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CORVETTE TODAY #159 - Corvette News & Headlines, Early May 2023
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May 8, 2025
CORVETTE TODAY #159 - Corvette News & Headlines, Early May 2023 Your CORVETTE TODAY host, Steve Garrett, is fresh back from the National Corvette Museum's Michelin NCM Bash. And so is Keith Cornett from CorvetteBlogger.com. Steve and Keith bring you up-to-speed on the latest news in the world of Corvette. Plus, they offer an overview of the Michelin NCM Bash as well. Here are some of the topics that Steve and Keith will cover next week: 1. The C8 E-Ray VIN #001 sells at Barrett Jackson for $1.1million 2. Corvette Racing results at Long Beach and Spa 3. A C8 Z06 brakes the 9's on the track 4. Oops...a C8 Z06 is delivered with a Stingray badge, not a Crossed Flags badge 5. GM will be phasing out Apple CarPlay and Android Auto 6. What's new for Corvette coming in 2024.
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[Music] welcome to Corvette today the podcast
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that talks about everything Corvette with your host Steve Garrett MC and DJ at one of the largest Corvette weekends
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in the country Corvette Fun Fest president of the Corvette club of Kansas City Missouri and radio disc jockey at
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the number one radio station in Kansas City for over 40 years here's Steve Garrett
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[Music] thanks for listening and watching Corvette today the show that talks about
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everything Corvette and the only current podcast dedicated to Corvette I'm your
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host Steve Garrett I appreciate you tuning in Corva today is brought to you by wheelcraft want to dress up your
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Corvette with bright Chrome or black chrome wheels learn about their Advanced PVD chrome finishing they can refinish
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your wheels or offer a wheel exchange for most models and it comes with a five-year warranty visit wheelcraft.com
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today or call 833-639-4231 you can listen to Corvette
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Corvette enthusiasts from around the world it's time for the latest Corvette news and headlines with my pal Keith
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Cornett from Corvette blogger.com Keith is here twice per month about every other week we always keep you up to date
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and current on what's happening with America's Sports Car Keith welcome back to the show Keith and I are brushed back
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from the Michelin NCM Bash that's right we had a great weekend man we started off on Wednesday we did a plant tour we
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saw the Corvette Team all the stuff that's new came out on Friday with the Corvette teams presentation at the bash
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it was a good event we're glad to see all the friends and people there and there are so many Corvettes out there boy it was Corvette in heaven it was it
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gave me a chance to geek out Corvette wise Keith before we get into this Steve was the king of the cold starts this
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weekend I saw him going out to the parking lot six or seven times a day with somebody else in tow so I saying
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hey you got to hear this exhaust so he's got that sole exhaust on his 70th Anniversary car and it does sound good
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it really does sole Performance Products s-o-u-l-pp.com it's a great exhaust well
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buddy let's kick things off like we usually do with production updates on the Corvette from the Bowling Green assembly plan yeah let's go so I'm going
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to talk about production and specifically the Z06 first because the plant has really upped the output in the
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last few weeks production over the last two weeks 252 cars two weeks ago 280
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cars last week that's more than 500 cars Steve and I did that plant tour on Wednesday and as we're watching the
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assembly line it was like nearly every third or fourth car on the line was a Z06 yes last week the team did surpass 2
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000 combined z06s and our last count shows approximately 2 250 units built
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and that breaks down to about 1900 regular z06s and about almost 350 70th
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Anniversary models they're really starting to crank there regarding Stingray production we are looking at 31
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000 1 186 regular stingrays already built and then we also have 3 300 anniversary editions for about 34 500
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total stingrays compared to last year Stingray production is currently trending 119 percent above the levels
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from last year so they're really moving but wait Steve it does get better because the Corvette team when they do
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their seminar at the NCM bash they always Show a slide we only count what's been built they actually can show what's
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been built plus what they have in the system that's been approved for production they are actually showing as
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of March 23 40 562 total c8s and that breaks down to
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about 94 being Stingrays and six percent being ZO6 and the last time we hit more
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than 40 000 cars was 2016 and so with all the supply chain issues and other factors in play it doesn't seem like
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we're building a lot of cars but I would say the production team is just doing a fantastic job of cranking them out so
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yeah we were really moving there just real quick the other ZO6 news that we had is that there was another round of
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allocations that deal in April According to some of the dealers that we spoke with they were very pleased with the accounts that they received and we
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actually heard dealers getting z07s as well and that was the other thing too is the dash you know we saw more z07s than
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I've ever seen in one place before they are really moving I'm proud to say that yeah that was really really great news
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now to me the bad news from Bowling Green assembly plant Keith Bowling Green assembly director Kai spandy announced
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his retirement during The Bash yeah boy that came out of left field no one expected that you know he's just doing
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his presentation going through what happens at the body shop in the plant and then at the end he showed a slide
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with all these pictures on it he said well I got some news to share and that he took that buyout that was offered
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earlier this month right so July 31st will be his last day and I gotta tell you Kyle was a rock star during his
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tenure he was with us for eight years and if you think about all the stuff that's happened we had the major expansion of the plant we built the
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paint shop then they complete retooled the plant and reconfigured it for the C8 Corvette and then there was kovid in
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supply chain issues and if that's not enough remember when that tornado hit the Corvette plant causing a fire on the
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Roof oh yeah his Steady Hand is going to be missed for sure GM has named his replacement his name is Raymond theralt
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I believe that's how you spell his last name the rolls Raymond has served as assistant plant director at Spring Hill's engine plant and he's also served
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as quality manager and quality operations director at different posts around the world he's been to China he's
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been to a couple other International facilities currently he's a senior manager Ed supplier integration which
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again kind of gives you a foreshadow of where we are headed with electric vehicles in the Corvette he's got some
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big shoes to fill but we are anxious to meet him and we do welcome him to the Corvette assembly plant absolutely I
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guess it's onward and upward we're sorry to see Kai go but congratulations on his retirement yeah he's going to have fun
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and his wife took the buy out as well they've got family in Bowling Green I think suit kids still in schools he's
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going to be sticking around and of course he's still the chairman of the board for the NCM that term goes to the
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end of the year and then the current chairman always serves as the past chairman once the new person comes in so he's not going anywhere we're still
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going to see him at events but he's only going to be a civilian this time not part of the team right also in other news Keith Barrett Jackson sold the
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first e-ray VIN number one to Rick Hendrick for 1.1 million dollars yeah
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you know like they always do they introduced the new car and then they offer the opportunity to get VIN one
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through a charity auction at Barrett-Jackson this one was at Palm Beach and like you said not surprising anyone is that Corvette dealer NASCAR
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team owner Rick Hendrick bid 1.1 million for the rights to build the car any way he wants who wants to bet it's going to
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be black yeah exactly another bidder actually then donated 50 000 on top of
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it so the total kit for the car was 1.15 million and this was a charity auction with the proceeds going to a
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organization called donors choose Taj talked about this a little bit in his seminar they actually make micro
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donations directly to teachers and classrooms Across America it's like writing a mini Grant you send it off to
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these people people and their average donation is only around three hundred dollars with the fact that they pulled in 1.15 million this Charity Auction
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should keep them busy for quite some time yes absolutely right and that was a really good thing for sure this is going
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to create a lot of controversy Keith GM is going to be phasing out Apple carplay and Android auto for a
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subscription-based system do we know when that's going to start I'm cringing Steve I know we understand that this is
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really targeting the EVs and future EVS we're not sure when this is going to happen this changeover but it's one of
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the stories that we wrote about last year is that GM thinks they can make like 25 26 billion dollars in additional
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Revenue simply through subscriptions from new car customers I want to slam my hands on the desk and say it's wrong you
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buy a car you own the whole car right not the ability to unlock it for even more money like I said it seems
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primarily targeted to EV buyers as if we need another reason to oppose EVS right GM VP of software he said here's how you
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can kind of think about it when an owner of a Chevy Blazer EV routes to an EV charging station the vehicles made of
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software can begin warming up the battery so it's primed for a faster charge that's what they're calling like
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a holistic integration that's currently unavailable through carplay and Android auto I think about BMW I think they're
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charging like 200 a year to have a heated steering wheel or seats and stuff like that nobody wants subscriptions I'm
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telling you that right now and this is going to blow up in their face again but we're kind of at their Mercy until people say no to it I don't know what
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else to do when you're saying there's 26 billion dollars on the line absolutely right now a couple stories about the
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e-ray we did see some updates on the visualizer online didn't we yeah you know I've been building these religiously generally on a Saturday
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night with my favorite adult beverage a good Kentucky bourbon so I was on like a late Saturday night you know I like the
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color match I'm looking at the e-ray the color match like the blue e-ray badge maybe blue seat belts playing around
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with the blue Corvette letters on the back so when I went there those Elkhart Lake blue Corvette letters were gone and
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instead they added Edge red letters so now we have Edge red torch red Arctic White and then of course the Chrome and
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the black not a big change but again it just shows they are currently adding and I did ask if we're going to see Corvette
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letters maybe in the new Riptide blue in which case I was just told to stay tuned we'll see about that but you know the
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other changes we saw in the visualizer include the welcome return of the engine appearance package for the coop right
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and then Chevy has also added that visible carbon fiber engine bow that x-brace with the Jake logo in the center
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you can play with that now on your visualizer builds as well I saw that xbrace and it's in carbon fiber got me
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thinking buddy it got me thinking I hear you it's an easy install absolutely right I'm just thinking about it I don't
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know we'll see what happens I think it's gonna happen to you it's like that you know me in carbon
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fiber buddy also what else did we learn about the e-ray for 2024 at The Bash first of all
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the e-race is such a great car there was more news in addition to the e-ray so let's kind of jump into that first
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because it's the NCM bash is where we always learn about new content coming from the Corvette of course the e-ray
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being the big news so you know obviously introducing a new model is the big news but they also have other new content out
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there for the Corvette team the team said one of the biggest things that they did was they introduced a new engine
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appearance package for convertibles right Chevrolet has been seeing all these convertible hardtop owners wanting
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to see their engines when they let their timing covers they were constantly asked about this feature so once again they have delivered a factory available
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option for customers so if you think about when you raise your title cover you got that black regular heat shield
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in there they've actually cut a window to so you can see the top of the engine I don't know the measurements exactly
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but it's roughly 14 inches or so Square they said it was actually the largest size that they could fit in there it's
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been fully validated to their standards it's got silver heat shielding on the bottom of it they keep the heat from rising up so when you do have your
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convertible top down it's being well protected right we don't have any pricing on this yet but it's called the
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zz3 instant appearance package for convertibles and when you order that you'll get the see-through panel and
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then you'll also get your choice of the silver or Edge red engine covers that's the very first one I think that one's
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going to go a long way people are going to like that they're going to like the fact that it comes from the factory it's fully validated and all that stuff there
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is an aftermarket solution out there that's a polycarbonate that shows off the whole engine bay I mean that one
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really opens up people will have some choices out there now they go after market or they can go with the factory
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option I like them both I wish they would just cut a hole in the hatch so you could see from the hatch all the way
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through the window into the engine bay on the hardtop convertible it wouldn't be surprising you know as they come out
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with the higher performance models that we might see some additional changes that would include that I'd say stay
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tuned for that because if you're going to offer a 200 000 sports car at some point you're gonna have everything that
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people wants in it I'm hoping I hope so too so we also have in addition to the engine appearance package Chevy
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announced three new wheels for the C8 Stingray so we have two designs that are basically it's a split spoke wheel one
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of them is offered in satin graphite with a machine Edge and then there's also a bright machine that looks like a
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polished wheel that's a new design there and then they also came out with a new accessory wheel it's a 15 spoke bright
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polished accessory wheel the nice thing is with sales being roughly 94 Stingray it's good to see that they're constantly
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putting out new content for Stingray owners there another change we have for 2024 are the racing stripes we kind of
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touched on this earlier this year because again we've been seeing these new additions to the e-ray visualizer
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and a lot of times they include content that's going to be available across the model lineup for the C8 in 2024. one of
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the first things that they've done for these Racing Stripes is they're changing the design the new design is really a
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copy of the e-rays blue racing stripe which is tapered at the front of the car and then it ends on a rear deck so you
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can see that as a template they're very nice you know the current ones they start at the corners are the edge of the
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front fascia and they go all the way back over the spoiler and then down underneath the license plate to the top
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of the rear fascia so it's a much cleaner design I think it looks better especially if you do put those letters on the back they look really nice and
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then another stripe design that we touched on was they have these carbon flash Stripes that have these colored
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accents on the outside and those accent colors are blue yellow orange red and
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silver so yeah you can really color code your car you know you match the seat belts you know if you're doing an orange
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car you can do orange seat belts another update is obviously we've talked about this again the new standard safety
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features coming on the car right they include automatic emergency braking forward Collision alert from pedestrian
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braking follow distance indicators and I did not know this was coming but they had it on the slide it's this intelli
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beam the auto high beam assist so basically if you're in a rural area or you're driving at night there's no
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traffic your high beams will go on automatically and then when it senses are coming at you it lowers them to the
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regular that's really handy I had a rental car that did that I'm like I was kind of like Blown Away by it I'm like this is a great feature you know so
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Corvette's going to get that as well and then the last change for 2024 is that when you put your Corvette in different
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driver mode selections and you know you have those animations that come up on the screen there they've got some new
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ones for that I guess they're a little bit better with quality they're newer they do this animation thing so a new look for the driver mode selection there
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that was really neat of course you know you were talking about the high beams thing I had that back in my 1960 white
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Cadillac buddy it was called an electronic eye and it sat in the middle of the dash and it sensed cars coming
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and going and you can automatically turn on those high beams the electronic eye for my 1960 Cadillac and that was back
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in 1975. it was my grandparents car right so what you're saying is it took us 60 years to get it but hey we're glad
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to have it just like fashion technology come comes around buddy well you know across that discussion about the
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automatic start stop feature they talked about that earlier who wants it they do the whole who wants it everybody raises
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their hands and no one raises their hands for automatic stop start right we're getting it anyway but it's only on the e-ray that we're getting that by the
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way they started the Auto Stop starts that could be rolled out to the entire lineup at least yeah yeah it's just a
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result of the fuel economy ratings that they've got to get to every little bit helps I guess it does those are really
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the content changes for the 2024 Corvette that's true and by the way if you don't want to use this top start
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there is a button to turn that function off so don't worry about it and a lot of the other stuff you can turn off too I
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believe from the menu selectors right well buddy let's take our first break when we come back it's Corvette racing
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and now back to Corvette today with your host and my husband Steve Garrett thanks
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once again for listening and watching Corvette today the show that talks about everything Corvette brought to you by
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wheelcraft spring is here and you want your Corvette looking its best dress it up with bright Chrome or black chrome
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or do a wheel exchange and you get a five-year warranty visit wheelcraft.com or call them at
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833-639-4231 I'm your host Steve Garrett with me is Keith Cornett from corvettebblogger.com we keep you current
19:53
and up to date on everything Corvette in segment number two we always talk Corvette racing and Corvette rumors
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first let's start with racing Keith let's talk about the results at spa and the imsa team finish number two at Long
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Beach didn't they yeah you know the teams are actually doing quite well especially the WC team the World Endurance Championship they had
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victories at Sebring and Puerto Mayo in Portugal and the team then went to the
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six hours of spa and although they did not win the next best result to a victory is finishing second that was a
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great news so not only did they finish second but there was a Bop update so in the WC the winning team from the
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previous race had an additional 45 kilograms of what they call Victory ballast added to the car that's
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something that's really different than we see in imsa they were down to the 12th Place or so you know there's like 14 cars in this class over there it's
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not just they're racing themselves or three other cars there's 14 in the class they came back from 12th Place Nikki
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casberg I guess just drove the pants off that car you know he had a guy behind him he was able to keep him behind him even though he was faster the Corvette
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had that Victory ballast on it and by even coming in second we increased our Championship lead from 31 points to 39
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points we currently have 82 points compared to the second place team the number 83 Ferrari which only has 43. so
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we're in good position right now and again the next race is coming up at Le Mans the teacher's doing fantastic over
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there and I wish we could have seen it you know they were racing on Saturday when we were at The Bash and I I told one of the museum people I said you know
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you should have really thrown that up on the screen somewhere maybe offered a watch party that would have been fun for people to come and go and see a race
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going on in the theater and why was happening in real time maybe next year if there's a conflict like that we can
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see that again as we talk about the imsa team earlier this month Jordan Taylor and Antonio Garcia they finished second
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at Long Beach that really helped with the points too because I think we were finishing like fifth with both Daytona and Sebring that gets us some much
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needed points there we're behind we're actually running in third in class right now in the championship points behind
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Lexus and the AMG Mercedes we'll see Corvette racing Institute back in action on May 12th through the 14th at the
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WeatherTech Raceway at Laguna Seca so that's always a good course for us that's a fun race track to watch let's
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Go Jake we're expecting some good results there we'll keep it going that's right and this is a racing story even
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though it's not Corvette racing we talked about will farmer in our last news and headline show he broke the
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nines with his 2023 Z06 and Amelia is right behind him so it looks like the
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Z06 drag wars are starting doesn't it exactly yeah the good news is we are seeing competition heating up for that
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world record the funny thing is the Corvette seems like the car was never really designed to be a drag car it's a
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track weapon you know it's a scalpel for the track but yet all these people are going out and doing the quarter mile times with it as you said will farmer
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became the first driver to hit the nines with a quarter mile time of 9.986 seconds at 135 miles an hour his
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mods on that car were drag radials on the back he put skinny tires up on the front that track that he was on was
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highly prepped I mean it was so sticky you could just hear it gripped in the tires as he was backing up after the
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staging the cars so he ran 9.986 and then not to be outdone Emilio Hartford
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is back with her Z06 you know she might name the card Nemo because it's orange and white that's kind of the name she's
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floating out there so she put a nitrous kit on her car and then drag radials and
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then she took out the passenger seat they light weighted it as where they could and then she ran a
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9.988 seconds at 140. so she's actually got the fastest trap time but she missed
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will Farmer's record by two one hundredths of a second so that's how close we are right now you can bet that
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we're going to see some improvements hopefully from both drivers because this is where it gets fun and we don't know who else is going to get into the mix
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there but there'll be somebody out there saying oh yeah we'll watch what we can do the drag wars for the Z06 are on and
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they are fun it's going to be on like Donkey Kong right also we saw Jordan Taylor looking for
23:50
another NASCAR seat is he getting away from Corvette racing well there's truth in comedy as they say if he did this
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video it's a bit for Dale Jr's podcast in which he was inquiring about another NASCAR opportunity and then Cuts over
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and there's Rodney Sandstorm in the background saying he wants to run an oval but that was a comedy bit however the
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Corvette racing driver did share a photo on social media showing him him climbing into another NASCAR racer and doing
24:16
another test so there could be more to this story than him just out there having some fun with it interesting well
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we'll have to keep watching that and see what happens there right in the rumors section Keith there's a partnership with
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GM and Samsung they're building a three billion dollar battery plan that may power an electric Corvette and Camaro
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yeah this is interesting you know they've done three battery plants already with LG they're now switching
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and doing one with Samsung they're a different style of batteries we asked one of the team members about this at The Bash and they said you know for the
24:45
most part this is just kind of PR you know they don't exist yet and it's just on paper but this is a battery that is
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more like the Tesla cells which kind of look like the double a batteries that are all grouped together okay as opposed
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to the larger pouch batteries that GM has been using with LG like in the bolt and the reason the Corvette Camaro are
25:03
being discussed is because the Samsung batteries they're more modular so you can put them throughout the chassis as
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opposed to doing like that skateboard design that we're seeing with the GMO teams we are years away from this stuff
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who knows what's going to happen there this battery stuff is always changing but they're talking about building today might certainly change in three four or
25:20
five years anyway it's just something to watch I wouldn't be too worried about at this point but they're moving forward the EV lifestyle and when it's coming
25:27
whether we like it or not yeah three billion dollars is a lot of zeros buddy yes it is all right our final rumor was
25:34
the existence of the Corvette SUV all fake news you know this comes from our friend Mandy over at muscle cars and
25:40
trucks who's appeared on the podcast before sure and he's got some pretty decent sources especially when it comes to this EV stuff and he's saying there's
25:47
no Corvette SUV coming it's mostly because of the design they can't get really everybody on board so Car and
25:53
Driver put out this story a couple weeks back saying that Chevy is working on a Corvette SUV however it's going to be
25:58
with an eternal combustion engine first as opposed to being an EV we went and looked at Chevy's current SUV offerings
26:04
and there's seven of them so where would you fit this model anyways and then if you count the two bolt models there's nine SUVs on that chevrolet.com tab that
26:12
says SUV it's going to be interesting to see where it happens Manny does say they are working on an EV Corvette sedan
26:18
which may come in 2025 or 2026 but he says yeah the SUV for the Corvette is
26:24
fake news wow well it's car driver versus muscle cars and trucks right we'll see what happens but like I said
26:30
you know man he's had some good Scoops over the years I'm kind of rooting for him actually absolutely you know Manny
26:35
knows his stuff that's why he's on Corvette today with us for sure yep well buddy let's take our final break when we
26:40
come back it'll be the lighter side of Corvette up next on Corvette today [Music]
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foreign and now back to the only current podcast on Corvette Corvette today with your
29:12
host Steve Garrett hey thanks once again for listening and watching Corvette today the show that talks about
29:18
everything Corvette brought to you by wheelcraft spring is here and you want your Corvette looking its best dress it
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up with bright Chrome or black chrome wheels visit wheelcraft.com and learn about their Advanced PVD chrome
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finishing they can refinish your wheels or do a wheel exchange and you get a five year warranty so visit
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wheelcraft.com today or call them at 833-639-4231 I'm your host Steve Garrett
29:45
with me is Keith Cornett from corvettebblogger.com don't forget if you want a deeper dive into any of the
29:50
stories we cover you can always go to corvettebblogger.com in our final segment we always talk about the lighter
29:56
side of Corvette Keith I had to laugh at this first story we saw a C8 Z06 get
30:01
delivered with a stingray badge on the back not the traditional cross Flags oops Yeah yep oops we did it again so if
30:09
you think about it though since February of 2020 when production started the C8 Stingray there's been over a hundred
30:16
thousand of them built and it was only last fall that the Z06 was added to the mix so with that many cars being
30:21
produced sometimes these things kind of do happen in the assembly process obviously they're found incorrectly
30:26
during the quality reviews that happened before the cars are shipped out but occasionally sometimes these do make it
30:31
out of the plant there was that one story we ran back in 2020 about a car was delivered with a two-tone Boomerang
30:36
and the body color on one segment and then the carbon flash on another segment right we never really saw pictures of
30:42
this but we heard some guy got a competition seat on our GT2 seat baby oh wow and then our friend Al Fuller he had
30:49
a convertible with the body colors his top vent on his convertible came with a carbon flash which wasn't supposed to
30:54
happen but again these factory defects are interesting and so it kind of makes you wonder what was kind of interesting
31:00
about this was the this new Z06 owner of course he has a YouTube channel so he was documenting his delivery that he
31:06
picked up the card Texas dealership but nobody notices the incorrect badge they missed it the plant they missed the
31:11
dealership and the new owner didn't notice it either so there was no actual reaction to seeing an incorrect badge on
31:17
there we set the tone that the real dilemma for this owner is do you take it off or the factory correct look or do
31:23
you keep it on and show off the factory mistake and have a fun story to tell about it I don't know what I would do
31:29
Steve what would you do I would probably leave it on Just For The Conversation Piece yeah obviously you'll have people
31:34
going up and say why do you got a stingray badge on your ZO6 you say Hey you came from the factory that way maybe
31:40
put both on buddy yeah okay the one in front of the other you could angle that stingray tail so it then
31:47
points to the V and the cross lags yeah I would put the cross Flags underneath the stingray logo I don't know about
31:53
that well that's just me but you know me I like carbon fiber too yeah so we've been told dancehall performance exhaust
31:59
performance exhaust that's for sure also we had a great thing Chevy my way had a Corvette expert session that
32:06
featured the Iran fellows Corvette performance driving school at Spring Mountain So when you buy a new Corvette
32:12
Stingray or Z06 Chevrolet will give you a voucher to attend the two-day run fellows performance Driving School
32:17
Corvette owner's school and it's just a thousand dollars so you think about all the stuff that goes in you're driving
32:23
their cars you're learning all kinds of vehicle handling on their skid pad and then you're out on the track and Lead
32:29
follow events it's one of the best things that you can do in a Corvette this video by Chevrolet goes over all
32:34
that program and anybody who's attended it says it's just a fantastic experience Z06 class is going to start soon we'll
32:40
have those dates here coming up shortly but if you've already picked up your Z06 and 2 000 of you have you should be
32:46
calling the Ron Fellows performance driving school right now you'll need your VIN and go ahead and let them know that you are interested in taking their
32:52
class and they'll show you what they've got as far as availability goes good thing to happen you know most of us have been through the course over the last
32:59
few years a lot of stingray owners have done it you can imagine the new Z06 how much fun that's going to be yeah and
33:04
when we saw Todd and Bailey at the national Museum's bash they said that they were now booking for August so make
33:11
sure you get in there really quick because we're at the beginning of May and they're already booking for August so you've got quite a gap there from
33:18
when you call as to when you get actually into the school itself right and you have actually a year from the
33:23
date you take delivery to use that thousand dollar voucher so don't let it go to waste because it's just a lot of
33:28
fun plus everything you learn out there about driving translate system driving on the streets and your normal everyday
33:34
driving you pick up some really good skills it's a lot of fun it's Top Gun for a Corvette go out and do the school
33:41
absolutely there you go Savage geese also explored the limits of the Z06 and they raced it against the GT3 from
33:47
Porsche yeah Savage geese they really put out some great content and there's no hyperbole or any kind of
33:53
exaggerations or click bait it's really a long-form video that really goes in depth to whatever they're talking about
34:00
here they go through comparisons and contrast of the Z06 and the GT3 not
34:06
really hitting him against each other just saying here's what one is where's what the other one has so they go through the design of the interior and
34:12
the exteriors they talk about mechanical Impressions what the equipment is on the car and then they do some driving with
34:18
the car and show kind of what each offers what I liked about the video is that they put a professional driver in for lap times of both cars and then a
34:25
final analysis is offered at the end of course one of the guys from Savage geese Jack he is now a ZO6 owner and so he
34:31
might have a little bit of bias I get but that's to be expected am I right yes absolutely it's a great video go check
34:38
it out Savage geese on YouTube and we had a little bit of drama Keith the N Triple C originally banned the e-rate
34:44
from any competitive events and then they reversed it and the Corvette team was emphatic about it at The Bash yeah
34:51
this is our second oops story of the show the Corvette forum was the first to highlight a change to the N Triple C's
34:58
2022-2023 competition handbook they found it back in November it was changed but it was before the e-ray was
35:04
announced this rule change banned all EVs and high hybrids containing lithium-type batteries from competitive
35:09
events over fears of safety and the rule also stated this is insult to injury that even if you show up at an event
35:15
just as a participant or as a spectator they must be parked 30 feet minimum from structures in other vehicles which again
35:22
it's really ridiculous so prior to the reversal we were talking about it with
35:27
Corvette product manager Harlan Charles who said they discussed it with the N Triple C and that it was all a misunderstanding he said the rule change
35:34
was passed before the e-ray was revealed Chevy Engineers maintained that the battery packs in the era are very safe
35:39
for competitive events Harley points out that these same types of performance hybrids are currently racing in the top
35:45
classes at imsa and Le Mans anyways we actually heard directly from Deb Howard the N Triple C president she sent out a
35:52
statement to us saying that they had adjusted the rules to allow for the inclusion of hybrid vehicles in NCCC
35:57
events the rule was originally intended only to apply to electric vehicles and that they say that the Corvette e-ray
36:03
will be allowed to compete after all it is the quickest is Corvette in the C8 lineup that's right and by the way if
36:10
you don't know what n Triple C is it's the National Council of Corvette clubs our final story Keith this was awesome I
36:16
was glad to see this it got a big round of applause at The Bash the Corvette is named the coolest thing made in the
36:22
state of Kentucky yeah so this was a bracket competition put on by the Kentucky Association of Manufacturers
36:28
and so they asked people to vote for the coolest thing made in Kentucky and the Corvette made its way up to the finals
36:33
where it faced off against the smucker companies creamy Jif peanut butter you know as much as we love a good PB j
36:40
sandwich peanut butter just quite isn't as cool as a Corvette so America's favorite sports car won that competition
36:45
over 20 000 votes were cast that Chevrolet Corvette reign supreme in the state of Kentucky that's awesome well
36:52
buddy thanks for being back on Corvette today it was fantastic as always hanging out with you at the bash we will see you
36:58
in two weeks my friend boy we had a great time together of course all of our friends were out there they always say when you go to the bash the first time
37:04
you're out there for the car the second and third times you're always out there for the people because it's just so much fun you see all these old friends and I
37:10
don't know who said it but all my friends are Corvette owners you know absolutely everything's kind of worked out in life but it's a great great event
37:16
great fun and good to see you Steve absolutely it was great to see you too buddy and you know you're right if
37:22
you're a car person some of your closest friends are car people and that's what we've done with Corvette absolutely
37:28
thanks for listening to Corvette today and please be sure to tell your family friends and other Corvette enthusiasts
37:33
about the Corvette Today podcast and thanks to our sponsors wheelcraft want to dress up your Corvette with bright
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and Hedrick Chevrolet in Kansas City at chevyusa.com
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you've been listening to Corvette today with Steve Garrett if you'd like to contact Steve with any thoughts on the
38:22
podcast or ideas for guests on Corvette today you can email him at Steve Garrett
38:27
DJ gmail.com that's Steve Garrett DJ gmail.com
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Garrett has two r's and two T's or connect with Steve on social media on
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Facebook Twitter or Instagram using at Steve Garrett DJ thanks again for listening to Corvette
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today [Music]
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thank you
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