National Corvette Museum opens sinkhole exhibit 10 years later

• Exhibit showcases five Corvettes rescued from a sinkhole that opened 10 years ago
• National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Kentucky, sits on top of a vast cave system
• 2001 Mallett Hammer Z06 on display remains in its mangled condition

On a quiet morning well before the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Kentucky, opened for business, the earth opened up and swallowed eight vintage Corvettes. A decade later, the Museum has opened a three-month temporary exhibit called, “Ground to Sky: The Sinkhole Reimagined.”

Running through Sept. 15, the exhibit honors the recovery of the 2001 Mallett Hammer Z06, the 1 millionth and 1.5 millionth Corvette ever made, the ZR-1 Spyder, a 2009 ZR1 “Blue Devil”, as well as other artifacts consumed by the 40-foot wide, 60-foot deep hole that opened in the conical Skydome Hall of Fame.

“From the restoration of damaged Corvettes to the ten years of progress that has touched every corner of the Museum, “Ground to Sky: The Sinkhole Reimagined” highlights our commitment to preserving Corvette history while embracing progress,” Robert Maxhimer, Director of Curatorial Affairs and Education, said in a statement.

Corvettes rescued from a sinkhole in the Ground to Sky: The Sinkhole Reimagined exhibit

The sinkhole and recovery process made global news from Feb. 12, 2014 when it happened through 2016, when the recovery and restoration process became a permanent part of a Museum that opened in 1994 in the porous land of southern Kentucky.

Located across the street from GM’s Corvette Assembly Plant in Bowling Green, the National Corvette Museum sits atop karst country, situated about 30 miles from Mammoth Cave National Park, the world’s longest known cave system. Bowling Green is Kentucky for mining country, where caves and underground springs run like veins below ground, and where sediment constantly shifts into recesses in the earth, causing sinkholes. Five days after the Corvette sinkhole opened up, an even larger one opened 15 miles away. 

I witnessed the sinkhole firsthand covering it for the Chicago Tribune. It opened at about 5 a.m., fortunately, before staff or visitors had arrived to the most popular part of the 115,000 square-foot Museum. The Skydome, with its red spindle protruding through the 100-foot glass ceiling, housed 22 of the rarest and some of the most expensive Corvettes, as well as the Hall of Fame honoring such luminaries as Zora Arkus-Duntov, the father of the first Corvette that debuted in 1953. 

Since filled and solidified, and with the Skydome restored to original condition, the new exhibit showcases the five Vettes listed above, hardly even dusted off from storage. The Mallett, which was the last Vette extracted from the sinkhole, is still in its mangled sinkhole condition. The exhibit includes a viewing platform to view the sinkhole, as well as the boulder that hammered the Mallett Hammer Corvette.   

Corvettes rescued from a sinkhole in the Ground to Sky: The Sinkhole Reimagined exhibit

There was something reverential about touring the Skydome and interviewing the engineers responsible for the excavation and the curator in charge of rolling with the changes, much like the Corvette has done in its 70-year existence. The C8 Corvette that launched in 2020 turned America’s supercar into a mid-engine monster. The 2024 Corvette E-Ray electrified the icon with AWD hybrid power. A full battery electric Corvette is expected to debut later this year. 

In the meantime, the Museum expects this limited-run exhibit to put a charge in attendance.