Corvette Museum’s Motorsports Park Hires Architect; Looks for Sponsorships

Would you like to help the National Corvette Museum raise the funds needed to build its proposed 184-acre Motorsports Park?

Then museum Director Wendell Strode and other officials there would no doubt like to talk to you, especially if you have deep pockets.

The museum has already paid $3 million cash for the land and has raised about $1 million to help build the park. Officials are hoping that most of the facility can be built by the museum’s 20th anniversary in 2014.

They’re also hoping that they can get enough major commitments to service a $10 million debt, which would require about $750,000 a year in sponsorship commitments.

NCM officials met Friday with Steve Crawford, the Seattle architect they hired recently to design the park. He’s no rookie, having designed several such facilities, including Thunder Hill in California and Ridge in Washington.

“This is something he really has a passion for,” Strode said.

Crawford impressed museum officials with his willingness to take input from others. A conceptual design included features from other famous Corvette races, and Strode said Crawford “seemed open” to that.

They’re aiming to have the design done by the end of the year, and it’s expected to take another three months to prepare bid documents.

Whether work starts in 2013 will depend on how fundraising efforts go, Strode said.

The motorsports park will be used for education, recreation, and training of Corvette enthusiasts. The City-County Planning Commission of Warren County has approved most of the requirements that will be needed for construction, though a building permit won’t be issued until the results of a study by a sound engineer are obtained. That was one of the stipulations the museum agreed to after residents nearby expressed concerns over potential increased levels of noise from the track.

Strode is confident the park can be designed so that noise won’t be a problem for neighbors.

Source:
Bowling Green Daily News

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