On the road again: 800 Corvettes roar through Cape in celebration of National Corvette Museum's 25th anniversary

The roar of horsepower shook the streets of downtown Cape Girardeau on Tuesday afternoon as 800 Corvettes -- some new, some antique -- assembled to celebrate "America's only true sports car."

Corvettes of Southeast Missouri president and event planning committee chairman Rick Essner said people who drive Corvettes understand, "and hopefully most people do, because they're cool."

Essner continued, "Where else are you going to see this many Corvettes in one place? It's America's only true sports car."

His car, a blue 2014 Corvette Stingray -- 460-horsepower with dual racing stripes -- was parked at one of many nearby lots reserved for Corvettes only.

"It'll do 195 miles per hour and zero to 60 in 3.8 seconds," he said a few minutes before the event's 100-car parade started.

Corvette drivers park along Main Street and near the Red House Interpretive Center following a parade down Broadway on Tuesday in downtown Cape Girardeau.BEN MATTHEWS

Drivers from local car clubs River City Rodders Car Club and the Capaha Antique Car Club hot-rodded along Broadway before parking for the evening in downtown Cape Girardeau.

Jill Leeson of Dallas was seated near the curb with her parents, Moe and Patti Sandfort.

"My dad is a huge Corvette fan," Leeson said over the sound of engines booming.

Patti Sandfort said her husband always wanted to end up with a red Corvette, "and [Leeson] gave him one for Christmas."

"I gave him a Matchbox one," Leeson said, laughing.

Some of the drivers were on the way to the National Corvette Museum's 25th anniversary celebration Wednesday in Bowling Green, Kentucky. But some attended just for the camaraderie.

Corvette Club of Hawaii president Charles Owens said he and his wife, Joni, shipped their 2014 cyber gray Z51 "with everything it could possibly have" -- along with seven other Corvettes -- from Hawaii. Their next stop is Bowling Green.

"Our club in Hawaii has been around since the '70s, with 155 members and 92 Corvettes," said Charles Owens, who is a full-time corrections officer at Hawaii Department of Public Safety. "We're on three of the islands, and soon, hopefully on all the islands."

Monday night, the couple was in Grandview, Missouri, they said. Charles Owens said each day they've driven, on average, between 350 and 450 miles.

"The 25th anniversary is a big deal. ... We wanted to be a part of it," he said of their destination.

Cody Kinder, owner of KinderCo in Jackson, was standing proud next to his seven Corvettes parked on Water Street. He's loved Corvettes since childhood, Kinder said, adding because his father, Howard, always had one.

"You don't see Mustangs coming down here doing this, or other cars. It's just them; it's just something different," he said pointing to the steadily growing mass of Chevrolets.

Howard and Cody Kinder's Corvette lineup included a white automatic 1999 LS1 with 425 horsepower and a 1977 red L82 four-speed.

"Some of these cars, people don't get to see them very often," Cody Kinder said, adding, "and I've got more."

Brenda Newbern, executive director of Cape Girardeau Convention and Visitors Bureau, said she sees planning the event as "exhilarating," not stressful.

"Without these types of events," she said, "how could you ever have people coming from across the country to your city? There's no way you market that any better than having this event. You're going to have people here who would have never come to Cape Girardeau."

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