Chevrolet Race Cars

1. Cunningham’s 1960 Corvette at Le Mans

The first year Corvette that competed at the 24-hour endurance race. Upset the field of Euro-competitors.

In 1960, Zora Arkus-Duntov and American privateer Briggs Cunningham teamed up to enter Corvette in its first 24 Hours of Le Mans. For the model’s French coming out party, the team used three 1960 Corvettes with go-fast goodies including 283-cubic-inch Fuelies, heavy duty brakes, a beefier suspension, and limited-slip differentials. At the conclusion of 24 hours, one of the three had upset the field of Euro counterparts Ferrari, Aston Martin, and Porsche to win the GT class—and finish eighth overall.

Corvette’s stellar rookie run at Le Mans would set the tone for future landmark performances at the iconic endurance race. The truth of the matter is that the Europeans were almost entirely dominant in both pre and post-WW2 top flight motor racing. The Brits, Italians, Germans, and French knew how to make the fastest cars in the world and the Americans often weren’t taken particularly seriously in races outside their own borders. The 1960 Le Mans would go a long way towards changing this preconception.

The Cunningham team bought three 1960 Corvettes from Don Allen Chevrolet, each was optioned to the gills with every performance tweak available including a 290 hp fuel-injected V8, quick-ratio steering, heavy-duty sintered-metallic brake linings, heavy-duty suspension, a close-ratio four-speed transmission, a Positraction limited-slip differential, a radio delete, and a temperature-controlled radiator fan.

The race took place over the 25th and 26th of June, Ferrari needed an outright win at Le Mans to take the FIA World Sports Car Championship title, so they brought 8 of their best cars. The race was always going to be a challenge but during the third hour a storm swept across the track bringing torrential rain which caused a number of accidents, shaking up the running order.

By the time the chequered flag fell one of the Corvettes was still running – it took a class win at Le Mans and finished 8th overall. This was a great result for the first Corvette outing at the famous event, and although they didn’t know it at the time it was just the first of many, Corvettes have been racing at Le Mans for decades since.

2. 1963 Grand Sport Corvette

"The Chevrolet equipment won so easily..." Showed GM top-brass that they should listen to their people.

Perhaps inspired by the performance at Le Mans in 1960, Zora commissioned and oversaw the development of a lightweight, ultra-powerful apex-eater called the Corvette Grand Sport.

His original plan was to build 125 lightweight homologation models to satisfy road racing’s GT rulebook. At a thousand pounds less than the production Sting Ray, it was supposed to counter Carroll Shelby’s brand new Cobras in GT World Championship races. But in 1963, the program ran head-on into GM’s self-imposed racing ban and had to cease production on the racers.

When the ax fell at year-end 1962, only five cars existed at Chevrolet’s Research Center. Two were quickly “sold” to private teams. Alas, the orphaned cars could not be homologated as production GTs like the Cobras, and consequently had to run in C Modified, a class for which they were never intended.

Vindication came at the December, 1963 Nassau Speed Week, a week long party punctuated by races run to promoter Red Crise’s own rules. For the first time, the Grand Sports were allowed to compete directly with the Cobras. Earlier, the two privateer Lightweights had been recalled by Chevrolet and, along with a third, extensively improved. Now fitted with 377 cubic inch aluminum engines, the cars were entered by “owner” John Mecom. Conveniently, a group of Chevrolet engineers chose Nassau for a one week vacation.

Driven during the week by Roger Penske, Jim Hall, Dick Thompson, John Cannon, and Augie Pabst, the Corvettes simply demolished their Cobra rivals. Wrote Leo Levine, “The Chevrolet equipment won so easily, there was even some embarrassment on the part of the factory personnel, who had hoped the journey south would escape unnoticed. But at the same time, they were smirking.” Even three years later, now hopelessly obsolete, an extinct Chevrolet was able to awe A.J. Foyt, at least for a moment.

3. Chevrolet Corvette GTP

A mid-engine Corvette raced in competition 30+ years before the first mid-engine Corvette road car.

In the mid-1980s, Chevrolet developed the Corvette GTP, a mid-engine prototype inspired by the road-going Corvette. Although it entered domestic endurance races such as the 24 Hours of Daytona, it never performed well enough to compete on the world stage.

GM partnered with Lola to create a purpose-built tube frame sports car draped in a very loose interpretation of fourth-gen Corvette bodywork. Save for some stickers and maybe the nose, it was a stretch to call the beast a Corvette.

Chevrolet canceled the Corvette GTP program in 1988, but in 1990, the chassis was acquired by a California outfit called Eagle Performance. Team Eagle had its sights set on Le Mans and scraped together a budget to get the car—renamed the Eagle 700—in race shape.

That process entailed utilizing a preposterous 10.2-liter V-8 engine, which was said to produce some 900 hp. Once in France, the Eagle 700 suffered mishaps at every step. Pre-race inspections found it out of compliance, and during qualifying, it overheated and failed. Still, it's the closest a mid-engine Corvette has ever come to racing at Le Mans. Hopefully, the C8.R will fare better.

Beginning in 1984, the IMSA grid featured a couple of these GTP racers with car-specific powerplants. Lee Racing campaigned a 5.7-liter V-8 block, while Hendrick Motorsports (pictured here) used a 3.4-liter turbocharged V-6 in its Goodwrench-liveried ‘Vette.

4. 1978 Chevrolet Monte Carlo (Petty)

Petty won five races and had 23 top-five finishes in 31 starts. Not bad in his final championship season.

In 1979, Hall of Famer Richard Petty (2010) set a NASCAR record by winning his seventh premier series championship. At short and intermediate tracks, Petty campaigned a 1978 Chevrolet Monte Carlo that provided excellent handling and durability. During his final championship season, Petty won five races and had 23 top-five finishes in 31 starts.

It all started when, in 1978, Petty was unable to make a single appearance in the winner’s circle. The 1978 Dodge Magnum continuously fought the team and unhappy with the seven top-five and eleven top-ten finishes (including two-second places), Petty decided that his relationship with Chrysler could not continue. Because of that, he began racing a secondhand 1974 Chevrolet Monte Carlo at the fall race at Michigan.

Returning to General Motors proved successful as the King recorded six top-ten finishes in the final ten races of the 1978 season and finished sixth in the final standings. The 1979 season was even better, as Petty won the Daytona 500 and took home the NASCAR championship for the seventh time in a 1977 Monte Carlo.

5. 2010 Chevrolet Impala (Johnson)

Jimmie Johnson drove his Chevrolet Impala to a record fifth consecutive championship.

Capping an incredible and unrivaled streak of success, Jimmie Johnson drove his Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Impala to a record fifth consecutive premier series championship in 2010.

Trailing the points heading into the final race of the season at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Johnson used a second-place finish to secure the title and his place in NASCAR history.

Hendrick Motorsports took the championship from 2007 through 2010 with Jimmie Johnson behind the wheel. In 2011, veteran owner/driver Tony Stewart drove his Impala SS to a championship capping the run. 

The 2012 NASCAR season saw the end of the Impala nameplate in stock cars. Starting in 2013, Chevrolet drivers began driving the Chevrolet SS for the Sprint Cup series.

6. Betty Skelton 1956 Chevrolet Corvette

A remarkable group of cars and people performed speed trials on Daytona Beach. The first 'Vette racers?

Naturally, before the Z06 package ever graced GM’s option list, hot-rodded Corvettes still found their way to the track. The model’s first-generation was more than a worthy canvas for go-fast alterations. Many rolled into victory lane in national club racing.

Though, arguably more unique than the roll-bar-wearing C1’s that captured checkers from Sebring to Le Mans, were the group of relatively stock appearing racers that performed speed trials on Daytona Beach.

Of the Chevrolet roadster drivers, Betty Skelton was the star. Known as “The First Lady of Firsts” and “The Fastest Woman on Earth” Betty Skelton was born in Pensacola, Florida in 1926. She took an interest in airplanes very early in her childhood. She became an aerobatics pilot, first, before transitioning to competition on four wheels. She was the first woman to pace the Daytona 500 as well as the first woman to test drive for Chrysler.

Skelton was also the first woman to be inducted into the Corvette Hall of Fame. In 1956, Betty would find herself working at the Campbell-Ewald advertising firm for General Motors’ Chevrolet Division. She was GM’s first female technical narrator at auto shows and appeared in television and print ads. She continued driving and returned to Daytona in a 1956 Corvette specially prepared by Zora Arkus-Duntov and Smokey Yunick, and ran the flying mile at 137 mph.

7. 1986 Chevrolet Monte Carlo Aerocoupe (Earnhardt)

The 1987 season saw Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt (2010) win his third of a record seven championships.

Whenever a car takes the spotlight, a competitor counters or new rules yank away the advantage. And from 1983 to ’86, the Ford Thunderbird was the car everyone was talking about. 

Chevrolet and General Motors needed a counter-punch to the Thunderbird, and that car was the Chevrolet Monte Carlo. Just two years after the car’s 1981 redesign, NASCAR allowed Chevy to run with a new sloped nose, which improved aerodynamics up front. That year also saw the return of the Super Sport package after a 12-year absence, complete with a 305-cid V-8. And yet, the Chevys still lacked the aerodynamic downforce to remain competitive.

Enter the Aerodeck. The Monte Carlo’s stock canted rear window was swapped out for a huge, three-sided piece of glass, sloping down at 25 degrees, ditching the formal and upright roofline that defined 1980’s GM style, from Buick Rivieras to the Pontiac Grand Am.

The 1987 season saw Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt (2010) win his third of a record-tying seven premier series championships and his second of six titles with car owner and fellow Hall of Famer Richard Childress (2017). Earnhardt won a career-high 11 races in 1987, while also setting a personal best by scoring 21 top-five finishes in his Wrangler-sponsored Chevrolet Monte Carlo Aerocoupe.

8. Corvette Racing’s C5-R

Won multiple championships in the ALMS and took victories in its class at Le Mans, Daytona, Sebring.

The Chevrolet Corvette C5-R was the race-going equivalent version of the Chevrolet Corvette C5. The C5-R was constructed by Pratt & Miller and ran by Corvette Racing, which was the first race car and team to receive full factory backing by General Motors. The C5-R was replaced by its successor the C6.R in 2005.

In the early-1990s racing manager Doug Fehan convinced GM to campaign its C5 Corvette—which was mid-development—and eventually enlisted car builders Pratt & Miller to transform the develop the model into a purpose-built road racer.

The car debuted on the grid of the 1999 Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona. Two years, one first Le Mans debut, and a first win later Corvette Racing was back at the Florida high banks, this time, with “the Intimidator” Dale Earnhardt and his son splitting driving duties with team regular Andy Pilgrim.

That year was also special for the Corvette crew, as the sister car claimed first overall, a rare feat for GT cars.

9. Spirit of Sebring ’76 Greenwood Corvette

In the 1970s, nobody had as big an impact on sports car racing than Greenwood and his widebody racers.

In the mid-1970s, nobody had as big an impact on sports car racing than John Greenwood and his widebody Corvette racers.

Detroit-born brothers John and Burt Greenwood were Corvette’s motorsports strongmen during the 1970s and 80s. John grew up street racing down the Motor City’s Woodward Ave in his 1964 Corvette, before eventually turning to SCCA competition where he won early and often.

The duo’s most famous creations were their wide-body third-gen Corvettes which tap-danced between rulebook margins. Greenwood’s widebody Corvettes first made their debut at the 1974 Detroit Autorama. The widebody design was a result of a collaboration between Greenwood and several GM insiders who included Zora Arkus-Duntov, Jerry Palmer and Randy Wittine. The widebody design used just about every horizontal surface to improve down force so that its all-aluminum Chevrolet big block V8 engines could transmit its conservative-rated 700+ horsepower directly to the road.

One of the widebody Corvettes built by Greenwood was for Rick Mancuso out of Chicago. The car was planned to run at the 1976 Rolex 24 at Daytona and then the 12 Hours of Sebring but it wasn’t delivered until just before Sebring. Mancuso was joined by John’s brother Burt as co-driver but an accident during practice then kept the car out of the 12 hour race.

10. Corvette Racing’s C8.R

Where has the mid-engined Corvette race car been all my life? A big winner already.

Another Pratt & Miller-built beast, the C8.R debuted in 2020, in conjunction with the release of the mid-engine production car.

The Chevrolet Corvette C8.R is an exceptional racing car, representing a significant evolution in the Corvette racing lineage. It made its debut in 2020, succeeding the highly successful C7.R, and marks a notable shift in design and engineering philosophy for Corvette's racing efforts, primarily because it is the first mid-engine Corvette race car. This transition to a mid-engine layout aligns the race car more closely with the production Corvette C8 Stingray, showcasing Chevrolet's commitment to leveraging racing to enhance its road cars.

The Corvette C8.R is built around a lightweight, stiff aluminum chassis, and its design is heavily influenced by the production C8, although optimized for racing with enhanced aerodynamics, improved cooling systems, and race-specific components. The car features a 5.5-liter naturally aspirated V8 engine, known as the LT6, which is a significant departure from the supercharged engines used in its predecessors. This engine is notable for its flat-plane crankshaft, allowing higher revs and a more rapid response, paired with a racing-tuned sequential gearbox.

The C8.R quickly proved its mettle in the competitive world of endurance racing, with six class victories in its debut season. A year later, the mid-engine racer won its class victory in the Rolex 24, sweeping the top two steps of GT competition.