The "America's Sport Car" Story

It was an ordinary day. We were headed to Ocean City, MD with the Lancaster County Corvette Club. There were about a dozen vettes traveling in this caravan. Carol and I have a 1987 red on red, 5 speed coupe which has a rather stiff suspension system. That means it hurts to drive it too far, like three and a half hours to the shore. The lead Corvette, Tony and his wife have a walkie-talkie and the tail Corvette, Rick and his wife have the other one. This allows the caravan to attempt to stay together for the entire trip. Works sometimes! I’m not sure what route we took, but then it doesn’t matter since we are following the car in front of us. Then, all of a sudden the cars in front of us start to swerve. What’s up? It seems they have repainted the lines in the center of the road and have place cones every 25-30 feet apart on the line to warn you of the wet paint. With no cars coming the other way and the urge to drive the obstacle course, Tony starts to weave in and out of the cones. Now in a caravan, you do what the car in front of you does so we all start to weave in and out. Lucky the paint was dry. We finally make our way to OC and head to the motel which will be out headquarters for the next two days. We have come to drive in a Corvette Rally which features a trip down the boardwalk. We arrive at our destination and are glad for the chance to stretch and move about after the hours in the car. It is just getting dark when we arrive at the restaurant for dinner. Fun to travel with friends who enjoy the same hobby, Corvettes. We pull into the parking lot and into a space next to another vette. Into the restaurant for a good meal. It is now dark when we head back to the car. We get back in and see the vette in front of us has just pulled out so we realize was there and couldn’t see in the dark, since we are sitting only about a foot off the ground. Now what? I put it in reverse. No luck. Our back wheels are off the ground. I get out and check for damage and to see if any fluid is coming from the bottom of the car. I find the only fluid is coming from my eyes at the moment. Our club members see what has happened and after they stopped laughing they help lift the car off the barrier. Nice to have a car made of fiberglass. Enough fun for one day. Next morning we tidy up the car so there is no dirt or spots on it and head to the convention center where we will meet everyone and follow them to the south end of the boardwalk. As we start up the ramp to the boardwalk, we see the crowd which lines both sides for a chance to view the 300 or more vettes from all over the east coast. A few cars don’t make it. Some engines overheat, some manual trans overheat, and one runs out of gas. Guess he needs to fix his gas gauge. As we pass a point on the boardwalk, the snap our photo. REALLY NEAT! After the ride we head back to the motel, passing vettes which have not even had the chance drive the boards yet. We pack the car and head home without the caravan. A more leisurely drive without having to stay in line. What a fantastic experience while driving America’s Sport Car. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.