The LeMans Corvette was a wrecked street car, removed from a junk yard and in eight weeks built into the highest placing winning Corvette at LeMans of its time. Hence, the fondly coined name of “Ole Scrappy”, driven by David Heinz and Bob Johnson.

It took 23 years for Corvette to return and run this strong at LeMans. This is the car that beat the 911S Porsches, the Ferrari Dino 246GT, Lola T280 Cosworth and both of the Greenwood Corvettes driven by John Greenwood and Dick Smothers. Out of a starting field of 55 entries, only 18 finished the grueling 24 hour race. Placing 15th overall and 7th in class GTS, this was only the beginning of a true American grassroots legend.

1972
24 Hours of LeMans
7th in Class, 15th Overall
IMSA 6 Hour Mid-Ohio
1st in Class, 9th Overall
Daytona
 1st in Class, 2nd Overall
Daytona IMSA Finale
1st in Class, 3rd Overall

1973
24 Hours Daytona
1st in Class, 3rd Overall
(until the C5R factory team won Daytona in 2001, this was the best finish ever for Corvette at Daytona)

12 Hours Sebring
Qualified 2nd, Lead 2nd Overall,
Blown head gasket
Daytona 3 Hour
1st Class, 2nd Overall

1974-1977
IMSA History as “Wide Body Rebel” Corvette and other livery

■ Original sponsorship was retracted by TWA (Trans World Airlines), and BP (British Petroleum) stepped in and placed their stickers right over TWA.

■ At LeMans, Bob Johnson was practicing and ran over a loose track banner and spun into the wall. The car ran the race with wood supports, screws and racer tape holding the nose together. A crew member had to stand on the nose to prove its sturdiness to officials of the race.

■ The very first car to race on Special Goodyear Radial racing tires.

■ The crew, unaware of class requirements of GTS, did not have a spare tire to run the race. A French policeman stepped forward and presented the crew the spare tire from his Peugeot which ran the entire race.

■ The car was painted Ferrari Red due to its entry affiliation with NART, North American Racing Team.