Corvette caravan coming through town

Andrew Heiserman
Posted 8/24/19

Classic car models expected to be at Petro Travel Center on Tuesday.

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

Log in

Corvette caravan coming through town

Posted

ROCHELLE – Classic car fans and Corvette enthusiasts may want to clear their morning plans Tuesday.

Rochelle Petro officials are expecting approximately 200 Corvettes to make a stop at their station to fill up their gas tanks, take a little break and get some food.
In honor of the 25th anniversary of the National Corvette Museum, the sixth national Corvette Caravan will be taking place all across the country, ultimately finishing at the museum in Bowling Green, Kentucky. The caravan takes place every five years to align with the museum’s milestone anniversaries.
Starting from various cities throughout America, it has been dubbed the world’s largest moving automotive event and participants plan for it years in advance.

“We are fortunate to have loyal Corvette enthusiasts who serve as volunteer captains for this massive event. Group organizers spend years coordinating their trek across the country and planning fun stops along the way,” stated Katie Ellison, director of marketing and communications.
The National Corvette Museum is one of the top five automotive museums in the country, and is expecting over 8,000 Corvettes to convene for the festivities.
The North Central region of the Corvette Caravan, which will be stopping at the Rochelle Petro station, consists of 20 percent of all Corvettes traveling to the museum and will be led by Ed and Barb Saari of Towanda, Illinois. The couple are long time Corvette fans and owners of a Velocity Yellow C6.
In order to accommodate the 200 vehicles that will be arriving at the station, Petro management plans to have the cars parked nose to bumper and split between the RV lot on the north side of the main building and the south edge of the car lot along Illinois Route 38.
The Petro station is also stocking up on certain specialty items to accommodate for the large number of patrons in such a short amount of time.
“We are going to be prepared with extra staff, lots of premium gasoline, as well as food offerings. So, everyone who wants a little something is going to be able to get something,” explained Cindy Knight, HR manager at Petro.
During the large caravan event, the station will remain open for anyone looking to come by and view the cars or for customers needing to purchase gas or food.

“I think it shows that we have the facilities to accommodate large groups of people and we have the equipment to produce large amounts of food, even on short notice,” said Knight. “It will also give a good awareness to these Corvettes traveling through that if they are going to come through again someday, that they will be sure to stop in and see us again.