The 2026 NCM Bash: Where Corvette Season Starts

Every Corvette season needs a starting line, and for thousands of enthusiasts, that line runs straight through Bowling Green. The Michelin National Corvette Museum Bash returns April 23–25, 2026, and this year’s event looks like exactly what it should be: part homecoming, part insider summit, and part rolling celebration of America’s sports car. The Museum calls Bash the official kickoff to its on-site event season, and the schedule backs that up with a packed three-day run of seminars, special displays, road tours, track activity, car shows, banquets, and behind-the-scenes access that goes well beyond simply parking cars on the lawn.

What immediately jumps off the page is how heavily this year’s Bash leans into Corvette performance at the highest level. Chevrolet is bringing together a rare gathering of record-setting modern Corvettes, including the Corvette ZR1X Nürburgring fast lap car, Corvette ZR1 Nürburgring fast lap car, Corvette Z06 Nürburgring fast lap car, and the Corvette ZR1X dragstrip quarter-mile and 0–60 record car. For attendees, that alone is worth serious attention. These are not just display pieces. They represent the modern Corvette at full stride and give fans a close-up look at the engineering, capability, and ambition that continue to push the car deeper into world-class performance territory.

But Bash has never been only about staring at hardware. What makes the event work year after year is that it puts Corvette people directly in the room with the people who shape the brand, preserve its history, and race it at the highest levels. This year’s schedule includes a Museum update with President and CEO Bryce Burklow and Board Chairman Michael LaRocca, a Bowling Green Assembly Plant leadership presentation, a Corvette Team update featuring Chief Engineer Josh Holder and Product Marketing Manager Austin Fisher, plus technical sessions on Michelin tire development, Mobil 1, infotainment, C8 ownership, and an LS6 design overview with Mike Kociba. There is even a session titled “How to Run a Lap Time,” featuring engineers tied to chassis calibration, propulsion development, vehicle dynamics, and GM Motorsports. For Corvette owners and enthusiasts who want more than surface-level fandom, that kind of access is exactly what makes Bash matter.

The Museum is also doing what it does best here: connecting the newest chapter of Corvette performance with the deeper story of Corvette preservation. Bash attendees will get a chance to tour the future site of the Museum’s 66,000-square-foot Collections facility, a major step forward in protecting the artifacts, vehicles, and archives that define Corvette history. That same preservation-minded thread continues through the “Driven to Preserve” exhibit walkthrough, artifact spotlights on the one-and-only 1983 Corvette and Neil Armstrong’s recently donated 1967 Corvette, and a showcase of three cutaway Corvettes representing the first three generations. In other words, this is not a weekend built only around horsepower numbers and lap times. It is also about stewardship, curation, and the long view of what Corvette has been and what deserves to survive for the next generation of enthusiasts.