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CORVETTE TODAY #152, Meet Corvette Racing Legend, Kim Baker
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May 8, 2025
The name, Kim Baker, is not necessarily synonymous with Corvette Racing-he didn't racing for the Corvette Team. What Kim Baker did do is dominate the GT Class SCCA National Championships and Endurance Races in a showroom-stock C4 Corvette! As a matter of fact, Baker and his Corvette were so dominating that the SCCA disallowed them to race in the series, prompting Chevrolet to create it's own Corvette-only race series called The Corvette Challenge Series! Bakeracing dominated in its day. Kim joins your CORVETTE TODAY host, Steve Garrett, to talk about his life, his racing and what he's doing today. Corvette Racing fans, don't miss this episode! It's a different Corvette Racing, SCCA style on CORVETTE TODAY.
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0:00
[Music]
0:03
welcome to Corvette today the podcast
0:06
that talks about everything Corvette
0:08
with your host Steve Garrett MC and DJ
0:11
at one of the largest Corvette weekends
0:13
in the country Corvette Fun Fest
0:15
president of the Corvette club of Kansas
0:17
City Missouri and radio this jockey at
0:19
the number one radio station in Kansas
0:21
City for over 40 years
0:23
here's Steve Garrett
0:25
[Music]
0:28
thanks for listening and watching
0:30
Corvette today the show that talks about
0:31
everything Corvette and the only current
0:34
podcast dedicated to Corvette I'm your
0:37
host Steve Garrett I appreciate you
0:38
tuning in Corva today is brought to you
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by wheelcraft want to dress up your
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2:27
Corvette enthus from around the world my
2:30
guest on today's show is a legend in
2:32
Corvette production based racing his
2:34
legendary attention to detail made him a
2:36
winner as a matter of fact he helped
2:38
Corvette sweep the scca sanctioned
2:40
endurance races his racing in part led
2:43
to scca to disallow Corvettes in their
2:46
races and that led to Chevrolet creating
2:48
its own Corvette challenge races in
2:51
1988. he's Mr Kim Baker Kim Welcome to
2:54
Corvette today yeah thank you Steve and
2:56
hi I'm really happy you are letting me
2:58
have the opportunity to be on your
3:00
podcast sir it's an honor to have you on
3:02
the show Kim first of all let's talk
3:04
about your childhood tell me where you
3:06
grew up and did you come from an
3:08
automotive family well I grew up in
3:10
Western Massachusetts I had a father who
3:13
was interested in automotive things and
3:15
he was a service manager at a car
3:16
dealership and he did a little bit of
3:18
racing himself in the 60s in the late
3:21
50s and then from there I actually was
3:24
interested in cars as soon as I could
3:27
physically Drive I I found this
3:29
hemi-powered DeSoto and made a field car
3:32
out of it and that's actually the first
3:33
thing I started in at about 12 years old
3:35
13 years old and then like everybody
3:37
else in this business you know I had
3:39
mini bikes and carts and stuff like that
3:42
I'd even race my skateboard anything
3:44
with a wheel on it would be good for
3:46
racing that's cool now tell me how you
3:48
got into the racing scene then well the
3:51
racing scene I started off as soon as I
3:53
got my driver's license competing in
3:55
autocross racing I did that until I
3:57
think 76 ish I actually won the National
4:00
Championship overall after this time of
4:03
day in 1976 with a formula car in scca
4:06
Solo too that's cool you started racing
4:09
for Corvette in 1984 and you purchased a
4:12
new C4 and started racing scca in their
4:15
SS category which is showroom stock you
4:19
want a lot and you took a lot of fcca
4:21
national championships talk about the
4:23
beginnings of Baker racing and your
4:25
association with Corvette okay well
4:27
first I'm made an error and I started
4:29
racing Fiat so it's really weren't great
4:31
cars but it was successful and I got to
4:34
meet a lot of people and I actually did
4:36
a lot of work for the Fiat Factory and
4:38
Bertoni and pinfarina those are all
4:41
great people that ran those companies
4:43
they're fantastic but in 84 per the
4:45
advice of somebody says get a Corvette
4:47
so I got a Corvette and spent basically
4:49
all the money I had at the time that was
4:51
1984. bought a new z51 Corvette and
4:54
drove it home prepared it and went to a
4:56
race a few days later and I think I won
4:58
every single time out with that car in
5:00
National racing and then finally won the
5:02
National Championship at the end of the
5:04
year and then I did meet other people
5:06
who met this person his name was Bernie
5:08
Finkel he's a really fantastic great guy
5:10
he had a Corvette magazine back at the
5:13
time he bought me a Corvette he met me I
5:15
won the race at Pocono and he was
5:17
sponsoring that race partially We Struck
5:19
it off and he decided he wanted to
5:21
contribute a Corvette so that was the
5:23
Corvette I used I've had tremendous luck
5:24
that way that's amazing now in 1985 Kim
5:27
you you ran in the scca Pro endurance
5:30
Cup Series winning the last two races of
5:33
the Year and that was at Lime Rock in
5:34
Mid-Ohio isn't that correct that's
5:36
exactly right we started the season
5:38
there were six races in all the first
5:40
four races we had really misjudged how
5:43
competitive it would be it was really
5:44
quite competitive it was pretty
5:45
professional for those last two races I
5:48
spent more money and really went all out
5:50
and we've dominated those two races
5:52
pretty well we had the best pit stops
5:54
the best fuel economy the best fuel
5:56
utilization and the fastest car so it
5:59
was pretty easy and at Mid-Ohio also the
6:02
pit stops we had a really good pit crew
6:03
and our pit stops are much faster than
6:06
everybody's and pretty much control that
6:07
race from lap one to the final lap
6:09
that's really cool now in 1985 you won
6:13
fifty thousand dollars twice from
6:15
Goodyear and did power development and
6:17
durability testing for Corvette
6:19
engineering as well and you did Tire
6:20
testing for Goodyear isn't that correct
6:22
that and some more things but yeah we
6:24
did all that and it was really great
6:26
Goodyear was a fantastic so supporter of
6:28
the sport and really motivated to try
6:30
and go out and win those races they
6:32
ended up giving out because there were
6:34
other tire companies involved so they
6:35
gave out that 50 000 three times that
6:37
year we got it twice wow talking about
6:40
tires that's one of the things that
6:41
really made the series good we had good
6:43
year BF Goodrich General Tire Yokohama
6:47
and maybe somebody else I forgot and
6:49
they all supported their own teams over
6:51
the period sometimes I think we had two
6:53
tire companies in 85 and then in 86 and
6:56
87 they all jumped in Tire Wars are the
6:58
greatest thing because they pay for the
6:59
testing so teams can go test and be more
7:02
professional and they support the teams
7:03
financially they Supply the tires and
7:06
then they get great advertising if you
7:07
win it's a win for everybody and it
7:09
really is what separates what I call
7:11
really professional racing and hobby
7:13
racing yeah absolutely right now you
7:16
also had a number five car let's talk
7:19
about the number five car and why that
7:21
vehicle was so important okay in 86 and
7:23
87 I used four and five the sprint races
7:27
we concentrated on running the number
7:30
four car as the lead car and the five
7:32
was the backup car when I got to the
7:34
24-hour races I was trying to conserve
7:37
the number four car so it would be all
7:39
ready for the next race after the 24 so
7:42
we would put the number five would be
7:43
labeled number four car it's the
7:45
different car but then number five car
7:47
was a very successful car in its own
7:49
right in one 24-hour races very cool
7:52
well Kim let's take our first break and
7:54
when we come back we'll talk more about
7:55
the start of Baker racing and your
7:58
association with Goodyear here on
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and now back to the only current podcast
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on Corvette Corvette today with your
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host Steve Garrett
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hey thanks for listening and watching
11:27
Corvette today the show that talks about
11:29
everything Corvette brought to you by
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wheelcraft want to dress up your
11:33
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finishing they can refinish your wheels
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and it comes with a five-year warranty
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visit wheelcraft.com or call them at
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833-840-5334 I'm your host Steve Garrett
11:53
with me is legendary Corvette racing Kim
11:55
Baker in the second segment we're going
11:57
to talk about the beginnings of Baker
11:59
racing and his association with Goodyear
12:01
Kim in 1986 Baker racing became a
12:05
Goodyear sponsored team and you did the
12:07
tire testing for them we talked about
12:09
that a little bit in the first segment
12:10
this is kind of amazing because they
12:12
also gave you a Corvette too didn't they
12:14
they did corporate they gave me was for
12:17
The Following season because we won the
12:18
championship in 86. I'll try to do a
12:20
little more chronologically but in 86
12:22
since we were the dominant Goodyear team
12:24
we'd be became their sponsored team it
12:27
was a great relationship because we'd
12:28
help them with the tire development we
12:30
would test tires before he traced and we
12:32
were also doing lots of test work or GM
12:35
on various components of the car that
12:37
was a win-win for everybody we shared
12:39
time we did Goodyear testing and
12:41
Chevrolet testing at the same time and
12:43
also testing for the race team it worked
12:45
out really great they developed better
12:47
and better tires now Baker racing also
12:50
built engines for other teams what other
12:52
teams did you build engines for oh at
12:55
various times we would Supply engines to
12:57
Morrison cook or Morrison depending on
13:00
what year it was that were known as both
13:02
and Powell and Sanchez Brothers you won
13:06
four or six races in the scca Pro
13:08
endurance events now at the end of the
13:10
season after winning the championship
13:11
team the drivers and the manufacturers
13:14
and car manufacturers Goodyear held a
13:17
great big ceremony in Baker Racing's
13:19
honor and awarded you with a brand new
13:21
Corvette and a larger racing sponsorship
13:23
for the 87 season wow that's very cool
13:26
and we really appreciate that still to
13:29
this day it was a great ceremony we had
13:31
the ceremony in the building that
13:32
they've built the blimps in it was the
13:34
largest free-span building in the world
13:36
and they filled it up with motoring
13:38
press and people from GM and people from
13:40
Goodyear I got to sit next to the CEO of
13:43
Goodyear and he's the one who presented
13:45
us with the prizes so it was an
13:47
extremely fun time that had to be a
13:49
great time Kim in 1987 you continued to
13:52
dominate the U.S Pro Endurance
13:54
Championship you won five out of seven
13:56
races with no mechanical DNS which is
13:59
did not finish and overall you won 10 of
14:02
19 races which is simply amazing
14:04
Corvette was dominating the fcca which
14:07
prompted Lotus Porsche and other
14:09
highbrow teams to scream about the
14:11
Corvette dominance so Chevrolet created
14:13
the Corvette Challenge Series it was
14:16
nothing but Corvettes with big prize
14:18
money right 87 was what I consider our
14:21
most successful year and most
14:23
interesting year and the preparation of
14:24
the car was fantastic every single race
14:26
we went to we just assumed the race has
14:29
won because we knew we had the best of
14:30
everything we had the best drivers we
14:32
had the best crew we had the best
14:34
strategist we had the best performance
14:36
around corners breaking acceleration we
14:39
had most importantly the pit stops are
14:41
super fast the fuel mileage was the best
14:44
one interesting thing there like the
14:46
mossport 24-hour the car got in an
14:48
accident a pretty good accident hit the
14:49
guardrail bent everything on one of the
14:51
front suspensions there's a yellow flag
14:53
a long yellow flag and we made Five pit
14:56
stops and we chained the lead because
14:58
every time it would be a yellow flag
14:59
would come in get back out catch back up
15:02
come back in fix another bit of the car
15:04
go back out and then after those five
15:07
pit stops the car was just as quick as
15:09
it was before the accident that's
15:11
amazing also this is pretty amazing as
15:14
well an 88 and 89 because of your
15:16
dominance in the scca Pro Endurance
15:18
Championship you were asked not to
15:21
compete in that series and instead you
15:23
pre-tested cars and tires I don't think
15:25
I've ever seen or heard of a team that
15:27
was asked to not participate yeah I
15:30
didn't either but I could fill other
15:31
functions that were probably pretty
15:33
valuable to them so I think it worked
15:34
out for everybody worked out for me one
15:36
thing I haven't really told many people
15:38
after the end of that 87 series I was
15:41
actually offered to the position of
15:42
being the Porsche team for this kind of
15:44
racing I thought about it I thought
15:46
about it and thought about it and I
15:47
consulted Goodyear two and decided I'd
15:50
stayed with Corbett out of loyalty even
15:52
though I wasn't having the fun of racing
15:54
like I would like to that's another
15:55
little tidbit that's cool now you had a
15:58
real special relationship with Zora ARCA
16:00
stuntoff talk more about Zora and other
16:03
GM Engineers that you work with like
16:05
Dave McClellan you know most of the GM
16:07
Engineers we work with were Geniuses and
16:10
racing enthusiasts Dave McClellan he was
16:12
really behind everything in this type of
16:14
Corvette racing because it was run by
16:16
Corbett engineering at the time he did a
16:18
great job actually I learned a lot from
16:20
him I learned a lot from high Mercy I
16:23
learned a lot from Jim miniker they were
16:25
all really good and I met Zora after the
16:28
Corvette racing because we were both
16:30
hired to work on a project a land speed
16:32
record for all things a Hugo every time
16:35
I needed some mathematics or some
16:38
calculations I talked to Zora and he
16:40
could come up with calculations and
16:42
assumptions faster than anybody he could
16:44
come up with calculations that no one
16:46
would even have the slightest idea how
16:47
to do it was amazing but anyways we
16:49
built two Hugo cars and one it's the
16:52
same as our regular Racing type thing
16:54
one was the primary car had every trick
16:55
in the book in it and then the other one
16:57
had all the basics in it as a backup car
17:00
and we tested it Zora actually drove it
17:02
too we tested it at Charlotte and the
17:04
car was super fast for its category it
17:07
would have been like taking candy from
17:08
baby getting that world record what
17:10
happened was Hugo wanted to do the world
17:12
record run at Charlotte for the exposure
17:14
of the nice Charlotte track I wanted to
17:16
run it at one of the tire test tracks
17:18
that was seven miles long so we
17:20
compromised and we ended up going to
17:22
Talladega which was 2.6 miles long the
17:24
Advan managed to the super long track is
17:27
you don't scrub off any speed in the
17:28
corners like at the Firestone test track
17:30
in Texas where you turn the wheel maybe
17:33
five degrees at the most going through a
17:35
corner so it's really you don't scrub
17:37
off any speed it's easy it's safe
17:39
intelligent itself not too bad you'll
17:42
have to turn the wheel a little more and
17:43
scrub maybe one mile an hour off so
17:45
anyways we're there our tractor trailer
17:47
was there team was there Zora was there
17:50
the people from The Press are there then
17:52
we get a phone call load everything up
17:55
that's when you go in bankrupt oh no it
17:58
was a war in Yugoslavia and some other
18:00
problems but anyways if it was one day
18:02
earlier it would have happened I guess
18:04
oh my gosh that's crazy I also want to
18:06
talk about the road and track
18:08
manufacturer's challenge that's a great
18:10
story as well tell that story too yeah
18:12
that started off before I had corbetts I
18:15
was doing work for pin Farina and Fiat
18:18
at the time we entered it three times
18:19
and now the manufacturer's challenge
18:21
throwing track invites every car
18:23
manufacturer that wants to come and most
18:25
of them do come so for Chevy Porsche
18:28
Volkswagen they're all there they have
18:31
their own regulations and you have to
18:33
make a pit stop you have to have two
18:34
drivers so we did it I'd consider it
18:37
pretty professionally our pit stops for
18:39
changing drivers and getting back out
18:41
we're less than five seconds some of
18:42
those teams would be there for seem like
18:44
a minute so anyways we won that three
18:46
times we competed three times and won it
18:48
three times that's where I met John
18:50
Dinkel he was the editor of Road and
18:52
track at the time besides being the
18:53
edited to her own track he's a really
18:54
good engineer and a really good guy and
18:56
we became really good friends and we did
18:58
a lot of Automotive things after that
19:00
too and I also met people from all the
19:02
car companies and tire companies
19:04
excellent well Kim let's take our final
19:06
break and when we come back we're going
19:07
to talk about your career during the 90s
19:09
we have Kim Baker with us here on
19:11
Corvette today
19:14
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you're listening and watching Corvette
21:02
today with Steve Garrett thanks once
21:05
again for listening and watching
21:07
Corvette today the show that talks about
21:09
everything Corvette brought to you by
21:11
wheelcraft want to dress up your
21:13
Corvette with bright Chrome or black
21:14
chrome wheels visit wheelcraft.com and
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learn about their Advanced PVD chrome
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finishing they can refinish your wheels
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or offer a wheel exchange for most
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models and it comes with a five year
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warranty visit wheelcraft.com today a or
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call them
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833-840-5334 I'm your host Steve Garrett
21:34
with me is Corvette racing Legend Kim
21:36
Baker in this third and final segment
21:38
we're going to talk about Kim's racing
21:40
career in the 90s Kim in the 1990s you
21:43
started racing zr1s which is really cool
21:45
in 91 Road and track magazine did a
21:49
Corvette special edition where they
21:50
listed you as one of the 10 most
21:52
important men in Corvette history that
21:55
had to be a big honor and you also won
21:57
the Bilstein Madonna award for racing
22:00
Excellence which is one of the most
22:01
prestigious International Honors that
22:03
you can win for international racing
22:05
that's a big list of great honors Kim
22:07
yeah I appreciate it it was a lot of fun
22:09
especially that Bilstein award I always
22:11
look at it it's still on my counter here
22:13
but as far as zr1s go we actually
22:15
started with zr1s and 89 pre-production
22:17
testing we did all kinds of things with
22:19
those cars long long distance testing
22:21
the other arm my company we did
22:23
endurance testing for GM on the road and
22:26
on the track those cars were so
22:27
developed and perfected we ran one of
22:30
those cars 300 000 miles on the road
22:32
with a three driver team and almost
22:34
never stopped we ran 100 000 miles
22:37
nothing went wrong we rented another
22:39
hundred thousand miles basically nothing
22:41
went wrong and the car was checked over
22:43
ran another 100 000 miles that was the
22:45
beginning another interesting thing on
22:47
testing those cars we tested at that
22:48
pre-production car which was identical
22:50
to the production car at Talladega stock
22:53
just set up the alignment for that track
22:55
it was running 186 down the straightaway
22:58
and then because it was A bank's corner
23:00
it was scrubbed down to like a 181 in
23:03
the corner and the average speed was
23:06
183.6 I was testing that car at the same
23:09
time Michael Waltrip was testing his
23:11
Nascar car and we were running about the
23:13
same Pace that's amazing
23:16
wow now in 1991 you also won the team
23:19
scca pro Championship didn't you yeah we
23:22
did that was with a non-zer one car I
23:24
think we ran the ZR1 car at the 24-hour
23:27
race at most port and we won that with
23:29
the cr1 car it was either 90 or 91 where
23:32
we took that zero one car out another
23:34
thing mentioning cr1s they were run by
23:36
Morrison ran a 24-hour endurance record
23:39
run and I was one of the drivers on that
23:41
team too and a lot of experience with
23:43
zr1s that's cool also Kim in 1992 you
23:47
won the ZR1 24 hour Mo Sport and the
23:50
Corvette LT1 in Lime Rock and that was a
23:53
wild race because there was a big wreck
23:55
talk to me about what happened well at
23:57
lime rock it was a heck of a race
23:59
because I had a little difficulty in
24:00
that race but managed to win it and the
24:02
big wreck was Paul Newman he was running
24:04
I think third at the time I was running
24:06
first and another quarter was running
24:08
second and Paul Newman was only third he
24:10
misjudged the last turn a little bit and
24:13
that's all it takes there on diving turn
24:15
gotten in the dirt got the car sideways
24:17
made a slight over correction ended up
24:20
crashing into both sides of the track
24:21
pretty much totaling out that Lotus that
24:23
he was driving the rest of the race I
24:25
was leading then what happened was
24:27
actually had a fuse blow that was under
24:29
a yellow flag luckily so I pulled over I
24:32
just yanked the first fuse I could get
24:34
at and put it in that slot so that
24:36
turned out to be the radio and I put it
24:38
in a slot it was the fuel pump fuse that
24:40
had blown was able to take off again but
24:42
by then I was pretty far behind in last
24:44
place so I had to fight my way back car
24:47
by car by car three laps from the end
24:49
got back in the lead and won that race
24:51
now also in 1995 you raced a modified
24:54
street legal ZR1 and you had three wins
24:57
in that you averaged 180 miles per hour
25:00
and a top speed of 200 miles per hour
25:03
man those zr1s could move couldn't they
25:05
yeah they could move that particular ZR1
25:08
was a different creation though that one
25:10
we took out the ZR1 motor and I put a
25:12
540 cubic inch Big Block Chevrolet
25:15
ordering it for that event and it was a
25:17
car that evolved a little bit I did run
25:19
it two different seasons aerodynamically
25:21
the first time it wasn't right the
25:23
second year it was absolutely perfect
25:25
aerodynamically it was an easy win at
25:27
the time also your number four Corvette
25:30
was inducted into the Bloomington gold
25:31
Great Hall in 2013. that had to be a
25:35
huge huge honor yeah every time somebody
25:37
recognizes one of my Corvettes the
25:39
number four the number five it is a
25:41
great honor especially after decades and
25:44
people still remember those cars and
25:46
that's a great honor and I get phone
25:47
calls all the time and people remember
25:49
the races better than I do Kim talk
25:51
about what you're doing now what your
25:53
current business is and how people can
25:55
reach you if they want to reach out to
25:56
you well they can contact me by email
25:59
through my website my website's vintage
26:03
racecarsales.com and if they want to
26:05
connect with me it's K Baker at
26:08
vintageracecarsales.com we're selling
26:10
vintage race cars as the name says and
26:13
also interesting vintage board scars and
26:17
even late model Corvettes which is
26:19
probably the only late model Carl so
26:20
it's not like model Corvette Kim tell me
26:22
what you think about the new Corvettes
26:24
and are you thinking about getting one
26:26
yeah more than thinking about it I did
26:28
order one February 1st was the first day
26:30
you could order an e-ray Corvette I got
26:33
my order in at 1201 right after
26:35
lunchtime and I hope I get it soon
26:37
because I'm pretty anxious nice Kim
26:39
thank you so much for taking the time to
26:42
be on Corvette today it was an honor and
26:44
a pleasure having you on the show well
26:46
thank you very much for having me it's
26:48
an honor being recognized by you thanks
26:49
for listening to Corvette today and
26:51
please be sure to tell your family
26:52
friends and other core of that
26:54
enthusiasts about the Corvette Today
26:55
podcast and thanks to our sponsors
26:57
wheelcraft want to dress up your
26:59
Corvette with bright Chrome or black
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chrome wheels visit wheelcraft.com to
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learn about their Advanced PVD chrome
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finishing they can refinish your wheels
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or offer a wheel exchange for most
27:08
models and it comes with a five year
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warranty visit wheelcraft.com today or
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call 833-840-5
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you've been listening to Corvette today
27:38
with Steve Garrett if you'd like to
27:40
contact Steve with any thoughts on the
27:42
podcast or ideas for guests on Corvette
27:44
today you can email him at Steve Garrett
27:47
DJ gmail.com
27:49
that's Steve Garrett DJ gmail.com
27:53
Garrett has two r's and two T's or
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thanks again for listening to Corvette
28:05
today
28:06
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