Yes, you read that right; a giant sinkhole measuring some 40 feet (~12 meters) wide and around 30 feet (9 meters) deep that appeared beneath a section of the National Corvette Museum in Kentucky on Wednesday swallowed eight cars on display, including two Corvettes on loan from General Motors.
That’s the bad news, but there’s good news as well: fortunately, the sinkhole opened up in the early morning hours of Wednesday, so no one was hurt.
As we speak, there are engineers on site to assess the situation and determine the next steps they will take.
“Before we do anything, like remove the other cars, we want that assessment so we know if there’s been any structural damage to the Sky Dome,” said Executive Director Wendell Strode, according to a report from USA Today. “We’ll try to get back to business as usual as soon as we can and keep moving forward,” he added.
We’ll keep an eye on the matter and inform you on any developments as soon as they come in. In the meantime, you can check the official press statement from the National Corvette Museum right past the break.
By John Halas
Photos via Corvette Museum
Press Statement from National Corvette Museum:
“We received a call at 5:44am from our security company alerting us of our motion detectors going off in our Skydome area of the Museum. Upon arrival it was discovered that a sinkhole had collapsed within the Museum. No one was in or around the Museum at the time. The Bowling Green Fire Department arrived on the scene and secured the area. The Fire Department has estimated the size of the hole is 40 feet across and 25-30 feet deep.
It is with heavy hearts that we report that eight Corvettes were affected by this incident. Those cars include:
- 1993 ZR-1 Spyder on loan from General Motors
- 2009 ZR1 “Blue Devil” on loan from General Motors
The other six vehicles were owned by the National Corvette Museum including:
- 1962 Black Corvette
- 1984 PPG Pace Car
- 1992 White 1 Millionth Corvette
- 1993 Ruby Red 40th Anniversary Corvette
- 2001 Mallett Hammer Z06 Corvette
- 2009 White 1.5 Millionth Corvette
None of the cars affected were on loan from individuals. The Skydome exhibit area of the Museum is a separate structure connected to the main Museum. A structural engineer is now on-site to assess the existing damage and stability of the surrounding areas. The Museum is closed to the public for the day to allow us to carefully assess the situation. We will keep everyone informed as we know more.
With the 20th Anniversary celebration, Grand Opening of the NCM Motorsports Park, and the National Corvette Caravan coming August 27-30, we’ve got a lot to be excited about in 2014, and look forward to getting the Skydome repaired and reopened very soon.”
PHOTO GALLERY
