Originally Posted by Gearhead Jim

Just did the Owner School Jan 29-30 (Mon-Tue).

My first difference is that I'm a retread, did the school (Bragg-Smith at that time) on my own dime in 2001 after we bought our new C5.
Back then- no dark exteriors or black interiors because of sun/heat.
No automatics because of overheating problems. They started trying to run in the summer just after I finished, not sure how well it worked out. Only one track layout, no tunnel for entry. No restaurant or accommodations. Billboards along the highway advertising the local cat houses. But the instruction was almost identical (good!).

My second difference is something that I fortunately did not experience back then- car trouble, on our own personal Corvette. This time we drove out from the Chicago area on new Michelin AS3+ runflats from Discount Tires, straight south into Arkansas because of a blizzard in the Midwest, then I-40 toward Las Vegas, arriving on Friday. On Saturday we decided to tour Death Valley, drove about an hour and stopped for gas outside the park. Walking back to the car, I saw the right-rear tire had a split near the bead. It was still holding air but obviously not safe, so we got on the phone and discovered the nearest Discount Tires was near Las Vegas, so phone-ordered a new tire from Big O tires in Pharump, to arrive on Tuesday (last day of school). We drove carefully back tp Pahrump, expecting we would need a rental or taxi for the next few days.

My wife suggested we stop at the track and see if they had any advice. It's now a membership club with a gate, so while I was explaining our situation to the guard, it just happened that Frank Carlson (Track Supervisor) pulled up behind us and got the story. Without hesitation, he said "Follow me!" and we saw him talking on his phone as we drove in. By the time we got to one of the shops, they had a C7 Z51 jacked up and ready to pull one of the wheels with a AS3+ they'd used for some event! Frank said he'd be happy to sell us the almost new tire for a good price, but it turned out to be a non-runflat version. So they put their wheel/tire on our car as a loaner, removed our damaged tire from its wheel and inspected the wheel (not bent!), and said they'd take care of everything while we were in class next week.
Come Monday, Chief Driving Instructor Rick Malone was teaching our first classroom session, and during the break I explained our situation and asked how we would get the new tire over to the track and installed in time for us to leave Tuesday afternoon. He told me to pay Big O by phone with a credit card, and the school would take care of the rest. He wasn't kidding.
Tuesday morning they sent someone to pick up the new tire. While we were in class/track they mounted & balanced it, pulled the car into the shop (same building as our classroom!), switched the wheels/tires and trained the sensors. When class was over, we hopped in and drove away!
The charge from Spring Mountain? $0.00
Wow, what a great bunch of people!
Yes, I gave tips but never felt like anyone was looking for that.

BTW, I had purchased the road hazard coverage from Discount Tires when I bought the AS tires. Stopping near Phoenix, the DT store there reimbursed me the purchase price I had originally paid (slightly less than what I had to give Big O which was still a reasonable price) and charged me ~$50 for another road hazard coverage on the new tire. All in all, I ended up being out of pocket by about $75 which was a pretty good deal under the circumstances.