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CORVETTE TODAY #152-Meet Corvette Racing Legend, Kim Baker
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Jul 11, 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]
0:04
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
0:12
in the country, Corvette Funfest,
0:15
president of the Corvette Club of Kansas
0:17
City, Missouri, and radio disc jockey at
0:19
the number one radio station in Kansas
0:21
City for over 40 years. Here's Steve
0:24
Garrett.
0:28
Thanks for listening and watching
0:30
Corvette Today, the show that talks
0:31
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0:34
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0:36
I'm your host, Steve Garrett. I
0:38
appreciate you tuning in. Corvette Today
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0:43
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0:50
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0:51
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And a shout out to Corvette Forum and
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Canadian Corvette forum.com. Welcoming
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Corvette enthusiasts from around the
2:29
world. My guest on today's show is a
2:31
legend in Corvette productionbased
2:33
racing. His legendary attention to
2:35
detail made him a winner. As a matter of
2:37
fact, he helped Corvette sweep the FCCA
2:40
sanctioned endurance races. His racing
2:42
in part led to FCCA to disallow
2:45
Corvettes in their races and that led to
2:47
Chevrolet creating its own Corvette
2:49
Challenge races in 1988. He's Mr. Kim
2:53
Baker. Kim, welcome to Corvette today.
2:55
Yeah, thank you, Steve, and hi. I'm
2:57
really happy you are letting me have the
2:59
opportunity to be on your podcast.
3:00
Sir, it's an honor to have you on the
3:02
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?
3:09
Well, I grew up in Western
3:10
Massachusetts. I had a father who was
3:13
interested in automotive things and he
3:15
was a service manager at a car
3:16
dealership and he did a little bit of
3:18
racing himself in the 60s and 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 found this Hemi
3:29
powered Dodto and made a field car out
3:32
of it. And that's actually the first
3:33
thing I started in at about 12 years
3:35
old, 13 years old. And then like
3:37
everybody else in this business, you
3:39
know, I had minibikes and carts and
3:41
stuff like that. I'd even race my
3:43
skateboard. Anything with a wheel on it
3:45
would be good for racing.
3:47
That's cool. Now, tell me how you got
3:49
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 76ish. I actually won the national
4:00
championship overall at fastest time of
4:03
day in 1976 with a formula car in SECA
4:06
Solo 2.
4:07
That's cool. You started racing for
4:09
Corvette in 1984 and you purchased a new
4:12
C4 and started racing SECA in their SS
4:16
category, which is showroom stock. You
4:19
won 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.
4:27
Okay. Well, first I made an error and I
4:29
started racing Fiats which really
4:30
weren't great cars, but it was
4:33
successful and I got to meet a lot of
4:35
people and I actually did a lot of work
4:37
for the Fiat factory and for Tony and
4:39
Pinfirina. Those were all great people
4:42
that ran those companies. They were
4:43
fantastic. But in ' 84 per the advice of
4:46
somebody says get a Corvette. So, I got
4:48
a Corvette and spent basically all the
4:50
money I had at the time. That was 1984.
4:52
Bought a new Z-51 Corvette, drove it
4:54
home, prepared it, and went to a race a
4:56
few days later. And I think I won every
4:58
single time out with that car in
5:00
national racing. And then finally won
5:02
the national championship at the end of
5:04
the year. And then I did meet other
5:06
people. Met this person, his name was
5:07
Bernie Finkele. He's a really fantastic,
5:10
great guy. He had a Corvette magazine
5:12
back at the time. He bought me a
5:14
Corvette. He met me. I won the race at
5:16
Pocono and he was sponsoring that race
5:18
partially. We struck it off and he
5:20
decided he wanted to contribute a
5:22
Corvette. So that was the Corvette I
5:23
used. I've had tremendous luck that way.
5:25
That's amazing. Now in 1985, Kim, you
5:28
ran in the SECA Pro Endurance Cup
5:30
Series, winning the last two races of
5:32
the year, and that was at Limerock in
5:34
Mid Ohio. Isn't that correct?
5:36
That's exactly right. We started the
5:38
season, there were six races in all. The
5:40
first four races, we had really
5:42
misjudged how competitive it would be.
5:44
It was really quite competitive. It was
5:45
pretty professional. For those last two
5:47
races, I spent more money and really
5:49
went all out and we dominated those two
5:52
races pretty well. We had the best pit
5:54
stops, the best fuel economy, the best
5:56
fuel utilization, and the fastest car.
5:58
So, it was pretty easy. And at Mid Ohio
6:01
also, the pit stops, we had a really
6:03
good pit crew and our pit stops are much
6:05
faster than everybody's and pretty much
6:07
control that race from lap one to the
6:09
final lap.
6:10
That's really cool. Now, in 1985, you
6:12
won $50,000 twice from Goodyear and did
6:16
power development and durability testing
6:18
for Corvette Engineering as well, and
6:20
you did tire testing for Goodyear, isn't
6:22
that correct,
6:23
that and some more things, but yeah, we
6:24
did all that and it was really great.
6:26
Goodyear was a fantastic supporter of
6:28
the sport and really motivated you to
6:30
try 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.
6:39
Wow. Talking about tires, that's one of
6:41
the things that really made the series
6:42
good. We had Goodyear, BF Goodrich,
6:45
General Tire, Yokohama, and maybe
6:47
somebody else I forgot. And they all
6:49
supported their own teams over the
6:51
period. Sometimes I think we had two
6:53
tire companies in ' 85. And then in '86
6:55
and 87, they all jumped in. Tire wars
6:57
are the greatest thing cuz they pay for
6:59
the testing. So teams can go test and be
7:01
more professional. And they support the
7:03
teams financially. They supply the tires
7:06
and then they get great advertising. If
7:07
you 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
7:14
racing.
7:14
Yeah, absolutely. Right. Now, you also
7:17
had a number five car. Let's talk about
7:19
the number five car and why that vehicle
7:21
was so important.
7:22
Okay. In ' 86 and 87, I used four and
7:25
five. The sprint races, we concentrated
7:29
on running the number four car as the
7:31
lead car, and the five was the backup
7:33
car. When I got to the 24-hour races, I
7:36
was trying to conserve the number four
7:38
car so it would be all ready for the
7:40
next race after the 24. So, we would put
7:42
the number five would be labeled number
7:44
four car. It's the different car, but
7:46
the number five car was a very
7:48
successful car in its own right and won
7:50
24-hour races.
7:51
Very cool. Well, Kim, let's take our
7:53
first break and when we come back, we'll
7:55
talk more about the start of Baker
7:57
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7:58
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And now back to the only current podcast
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I'm your host, Steve Garrett. With me is
11:54
legendary Corvette racing Kim Baker. In
11:56
this second segment, we're going to talk
11:57
about the beginnings of Baker Racing and
12:00
his association with Goodyear. Kim, in
12:02
1986, Baker Racing became a Goodyear
12:05
sponsored team. And you did the tire
12:07
testing for him. We talked about that a
12:09
little bit in the first segment. This is
12:11
kind of amazing because they also gave
12:13
you a Corvette, too, didn't they?
12:15
They did. Corvette they gave me was for
12:17
the following season because we won the
12:18
championship in ' 86. I'll try to do it
12:20
a little more chronologically, but in
12:22
'86, since we were the dominant Goodyear
12:24
team, we became their sponsored team. It
12:27
was a great relationship because we
12:28
helped them with the tire development.
12:30
We would test tires before each race.
12:32
And we were also doing lots of test work
12:34
for GM on various components of the car.
12:37
That was a win-win for everybody. We
12:38
shared time. We did Goodyear testing and
12:41
Chevrolet testing at the same time and
12:43
also testing for the race team. It
12:45
worked out really great. They developed
12:47
better and better tires. Now, Baker
12:49
Racing also built engines for other
12:51
teams. What other teams did you build
12:53
engines for?
12:54
Oh, at various times, we would supply
12:56
engines to Morrison, Cook or Morrison,
12:59
depending on what year it was. They were
13:01
known as both, and Powell and Sanchez
13:04
brothers.
13:05
You won four or six races in the SECA
13:08
Pro Endurance events. Now, at the end of
13:10
the season, after winning the
13:11
championship team, the drivers and the
13:13
manufacturers and car manufacturers,
13:16
Goodyear held a great big ceremony in
13:18
Baker Racing's honor and awarded you
13:20
with a brand new Corvette and a larger
13:22
racing sponsorship for the 87 season.
13:25
Wow, that's very cool.
13:26
And we really appreciate that still to
13:28
this day. And it was a great ceremony.
13:30
We had the ceremony in the building that
13:32
they build the blimps in. It was the
13:34
largest freespan building in the world.
13:37
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
13:43
of Goodyear and he's the one who
13:44
presented us with the prizes. So, it was
13:47
an extremely fun time.
13:48
That had to be a great time. Kim, in
13:50
1987, you continued to dominate the US
13:53
Pro Endurance Championship. You won five
13:55
out of seven races with no mechanical
13:58
DNFS, which is did not finish. And
14:00
overall, you won 10 of 19 races, which
14:03
is simply amazing. Corvette was
14:05
dominating the FCCA, which prompted
14:07
Lotus, Porsche, and other highbrow teams
14:10
to scream about the Corvette dominance.
14:12
So, Chevrolet created the Corvette
14:14
Challenge Series. It was nothing but
14:16
Corvettes with big prize money. Right.
14:19
87 was what I consider our most
14:21
successful year and most interesting
14:23
year. And the preparation of the car was
14:25
fantastic. Every single race we went to,
14:27
we just assumed the races won because we
14:29
knew we had the best of everything. We
14:31
had the best drivers. We had the best
14:32
crew. We had the best strategist. We had
14:35
the best performance around corners,
14:37
braking, acceleration. We had, and most
14:40
importantly, the pit stops are super
14:42
fast. The fuel mileage was the best. One
14:44
interesting thing there, like the
14:45
Mossport 24hour, the car got in an
14:48
accident, a pretty good accident, hit
14:49
the guardrail, bent everything on one of
14:51
the front suspensions. There was a
14:53
yellow flag, a long yellow flag. And we
14:55
made five pit stops and retain the lead
14:57
because every time it would be a yellow
14:59
flag, we'd come in, get back out, catch
15:01
back up, come back in, pit, fix another
15:04
bit of the car, go back out, and then
15:06
after those five pit stops, the car was
15:08
just as quick as it was before the
15:10
accident.
15:11
That's amazing. Also, this is pretty
15:13
amazing as well. In 88 and 89, because
15:16
of your dominance in the SECA Pro
15:18
Endurance Championship, you were asked
15:20
not to compete in that series. and
15:22
instead you pre-ested cars and tires. I
15:25
don't think I've ever seen or heard of a
15:27
team that was asked to not participate.
15:29
Yeah, I didn't either, but I could fill
15:31
other functions that were probably
15:32
pretty valuable to them. So, I think it
15:34
worked out for everybody. Worked out for
15:36
me. One thing I haven't really told many
15:38
people after the end of that 87 series,
15:41
I was actually offered the position of
15:42
being the Porsche team for this kind of
15:44
racing. I thought about it and thought
15:46
about it and thought about it and I
15:47
consulted Goodyear too and decided I'd
15:50
stayed with Corvette 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.
15:56
That's cool. Now, you had a real special
15:58
relationship with Zora Arcus. Talk more
16:02
about Zora and other GM engineers that
16:04
you work with like Dave Mlen.
16:06
You know, most of the GM engineers we
16:08
work with were geniuses and racing
16:10
enthusiasts. Dave Mlen, he was really
16:13
behind everything in this type of
16:14
Corvette racing because it was run by
16:16
Corvette Engineering at the time. He did
16:18
a great job actually. I learned a lot
16:20
from him. I learned a lot from Heini. I
16:23
learned a lot from Jim Mcker. They were
16:25
all really good. And I met Zora after
16:27
the Corvette racing cuz we were both
16:30
hired to work on a project, a land speed
16:33
record for all things, a Yugo. Every
16:35
time 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
16:44
could come up with calculations that no
16:46
one would even have the slightest idea
16:47
how to do. It was amazing. But anyways,
16:49
we built two Yugo cars and one is the
16:52
same as our regular racing type thing.
16:54
One was the primary car. It had every
16:55
trick in the book in it and then the
16:57
other one had all the basics in it as a
16:59
backup car. And we tested it. Zora
17:01
actually drove it too. We tested it at
17:03
Charlotte and the car was super fast for
17:06
its category. It would have been like
17:07
taking candy from a baby getting that
17:09
world record. What happened was Yugo
17:11
wanted to do the world record run at
17:13
Charlotte for the exposure of the nice
17:15
Charlotte track. I wanted to run it at
17:17
one of the tire test tracks that was 7
17:19
mi long. So, we compromised and we ended
17:21
up going to Tallaladega which was 2.6 mi
17:24
long. The advantage to the super long
17:26
track is you don't scrub off any speed
17:28
in the corners like at the Firestone
17:30
test track in Texas where you turn the
17:32
wheel maybe 5 degrees at the most going
17:34
through a corner. So it's really you
17:37
don't scrub off any speed. It's easy.
17:39
It's safe. And Tallaladega itself not
17:41
too bad. You'll have to turn the wheel a
17:43
little more and scrub maybe 1 m an hour
17:45
off. So anyways, we were there. Our
17:47
tractor trailer was there. Team was
17:49
there. Zor was there. The people from
17:51
the press were there. Then we get a
17:53
phone call, load everything up. That's
17:55
when Yugo went bankrupt.
17:56
Oh no.
17:57
There was a war in Yugoslavia and some
18:00
other problems. But anyways, if it was
18:02
one day earlier, it would have happened,
18:03
I guess.
18:04
Oh my gosh, that's crazy. I also want to
18:06
talk about the road and track
18:08
manufacturers challenge. That's a great
18:10
story as well. Tell that story, too.
18:12
Yeah, that started off before I had
18:14
Corvettes. I was doing work for
18:16
Pinfirina and Fiat at the time. We
18:18
entered it three times and now the
18:20
manufacturers challenge Throw and Track
18:22
invites every car manufacturer that
18:24
wants to come and most of them do come.
18:26
So Ford, Chevy, Porsche, Volkswagen,
18:29
they're all there. They have their own
18:31
regulations and you have to make a pit
18:33
stop. You have to have two drivers. So
18:35
we did it, I consider it pretty
18:37
professionally. Our pit stops for
18:39
changing drivers and getting back out
18:41
were less than 5 seconds. Some of those
18:42
teams would be there for seem like a
18:44
minute. So anyways, we won that three
18:46
times. We competed three times and won
18:48
it three times. That's where I met John
18:50
Dinkl. He was the editor of Road and
18:51
Track at the time. Besides being the
18:53
editor of Rowan 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
19:05
final break and when we come back, we're
19:07
going to talk about your career during
19:09
the '9s. We have Kim Baker with us here
19:11
on Corvette Today.
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21:00
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
21:09
about everything Corvette, brought to
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you by Wheelcraft. Want to dress up your
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21:32
I'm your host, Steve Garrett. With me is
21:34
Corvette racing legend Kim Baker. In
21:37
this third and final segment, we're
21:38
going to talk about Kim's racing career
21:40
in the9s. Kim, in the 1990s, you started
21:43
racing ZR1s, which is really cool. In '
21:46
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
21:54
had to be a big honor. And you also won
21:57
the Billilstein 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.
22:08
Yeah, I appreciate it. It was a lot of
22:09
fun, especially that Billstein award. I
22:11
always look at it. It's still on my
22:12
counter here. But as far as ZR1's go, we
22:15
actually started with ZR1's in ' 89
22:17
pre-production testing. We did all kinds
22:19
of things with those cars. Long, long
22:20
distance testing. The other arm of my
22:22
company, we did endurance testing for GM
22:25
on the road and on the track. Those cars
22:27
were so developed and perfected. We ran
22:30
one of those cars 300,000 miles on the
22:32
road with a three driver team. It almost
22:34
never stopped. We ran it 100,000 miles,
22:37
nothing went wrong. We ran it another
22:39
100,000 mi, basically nothing went
22:41
wrong. And the car was checked over, ran
22:43
another 100,000 mi. That was the
22:45
beginning. Another interesting thing on
22:47
testing those cars, we tested that
22:48
pre-production car which was identical
22:50
to the production car at Tallaladega
22:52
stock. Just set up the alignment for
22:54
that track. It was running 186 down the
22:58
straightaway and then because it was a
23:00
bank's corner, it was scrubbed down to
23:01
like a 181 in the corner and the average
23:05
speed was 183.6. I was testing that car
23:09
at the same time Michael Walrip was
23:11
testing his NASCAR car and we were
23:12
running about the same pace. That's
23:14
amazing.
23:16
Wow. Now, in 1991, you also won the team
23:20
SECA Pro Championship, didn't you?
23:22
Yeah, we did. That was with a nonZR1
23:24
car. I think we ran the ZR1 car at the
23:27
24-hour race at Mosport, and we won that
23:29
with the ZR1 car. It was either 90 or 91
23:32
where we took that ZR1 car out. Another
23:34
thing mentioning ZR1's run by Morrison
23:37
ran a 24-hour endurance record run, and
23:40
I was one of the drivers on that team,
23:42
too. a lot of experience with ZR1's.
23:44
That's cool. Also, Kim, in 1992, you won
23:47
the ZR1 24-hour MOS Sport and the
23:50
Corvette LT1 in Limerock, and that was a
23:53
wild race because there was a big wreck.
23:55
Talk to me about what happened.
23:57
Well, at Limerock, it was a heck of a
23:58
race cuz I had a little difficulty in
24:00
that race, but managed to win it. And
24:02
the big wreck was Paul Newman. He was
24:04
running, I think, third at the time. I
24:06
was running first and another Corvette
24:08
was running second and Paul Newman was
24:09
running third. He misjudged the last
24:12
turn a little bit and that's all it
24:14
takes there on diving turn. Got in the
24:16
dirt, got the car sideways, made a
24:18
slight overcorrection, ended up crashing
24:20
into both sides of the track, pretty
24:22
much toting out that Lotus that he was
24:23
driving. The rest of the race I was
24:25
leading. Then what happened was actually
24:27
had a fuse blow that was under a yellow
24:30
flag luckily. So I pulled over, I just
24:32
yanked the first fuse I could get at and
24:34
put it in that slot. So that turned out
24:36
to be the radio and I put it in a slot.
24:39
It was the fuel pump fuse that had
24:40
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 mph and a top
25:01
speed of 200 miles per hour. Man, those
25:04
ZR1s could move, couldn't they?
25:05
Yeah, they could move. That particular
25:07
ZR1 was a different creation, though.
25:09
That one, we took out the ZR1 motor and
25:12
I put a 540 cubic inch big block
25:15
Chevrolet motor in it for that event.
25:17
And it was a car that evolved a little
25:18
bit. I did run it two different seasons.
25:20
Aerodynamically, the first time it
25:22
wasn't right. The second year, it was
25:24
absolutely perfect aerodynamically. It
25:26
was an easy win at the time. Also, your
25:29
number four Corvette was inducted into
25:30
the Bloomington Gold Great Hall in 2013.
25:34
That had to be a huge, huge honor.
25:36
Yeah. Every time somebody recognizes one
25:38
of my Corvettes, the number four, the
25:40
number five, it is a great honor,
25:42
especially after decades, and people
25:44
still remember those cars, and that's a
25:46
great honor. And I get phone calls all
25:48
the time, and people remember the races
25:50
better than I do.
25:51
Kim, talk about what you're doing now,
25:53
what your current business is, and how
25:55
people can reach you if they want to
25:56
reach out to you. Well, they can contact
25:58
me by email through my website. My
26:00
website's vintageracales.com.
26:05
And if they want to connect with me,
26:06
it's kbaker at vintageracarsales.com.
26:10
We're selling vintage race cars as the
26:12
name says, and also interesting vintage
26:15
sports cars and even late model
26:18
Corvettes, which is probably the only
26:19
late model car I'll sell. It's a late
26:21
model Corvette.
26:22
Kim, tell me what you think about the
26:23
new Corvettes and are you thinking about
26:25
getting one? Yeah, more than thinking
26:27
about it, I did order one. February 1st
26:29
was the first day you could order an
26:31
-ray Corvette. I got my order in at
26:34
12:01, right after lunchtime, and I hope
26:36
I get it soon cuz I'm pretty anxious.
26:38
Nice, Kim. Thank you so much for taking
26:41
the time to be on Corvette Today. It was
26:43
an honor and a pleasure having you on
26:45
the show.
26:46
Well, thank you very much for having me.
26:47
It's an honor being recognized by you.
26:49
Thanks for listening to Corvette Today.
26:51
And please be sure to tell your family,
26:52
friends, and other Corvette enthusiasts
26:54
about the Corvette Today podcast. And
26:56
thanks to our sponsors, Wheelcraft. Want
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27:36
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
27:46
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27:50
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27:53
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27:56
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28:01
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28:04
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