Fort Worth Charles Schwab Challenge winner drives off in this classic American sports car

Lawrence Dow

Thu, May 23, 2024, 1:20 PM EDT

Starting in 2019, the Charles Schwab Challenge, hosted at the Colonial Country Club, has given a restored classic car to the tournament winner.

This year’s classic ride is a 1975 Schwab Stingray restored by County Corvette in West Chester, Pennsylvania. It was chosen because of its status as an iconic American sports car.

The Stingray features a V-8 motor that generates more than 450 horsepower, a custom console with the champion’s name engraved and hand-stitched interior upholstery with the Invitational’s signature Tartan Plaid trim.

Josh Banker, the restomod manager at County Corvette, detailed what went into restoring this year’s car.

“The way that we do it is we find the car and the, we call it a donor state, and then we strip it completely down to bare fiberglass,” Banker said. “We order a completely new chassis drivetrain suspension set up, add all kinds of new technology as far as braking system, air conditioning, radios, things like that.”

While the car maintains its classic look it also has all the amenities of a modern car — including a rear backup cam, Apple Play and all the modern conveniences today’s drivers would expect.

County Corvette sped up its normal restoration process from an average of three years to one and a half to have the 1975 Stingray ready for this year’s invitational.

Mason Reed the Managing Director of Acquisition and Corporate Marketing at Charles Schwab explained why they chose a 1975 Stingray.

“Well, each year we try to connect the, the prize car to something a year of significance either for our company or for the golf tournament,” said Reed, “So, the, the stingray and the year 1975 represent a pretty significant moment in the history of investing that we were very much part of which was the deregulation of commissions on trading stocks and equities.”

The tradition of giving away a classic car began when Charles Schwab took over as the principal tournament sponsor for the Colonial National Invitational and wanted to put their imprint on the tournament by giving away a one-of-a-kind prize.

A 1973 Schwab Challenger awarded to Kevin Na in 2019, the first year the tournament handed out a car as a prize. The other classic car prizes include a 1946 Schwab Power Wagon awarded to Jason Kokrak, a 1979 Schwab Firebird awarded to Sam Burns and a 1973 Schwab Bronco to Emiliano Grillo.

Banker spoke about how impressive the power of the Stingray is.

“My favorite feature is definitely the drivetrain,” said Banker, “You put your foot down and it moves and it’s, it’s a lot of fun but it’s, it’s an accessible power.”

Reed’s favorite parts of the car is how it honored the tradition of the Charles Schwab Classic including the tartan upholstery and the Charles Schwab badging on the back of the car which was made to emulate the classic Corvette badging that appears on the back of their cars.The car will be on display where onlookers can take pictures and see it up close on the 11th green during the invitational.

The Charles Schwab Classic runs from May 20-26 and for fans looking to attend they can still buy tickets on the Invitationals website.