February 12 is the two-year anniversary of the sinkhole collapse beneath the Skydome at the National Corvette Museum, and is the day the museum will open its newest exhibit, Corvette Cave In! The Skydome Sinkhole Experience.
The “experience” is the new entryway to the Skydome and not only details what happened early that morning two years ago, but of western Kentucky’s sinkhole-prone karst landscape, the recovery of the eight vehicles the sinkhole swallowed and of the repairs that allowed the facility to be reopened.
In what the museum calls “the grand finale,” visitors get to experience what it might have felt and sounded like had anyone been inside the Skydome that morning (fortunately, the collapse occurred early in the morning before any staff were in the building, though details were captured on the museum’s security cameras).
After exiting the Cave In!, visitors find themselves beneath the Skydome, where they can see the eight recovered cars and other displays, including the museum’s Corvette hall of fame.
Of those eight cars, some have been restored while others have been left as they were after being pulled from the abyss. One car, a black 1962 Corvette convertible, is slated for repair in the museum’s new Maintenance and Preservation Department facilities.
As part of the repair effort within and below the Skydome, the museum installed a clear manhole that leads down into what remains of the cave. Visitors can peer through the window in the manhole to see 30 feet below floor level.
