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Here's the story:
lllustrated Corvette Series No. 77 - 1988-89 Corvette Challenge Racers
"Too Fast... Too Good"
For decades General Motors
had a strange attitude towards racing. Obviously, many people raced
Corvettes, but GM would never officially stand behind their efforts.
All that changed in 1988 with the beginning of the "Corvette Challenge
Series."
It was a
banner year for the Corvette. There was the 35th Anniversary Special,
the high-output Callaway option, an awesome GTO body kit, and the
production of 56 specially prepared, street-legal Corvette race cars.
The series was an outgrowth of the Corvette's total dominance of the
Showroom Stock series from 1985 to '87. Since Corvettes were banned
from the series for 1988, a Corvette-only race was created.
Toronto
racing promoter John Powel pitched the idea to Chevrolet with a plan to
sign on sponsors to create a million dollar, 10 race series with
equally prepared, performance Corvettes. Chevrolet agreed and began
building cars that used every performance part available for the car. A
total of 56 cars were built and retrofitted with a full rollcage and
other safety items. The engine and running gear of each car was
balanced, blueprinted, and sealed by the factory. Special
non-tamperable green paint was applied to hold-down bolts and assured
things wouldn't be tweaked.
The races
were supporting events for CART and IMSA , but had full and extensive
coverage on ESPN with on-screen information from real-time telemetry
from the cars. The Vettes were equalized to the point where every car
raced using gas from the same tanker. The "racing" all came down to the
driver's skill behind the wheel.
The
series was very popular with the fans and most of the drivers enjoyed
the experience as well. When the '89 season began, the country was in a
recession and sponsorship money became a problem. Chevrolet ended up
financing the series for the million dollar purse. But they also gained
R&D information from 50 Corvettes racing ten races in '88 and
twelve races in '89. Nearly all of the adjustments and parts
improvements went directly into production Corvettes.
The cars
could do over 160mph, but speed has never been cheap. A Corvette
Challenge car cost over $35,000 and was officially "street-legal."
The
series concluded at the end of '89. What started out as a zero-cost
deal for Chevrolet ended up costing quite a lot, but they did get their
money's worth in field testing. Also, SCCA reported that other
manufacturers were ready to take on the Corvettes again in '90. But
this time, Corvettes were packing the awesome ZR-1.
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