2015 Corvette Hall of Fame Inductees Announced



The National Corvette Museum has announced the following inductees to be recognized as part of the 18th Annual Corvette Hall of Fame Ceremony in 2015: Herb Fishel in the category of Racing; Rick Hendrick in the category of Enthusiast; and Russ McLean in the category of GM/Chevrolet. These three individuals will be recognized with the highest honor bestowed by the Museum for their contributions to the past, present and future of Corvette.

The 2015 Corvette Hall of Fame recipients will be inducted into the Corvette Hall of Fame during a ceremony and banquet on Friday, September 4, 2015. Their induction will take place as part of the Museum’s 21st Anniversary Celebration September 3-5, 2015.

Herb Fishel knows a lot about setting goals and accomplishing them. Growing up in the 1950’s, he listened to races on the radio and read hot rod magazines. That’s where he learned about a man named Zora Arkus-Duntov, the Father of Corvette. By 1964, he was an engineer working with Zora, at a time when racing was a covert operation at GM. Herb would lead the charge to change all of that, going from engine design, to working in the Buick Special Products Group, then as the Director of Chevrolet Racing, and finally as the Executive Director of GM Racing.

In addition to starting the factory Corvette Racing team that won the overall victory at the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona, cars powered by Chevrolet under Herb’s watch have won 20 NASCAR Manufacturers Championships (11 consecutive); 12 Indy 500s; and class wins in the Baja 1000, Pikes Peak Hill Climb, the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and the Daytona 500 and Indy 500 races.

“I didn’t want to just coast through a career. I wanted to leave something substantial behind me that was significant and noteworthy. The Corvette’s success in racing was a key chapter in the story of Corvette. I had the vision and provided the leadership to make it happen, but I didn’t do it alone. It took a team of people to do that. To be inducted into the Corvette Hall of Fame now for that contribution and to be placed in the same framework as people like Zora Arkus Duntov, who I’d looked up to as a kid, is humbling. I’m very grateful.”

Raised on a farm in the 1950’s, Rick Hendrick raced and wrenched on cars at an early age. His love for automobiles led him to open a small used car lot with another car dealer at the age of 23. Hard work and his devotion to the automotive world led to the purchase of a dealership of his own that became the precursor to the Hendrick Automotive Group which now consists of more than 120 franchises over 13 states, employing over 10,000 people.

In 1984, Hendrick Motorsports was founded and has grown into a facility that spreads out over 430,000 sq. ft., employing 600 people to support four full time Chevrolet teams in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. With a NASCAR record of 14 national series owner’s championships and 15 overall, its roster of stock-car drivers includes Kasey Kahne, Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Today he owns a large collection of Corvettes that includes many of the first and lasts in models and generations. His most recent addition being the VIN 1 Z06 Stingray Corvette that he paid $1 million for at auction in support of the Karmanos Cancer Institute.

Having accomplished so much, Rick is grateful and humbled to be inducted into the Corvette Hall of Fame.

“I can’t tell you how excited I am to be selected for the Corvette Hall of Fame. My love for Corvettes goes back to when I was a teenager, and it was the love for the car that got me into racing and the automobile business. To be honored at a place where so many of the Corvette greats are honored -- it’s just humbling. I never dreamed that I’d be recognized in such a way.”

Russ McLean had a reputation at GM for turning around operations where quality and/or cost was an issue. So in the 1990s, when the Corvette program was in trouble, he was brought in to turn it around. While he was able to achieve his goal of decreasing cost and improving quality, a change in power at GM resulted in a radical change of instructions to Russ, who was told to “let the Corvette die.”

At this point Russ was confronted with a dilemma. While he was a company guy who built his career on his solid work ethic, he decided that he couldn’t let the Corvette fail.
Risking his job and reputation, he joined forces with other rebels within the company to continue working “in the shadows” to keep the Corvette program going and moving forward into the next generation.

“I was still doing my job, just not following instructions,” he says laughing.

Of course, the success of the 5th generation Corvette validated their activities and propelled Corvette to even greater heights since. Being inducted into the Corvette Hall of Fame is just one more confirmation that he had done the right thing.

“This honor is really for the Corvette people working with me who did their jobs extremely well; who interphased and cooperated with each other; who were so dedicated and supportive of each other. My job was to let the Corvette die, but together we did all we could do to improve the C4 and keep the C5 viable. I’m very happy to be representing all of those people in the Corvette Hall of Fame.”

The National Corvette Museum established the Corvette Hall of Fame in 1998 to confer the highest honor and recognition upon the most influential individuals in the history of the Corvette. The award recognizes those who have made significant contributions to their respective fields, each having reached the highest level of accomplishment. Inductees must also reflect the highest standards of integrity and character to positively enhance the prestige of the Corvette and the National Corvette Museum.

Additional information on reserving a spot at the prestigious Corvette Hall of Fame banquet will be available in the coming months via our website at: www.corvettemuseum.org or can be obtained by subscribing to our weekly eNewsletter “NCM eNews” at: www.corvettemuseum.org/ncmenews/. Corporate tables are available for the dinner and can be reserved by contacting Karen Renfrow in the Events Department at 270-467-8804 or email karen@corvettemuseum.org.

The National Corvette Museum is a member-driven, non-profit foundation dedicated to educating the public through the preservation of the Corvette’s past, present and future heritage. Open daily from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. CT, the Museum is located at Exit 28 off I-65 in Bowling Green, KY.

2013 Corvette Hall of Fame Inductees Announced

The National Corvette Museum has announced the following inductees to be recognized as part of the 16th Annual Corvette Hall of Fame Ceremony in 2013:  Wil Cooksey in the category of GM/Chevrolet; Werner Meier in the category of Corvette enthusiast/historian; and Johnny O’Connell, in the category of racing will all be recognized with the highest honor bestowed by the Museum for their contributions to the past, present and future of Corvette.

The 2013 Hall of Fame recipients will be inducted into the Corvette Hall of Fame during a ceremony and banquet on Thursday, August 29, 2013. Their induction will take place as part of the Museum’s 19^th Anniversary Corvette Celebration festivities August 29-31, 2013.

Corvette Hall of Fame Inductee Wil Cooksey’s career with General Motors is the epitome of achievement beginning with his first job as an assistant professor in industrial engineering at GMI in Flint, MI in 1972.  In 1976 he transferred to the St. Louis plant where he held several positions before being transferred to the Doraville plant in Atlanta.  After working at various superintendent positions at Doraville he was named the production manager at the Fairfax plant in Kansas. 

Cooksey’s connection to Corvette began in February 1993 when he assumed the role as the Plant Manager at the General Motors Bowling Green Assembly Plant, responsible for the production of Corvettes and later the Cadillac XLRs.  He held that role for 15 years – the longest serving Plant Manager to date - before retiring in March 2008.  While at the Plant, Cooksey not only served on the Board of Directors for the National Corvette Museum (1994-2011) and Board Chairman (2008 and 2009), but he was also responsible for helping to get started many of the Delivery Department programs the Museum still offers today including R8C, Xperience, Buyers’ Tours and more.  Cooksey was much more than a Plant Manager, going the extra mile to get to know the customers, traveling to car shows, enhancing the plant tour experience by encouraging employee interaction with guests and being very Corvette enthusiast and owner focused.

Cooksey has received numerous accolades and awards including “Black Engineer of the Year President’s Award” in 1997, “Achiever of the Year” from Austin Peay University, was featured on the cover of African-American on Wheels magazine when they named Corvette the “Best Urban Car of the Year”, “Black Achiever in the Industry” by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and the “Lee Iacocca Award” in 2010.

Corvette Hall of Fame Inductee Werner Meier became involved in the hobby in 1969 when he purchased his first Corvette – a brand new 1969 on his 18^th birthday.   That same year he began participation in the Corvette Club of Michigan, but wasn’t able to officially join until 1972 when he turned 21.  A graduate of the General Motors Institute, he worked at GM as a manufacturing engineer, service engineer and Engineering Group Manager over a 33 year career, but it is his side hobby of Corvette restoration and collection that has garnered notoriety.  Meier has owned, restored and/or serviced over 100 Corvettes, many of them very rare or unique including a 1958 “Fancy Free” styling car, 1963 Corvette styling car built for Harley Earl and 1964 Bill Mitchell styling car with one piece door glass.

Meier has provided vehicles from his personal collection to various Museums for display including the GM Heritage Center, Gilmore Car Museum and National Corvette Museum.  He has also organized exclusive Corvette displays at events such as the Meadowbrook Concours d’Elegance, Bay Harbor Concours d’Elegance and Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance.  With preservation and restoration being two of his many Corvette passions, Meier has been a member of the National Corvette Restorers Society since 1983 and serves as an annual Tech Seminar host.  He also was an inaugural member of the Bloomington Gold Corvette Hall of Fame in 1998 and has been a Special Collection exhibitor eight times.  As a Lifetime Member of the National Corvette Museum, Meier has loaned his 1963 “Bunkie Knudsen” Corvette and 1958 “Fancy Free” Corvette for exhibit at the Museum, in addition to providing on-going advice and ideas on improving displays and exhibits at the Museum.

Corvette Hall of Fame Inductee Johnny O’Connell is hailed as the most successful GM factory racecar driver from the U.S.  O’Connell’s racing career began in 1987 in the Formula Atlantic series where he won five races en route to the championship and was named Rookie of the Year.  In 1993 he scored a class victory at the 12 Hours of Sebring, an overall win in 1994 and another class victory in 1995.  He also won his class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1994, which was also his first time competing in the prestigious endurance race.

O’Connell joined the factory Corvette Racing team in 2001, scoring the team’s first overall victory at the 24 Hours of Daytona in the Corvette C5.R, followed by the team’s first 24 Hours of Le Mans class victory in 2001. Since then he has helped GM’s factory team capture eight straight manufacturers’ titles and achieving seven class wins in the 12 Hours of Sebring, more than any other driver.  In 2008, O’Connell and teammate Jan Magnussen dominated the GT1 class, scoring eight wins en route to the class championship.  O’Connell notched his record-setting eighth Sebring win in the season opening race in 2009, and then became the first American to score four class wins in the 24 Hours of Le Mans.  He made a seamless transition to the GT2 class, finishing as runner-up in the competition debut of the GT2 Corvette C6.R at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course and scoring Corvette Racing’s first GT2 win at Mosport in his record-setting 100^th career ALMS start.  At the conclusion of the 2009 season, O'Connell held numerous ALMS records, including the most career starts (102), most podium finishes (80), most top-five finishes (93) and most top-10 finishes (100). After ten years with Corvette, O’Connell joined Team Cadillac in 2011, competing in the SCCA World Challenge GT alongside former Corvette Racing teammate Andy Pilgrim where they still race today.  In 2012 O’Connell was inducted into the Sebring Hall of Fame and joined Bondurant School of High Performance Driving as their ZR1 expert instructor, also serving as the school’s VP of Global Operations.  He also now adds insight and excitement to the ALMS racing as a commentator for ABC, ESPN and Speed.

The National Corvette Museum established the Corvette Hall of Fame in 1998 to confer the highest honor and recognition upon the most influential individuals in the history of the Corvette. The award recognizes those who have made significant contributions to their respective fields, each having reached the highest level of accomplishment. Inductees must also reflect the highest standards of integrity and character to positively enhance the prestige of the Corvette and the National Corvette Museum.

Additional information on reserving a spot at the prestigious Corvette Hall of Fame banquet will be available in the coming months via our website at: www.corvettemuseum.org or can be obtained by subscribing to our weekly eNewsletter “NCM eNews” at: www.corvettemuseum.org/ncmenews/.  Corporate tables are available for the dinner and can be reserved by contacting Karen Renfrow in the Events Department at 270-467-8804 or email karen@corvettemuseum.org.

The National Corvette Museum is a member-driven, non-profit foundation dedicated to educating the public through the preservation of the Corvette’s past, present and future heritage. Open daily from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. CT, the Museum is located at Exit 28 off I-65 in Bowling Green, KY.