• 2009 White 1.5 Millionth Corvette

None of the cars affected were on loan from individuals. The Skydome exhibit area of the Museum is a separate structure connected to the main Museum. A structural engineer has been on-site to assess the existing damage and stability of the surrounding areas. The structural engineering firm did determine that the perimeter of the Skydome is stable. The museum has worked with its insurance adjustor to retain a construction manager and they will be coordinating all work moving forward.
The Museum has been closed to the public for the day to allow careful assessments to the situation.
With the 20th Anniversary celebration, Grand Opening of the NCM Motorsports Park, and the National Corvette Caravan coming August 27-30, there is a lot to be excited about in 2014, and the museum looks forward to getting the Skydome repaired and reopened very soon.
The museum will be open on Thursday for normal operations, although the skydome area will be blocked off and not accessible for viewing. Numerous engineers, geo-technical experts, and karst/sinkhole experts have been there throughout the day and they feel the rest of the building is safe. While this is a tragic event and there is a lot to do to repair the skydome, we are very thankful that it happened at a time when no one was here or injured.
The National Corvette Museum has insurance on both the cars and the property. Their insurance adjuster has also been there and is working with them on the next steps. The NCM has retained the firm who built the 2009 building expansion, as their construction managers for this project. They will work with the foundation engineers and structural engineers to determine the best plan to stabilize the surrounding areas, repair the hole and everything else.
The NCM will continue normal operations, as much as possible, and will welcome visitors and members to the 20th Anniversary celebration as planned.
There is a link on the homepage of the NCM website to various photos and videos including the security camera video of the actual collapse up until the power was cut to the camera system. There is also mini helicopter footage filmed from inside the hole. www.corvettemuseum.org
All cars that were on display in the Museum's Skydome, not affected by the sinkhole, have been safely removed.

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