Corvette for LeMans racing

[computerworks]

Not famous for it...but they have shown up over the years.

From the text at the Corvette Museum site:

It fell to sportsman Briggs Cunningham to fulfill Duntov’s dream of competing at Le Mans . Cunningham fielded a trio of Corvettes at the French classic in 1960, and he was rewarded with an eighth-place finish overall and first in the big-bore GT class by drivers John Fitch and Bob Grossman.

The lure of Le Mans has proven irresistible for Corvette racers. Dick Guldstrand and Bob Bondurant topped 171 mph on the infamous Mulsanne Straight with their L88 Corvette in 1967, but dropped out with mechanical problems before the halfway mark.

Another generation of Americans returned to France in 1972 when John Greenwood and comedian Dick Smothers brought a Corvette painted in stars and stripes; it lasted 10 hours. Greenwood went back four years later to celebrate America ’s bicentennial with an outrageous wide-bodied, tri-colored Corvette, but a leaking fuel cell sidelined the American effort after five hours.

In 1994 a Corvette prepared by specialist Reeves Callaway was the fastest qualifier in the GT2 class, but was disqualified after 11 hours when it was refueled on the course. Callaway’s second and third-place finishes in the GT class in 1995 foreshadowed the arrival of the all-conquering C5-R Corvettes.