For Flag Day, one Corvette enthusiast brought hundreds of people and cars together – AutoMart Canada

For Larry Courtney, a Corvette is a tool to bring people together. On Flag Day this past weekend on Detroit’s Belle Isle, Courtney and his wife did just that, assembling 300 cars to create what he believes is the largest-ever American flag formation made up of Corvettes. Participants traveled from 11 states to take part.

Chevrolet showed up in a big way, bringing the new Stars & Steel-edition Corvettes and the new 2027 Grand Sport to Belle Isle. Corvette subject matter experts Garrett Kerns, Bryan Lake and Mandy Gregory added to the energy on site, spending the day with enthusiasts and giving fans a closer connection to the people behind the car. “We want to bring Corvette people together to exchange their stories because that is so much fun,” Courtney tells GM News.

Courtney has been a car enthusiast all his life, and over the years he’s owned a number of Corvettes. He tells GM News that he and his wife have put nearly 200,000 miles on his 1999 Corvette convertible, road-tripping across the country and making friends along the way. In retirement, Courtney has dedicated much of his time to Corvette events, organizing get-togethers, leading group drives, and otherwise bringing enthusiasts together.

In addition to bringing groups of Corvette enthusiasts to Bowling Green Assembly, where new Corvettes are built, Courtney has organized huge events.

“In 2014 I helped get 350 cars on the track at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway,” he says. “My wife and I have gone up and down the West Coast, done Route 66… when you arrive in a small town with a Corvette, you attract people in a good way.”

His deep Rolodex – a 3,500-person email list and 2,500 phone contacts – came in handy planning the Flag Day event, as he needed a lot of red, white, and blue Corvettes to pull off the massive flag formation. “I don’t have a problem getting the word out,” Courtney says. Chevrolet was there, too, showing off the new Stars & Steel-edition Corvettes and the new 2027 Grand Sport.

This event isn’t just for fun, either.

“It’s the 250^th anniversary of the U.S., so we picked out four charities to support,” Courtney says. Those include Operation Homefront, Helmets to Hardhats, Veterans Court of Wayne County and the Fallen and Wounded Soldiers fund, each of which supports our country’s veterans.

While this was a unique Corvette event, it was still one of many. One of many for Courtney, and one of the many gatherings of Corvette enthusiasts that happen across the country every weekend. Beyond being a world-class sports car, the Corvette has become a cultural icon, and beloved among so many.

“I think that it’s important to keep the culture alive,” Courtney says. “I would like to know that in some small way, down the road, Corvette fans will still be together as a group because of something I’ve done.”