But the GM brass commanded, "We don't build and sell race cars!" So Duntov's basement racing project was scrapped after only five cars were built. Then, Lady Luck smiled on the Grand Sport Corvettes. The cars were sold to private racers and not sent to the crusher. After many years in the hands of many racers, all five Grand Sport Corvettes have been restored.

Knowing that '96 would be the end of the C4 line, Chevrolet offered a special send off option for the C4 - the Grand Sport. While not the lightweight, open header racer of Zora's plans, the '96 Grand Sport option was a delight for Corvette fans. Fortunately for performance fans today, GM has changed its "we don't build and sell race cars" tune. Today we have the highly successful C5-R and C6.R racing programs. Were it not for these programs, we probably never would have seen the '09 ZR1.