C8 Corvette Stars as ‘Corvettes at Carlisle’ Packs the House in 2019

By Brett Foote - September 3, 2019

GM brought 14 examples of the C8 Corvette to Carlisle this year as roughly 5,000 other cars helped set a new record.

Corvettes at Carlisle is unquestionably the king of all Corvette shows. But this year’s gathering was also a little more special than most. That’s what happens when your event takes place right after Chevy pulls the covers off its first mid-engine production version of America’s sports car, of course. And a record crowd of highly enthusiast fans showed up to scope out the C8. They certainly weren’t disappointed, because GM brought a whopping 14 examples out for us to drool over.

Obviously, it’s hard to steal any thunder from perhaps the biggest new car reveal in recent history. But Corvettes at Carlisle did just that. This year, they set a brand new “Fun Field” record as an incredible 2,901 cars rolled in. And that wasn’t even the total count for show. Carlisle Events estimates that there were well over 5,000 cars there in total. Which is even more amazing considering the fact that there was also a Corvette Caravan headed to Bowling Green, Kentucky around the same time.

Typically, that once every five years event causes a dip in attendance at Corvettes at Carlisle. But this year, that obviously had little to no effect. It also didn’t hurt that the weather was absolutely pristine, nor that CaC has been growing for years now. Oh, and those 14 C8 Corvettes certainly brought out plenty of curious fans too.

There was so much traffic coming into the event on Saturday that the last Corvette didn’t reach the fairgrounds until 3 p.m. This, despite the fact that people started rolling in at 7 a.m. Vendors showed up days in advance, which was probably a good idea considering the massive crowds of people and cars.

Aside from the typical car show, swap meet, and other fun activities, there were plenty of educational Corvette seminars to attend as well. Seminar hosts included Wil Cooksey, the NCRS team, Kevin McKay and Jim Mero, and Paul Koerner of the Corvette Mechanic Team. And of course, Corvette Chief Engineer Tadge Juechter.

Clearly, the 2019 Corvettes at Carlisle was one for the ages. But we imagine that 2020 will be every bit as good. Especially with the C8 Z06 and hybrid on the way. So be sure and mark your calendars now for August 27-30 of next year. Or, if you want to really get ahead of the game, you can go ahead and purchase your tickets or register for the 2020 CaC by heading over here!