Corvette C5-R Captures 30th Victory in 50 Races
Fellows and O'Connell win at Sonoma's Infineon Raceway

The Corvette Racing team captured its 30th victory in 50 races on Sunday at Sonoma's Infineon Raceway. Ron Fellows and Johnny O'Connell won the GTS class at Round 4 of the American Le Mans Series, their fourth straight victory at the circuit and the fifth straight win for Corvette in 2004.

The Corvette Racing team started Sunday's race with two cars after an incident during morning warm-up at Infineon Raceway. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. had an accident when he left the track at Turn 8 in his #8 Corvette C5-R. "I'm bummed out and disappointed I couldn't run the race," said Earnhardt, Jr. from his hospital room.

“The accident was caused by a combination of many factors including a slick race track, cold tires and a full tank of fuel.” stated Doug Fehan, Corvette Racing Program Manager. “The hit was so hard that it broke the filler neck off the fuel cell and caused a fire. We believe it is a testament to the way that the Corvette has been engineered that Dale Jr. was able to get himself out of the car after taking such a hard hit. We engineer front and rear crash zones into the car, as well as a special aluminum side crash box. We don’t like to see any of our drivers involved in incidents like this, but when they do happen we’re glad they have the protection of the Corvette chassis around them."

The Corvette Racing team will return to the track this weekend at Portland International Raceway. For more information http://www.corvetteracing.com


Camaro – Firebird Invasion – September 16-18

We look forward to hosting the return of the Camaro/Firebird Invasion, September 16-18. Some of the Greatest F-cars and their owners from around North America will be in attendance along with displays featuring GM Concept Cars and Historic F-cars. Road tours, seminars, special displays, car show, autocross and drag racing and much more are in store for our F-Body friends. Find out more and register online at: http://www.corvettemuseum.com/registration/f-body/info.shtml


Ambassador Reward Program Begins

In recognition and appreciation of our hardworking and dedicated Ambassadors, we have begun a new Ambassador Recognition Program. Based on input from our current Ambassadors, the program is designed to reward these supporters, based on a point system for various areas such as raffle ticket sales, volunteer work, membership recruiting and more. Point accumulation begins each July and ends June 30th. Yearly awards will be presented as part of our Corvette Celebration each year. Find out more about this special program by visiting our website at: http://www.corvettemuseum.com/ambassadors/points.shtml

If you are an NCM Ambassador, we thank you and appreciate all you do.


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Submitted by Bobbie Jo Lee, National Corvette Museum Communications, who can be reached at bobbiejo@corvettemuseum.com or visited on the web at http://www.corvettemuseum.com.


"NCM Central" is an electronic news report from the National Corvette Museum. Here you will find news on NCM events and happenings, Corvette Store specials, GM Corvette Assembly Plant updates, Corvette Racing reports and more.