National Corvette Museum Announces 2013 Hall of Fame Inductees

The National Corvette Museum recently announced the 2013 inductees into their Corvette Hall of Fame. This year’s honorees include a noted enthusiast/restorer, a former Corvette Plant Manager, and a decorated Corvette racing driver.

The 2013 Corvette Hall of Fame inductees are:

Wil Cooksey – former Bowling Green Plant Manager. Cooksey’s GM career began in 1972. From there he moved between several plants including St. Louis, Missouri, Doraville, Georgia, and Fairfax, Kansas. In February 1993 he became Plant Manager at the Bowling Green Assembly Plant and stayed until there until he retired in 2008. He also served on the NCM Board of Directors and started many of the Delivery Department programs at the Museum including R8C Museum Delivery, Xperience, Buyers’ Tours, and others. In 2008 GM offered a limited number of Wil Cooksey Corvette Z06’s.

Werner Meier – Corvette enthusiast, historian, and restorer. Meier bought his first new Corvette (a 1969) on his 18th birthday. After graduating from General Motors Institute (GMI), he worked at GM in a variety of engineering roles over his 33 year career. After leaving GM he started Masterworks Automotive Services (http://www.mwauto.com/) specializing in Corvette repair and restoration. Some of Meier’s personal Corvettes have included the 1958 “Fancy Free” styling car, the 1963 Corvette Harley Earl styling car, and Bill Mitchell’s 1964 styling car. He has also organized Corvette displays at significant events such as the Meadowbrook Concours d’Elegance, Bay Harbor Concours d’Elegance and Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance. Meier was inducted into the 1998 Bloomington Gold Corvette Hall of Fame and is a Lifetime Member of the National Corvette Museum.

Johnny O’Connell – Corvette Racing driver. Johnny O thought of as the most successful GM factory racecar driver from the U.S. O’Connell joined the factory Corvette Racing team in 2001 and helped them score overall victory at Daytona and class victory at Le Mans. Since that time he has assisted the Corvette Racing team capture eight straight manufacturers’ titles and seven class wins at Sebring. He is the first American to score four class wins in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. He holds ALMS records including: the most career starts (102), most podium finishes (80), most top-five finishes (93), and most top-10 finishes (100). He is a member of the Sebring Hall of Fame in addition to serving as the Bondurant School of High Performance Driving’s VP of Global Operations and ZR1 expert instructor. You can also see him on TV as a commentator for ABC, ESPN, and SPEED. Hall of Fame membership is the highest honor bestowed by the museum. The class of 2013 will formally be inducted during a banquet on Thursday, August 29th, 2013. The induction ceremony takes place annually as part of the museum’s Labor Day Weekend Anniversary Corvette Celebration. This year’s event runs August 29th – 31st.

Congratulations to all of the 2013 Corvette Hall of Fame honorees.

Source:
National Corvette Museum

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