8 years ago we went for a little roadtrip across America

46 states, 16,000 miles and 2 car crashes later we delivered the Olympic flame from Atlanta to Salt Lake City.

Remarkable at the time was the focus that Chevrolet had on trucks.  The”halo” vehicles were the new Avalanche, the Tahoe Z-71, the TrailBlazer, the Suburban and the Silverado.  The vehicles were selected for obvious utility reasons but it goes deeper than that. 

We were mid stream in the consumer obsession with SUV’s and trucks.  It seemed the only attractive car that Chevy made at the time was the Z-06 Corvette (which this writer managed to propel over 120 mph on a somewhat snowy highway outside of Rochester NY!).  The other cars were the Impala and Monte Carlo.  Yes the Impala was redesigned but noone really stood back and took notice of the cars…it was all about the trucks.

What a remarkable ride.  Post 9-11 America, patriotism bursting out all over, the Olympic brand strong and no real disruptive protesting.  Truly a great fit for the Chevy brand – hit the magical combination of the Olympic Games here in the U.S. coupled with an intense (but alas…brief) period of unification and patriotism in the U.S.