[VIDEO] Corvette Racing’s Doug Fehan Inducted in the Corvette Hall of Fame

Some of Doug Fehan’s earliest memories go back to a Buffalo stadium where his dad and uncles would take him to see the jalopy races as a child.

Fortunately for Corvette enthusiasts, that early love of racing seeded as a child would eventually lead Fehan to General Motors, where he would become the first director of Corvette Racing in 1996.

In this special National Corvette Museum video posted on YouTube, listen to some of the biggest names in GM annals offer up high words of praise for Fehan, who quite deservedly became one of the newest members of the Corvette Hall of Fame last week.

“Doug Fehan is and always will be Mr. Corvette,” says GM President Mark Reuss. “After joining GM Racing in 1988, Doug was given the reins of the Corvette team by Herb Fishel in ’96, and ever since then, Doug’s name has been synonymous with Corvette Racing.”

Corvette Chief Engineer Tadge Juechter noted that Fehan has so many talents and has contributed in so many ways to the Corvette community.

“It feels like Doug’s been there from the beginning,” Juechter says, “and he really was at the inception of the race program. He really was one of the key people who started it, convinced General Motors to do it and built it from scratch to what it is today, arguably the most successful race program ever.”

Indeed, during Fehan’s 25 years at the helm, Corvette Racing won 113 races, 14 team championships, and 13 manufacturers drivers titles.

The program has been a winner consistently for decades, but Juechter believes the Fehan legacy goes far beyond that. “Doug has been one of the people who’s knit together the entire Corvette community,” Juechter says. “It starts with racing, but right from the beginning he was a huge advocate for getting the race program and the production car team arm in arm, finishing each other’s sentences, enjoying each other’s work, and collaborating on both cars, both the car on the track and the car on the street.”

His efforts have helped contribute to the success of the past four Corvette generations, including the changeover to the mid-engine format, and his influence will continue for years. “There’ll be products out in the future that are impacted by his tenure in Corvette Racing,” Jeuchter says.

Reuss says he’s proud and pleased that Fehan is being inducted into the Hall of Fame “because I can’t think of anyone who deserves it more. So congratulations, Doug, and thank you from the bottom of our hearts at General Motors., our fans, our engineers, our teams. It’s been a great run. We couldn’t thank you enough.”

During last week’s NCM Bash, the fans of Corvette Racing also showed their appreciation for the former program manager with several gifts which included a Yellow C8.R Corvette Racing golf bag, a photo album from fans, as well as large framed photo showcasing the various Corvettes that had been raced by the team during Doug’s tenure. Also included was a commemorative brick in Doug’s name that is now on the walkway in front of the Corvette Museum’s Motorsports Park.

We thank our friend Charley Robertson, with Kirk Bennion and Janet Polasek for putting together a wonderful set of gifts for Doug.

Source:
National Corvette Museum and Corvette Racing Fans / Facebook

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