C7GrandSport

How sad, our new chief engineer can't do a burnout.
Right before the burnout contest at Corvettes at Carlisle, Tom Wallace took questions from the crowd. One guy asked in jest if Tom would be doing a burnout. Not knowing what he was getting himself into he says "Sure, if I had a car". Well along comes his worst nightmare - a guy comes out of the grandstand and pulls around his C5 Z06 and hands Tom the keys. Gave it about 10 attempts with all eyes on him and not even a wisp of smoke. How embarrassing!
Dave Hill where are you?

mbonness

He was a race car driver before right? Must not have won many races...

Cjunkie

what a joke

ben dover

Forgot to turn off the T/C?

C7GrandSport

Actually, after failure #1, I yelled that to him. I know he heard because Lance Miller was standing nearby and told him the same thing. It didn't help!
By the way, Lance later did a fine burnout in a Corvette Challenge car!

leeman

Does that mean he is unqualified for the job?

C7GrandSport

No, I'm certainly hoping for the best. Tom's the future of Corvette (C7 and beyond?). Just found it amusing that he got himself into that situation. For what it's worth, the owner of the car didn't do much better than him either.

NVR LAT

I see the problem as a CAR that couldn't do a "burnout", not the driver.
Just my opinion...

Burnt71

Wasn't that the car that the clutch was burning when the owner got in to try it ? The problem wasn't with the driver. They gave it hell, but it got traction.

C7GrandSport

Could be. But that didn't change the fact that people in the crowd started booing, yelling "loser" and "next". I felt bad for the guy. But it was kinda funny.

blittle

Yeah....I think you are right.......you could see the smoke from the clutch and wasn't it a C5 z06 and not the new 505hp version?

AFVETTE

Not sure what yor implying, but the 405 HP Z will boil the hides off those GY's. Did you see the video of Dale Jr on Late Night with David Letterman? Now that was a burn out.

Tom

racelance

c5grandsport-

Tom is one heck of a road racer, which in my book takes a heck of a lot more talent. He confessed to me that he never did a burnout before, so I quickly gave him a lesson prior to jumping into the Z06. I give him ALL the credit in the world for jumping into someone else’s Corvette and trying his very first burnout in front of about 3,000 people! He's got determination like you wouldn't believe. I was fortunate enough to spend some time with him and can tell you first hand the Corvette is in better hands then ever before. Tom and Wil will make us proud with the upcoming models. Think about it for a minute - Tom = street racer/great guy & Wil = drag racer/great guy - overall we're in for some incredible Corvettes in the long haul!

One more thing, Tom Wallace has assured me and the rest of the audience that he WILL BE BACK next year to Corvettes at Carlisle and be better prepared. After having a casual dinner with the GM crew I have a funny feeling we're going to see some really incredible burnouts next year - I personally can't wait!

Rest assured the Corvette we all love and enjoy is in VERY good hands!

Special thanks to everyone that attended the event!

Sincerely,

Lance

Wass

Glad to hear there will be a next year for Corvettes at Carlisle! I read something a month or two ago about a property sale that would have meant the event would move elsewhere.

Dave@Ciocca

Tom was (still is) a road racer. Unlinke drag racers, there's not a lot of burnouts in road racing. There's also something else everyone should know. In the burnout section, there was a concrete divider about 10 feet in front of the car doing the burnout to prevent the car from going into the crowd in a mishap. The last thing Tom wanted to do was make a mistake and put someone else's vette into a wall!!! He is a top notch guy and a pleasure to talk to. He sons still race and he dables in it on the weekends, so if any of you road racers ever get a chance to talk to him, you will be very happy!

AFVETTE

Ahh, the rest of the story.

Tom

catbert

Actually he did....and burnouts don't win races. He was also borrowing someone elses car and clutch.

GN1270

If it wasn't the cars fault there is no excuse in the world why someone who is involved with the Corvette program and is a professional race car driver cannot do a burn out. My mother can do a burn out with a stick.

ike

This does seem odd. I mean, I've never had any problem spinning the wheels on any 6-speed Vette I've ever had. Rev it up a bit and dump the clutch.

But I guess maybe if he was trying to be easy on the guy's clutch and the road surface was rough and the temperature was warm enough, it might have been difficult.

SouthernSon

Funny how some people are so assuming and given into second guessing. There are a million and one reasons why a car may not do a successful burnout. Anyone that has practiced them ought to know that. Oh yeah, if you question Tom's ability with a vette, just show up at a roadcourse with him sometime. You had better bring your A game. I ran with him at Putnam and hope to see him at CMP later this year. Y'all come on down to CMP this October.....