From gawkers to gearheads, Kentucky's Corvette museum sees uptick in visitors since sinkhole

In this photo taken on Wednesday, June 11, 2014, Lynn Jones, left, takes a photo of a 2001 Corvette that fell into a sinkhole at the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Ky. Jones, from Collierville, Tenn., came to the museum to see the smashed cars and the sinkhole, which opened up and swallowed eight cars in February. (AP Photo/Dylan Lovan) (The Associated Press)

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In this photo taken on Wednesday, June 11, 2014, visitors to the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Ky., look down at a massive sinkhole that swallowed eight classic Corvettes. Attendance at the museum has increased since the sinkhole opened in February. (AP Photo/Dylan Lovan) (The Associated Press)

In this photo taken on Wednesday, June 11, 2014, National Corvette Museum executive director Wendell Strode stands near a damaged 2001 Corvette in Bowling Green, Ky. The museum is showing eight Corvettes that fell into a sinkhole that opened up inside the museum in February. (AP Photo/Dylan Lovan) (The Associated Press)

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – For years, just enough classic car lovers and curious travelers wandered through the National Corvette Museum in Kentucky to keep the doors open. Now, after a massive sinkhole swallowed eight pristine models of vintage muscle, attendance has skyrocketed.

And visitors are as eager to peer into the chasm as they are to see the 'Vettes, if not more so.

Museum spokeswoman Katie Frassinelli says the response has been bigger than anyone imagined.

In the months since the earth opened up in February, business has shifted into over-drive.

Since reopening after a one-day closure, attendance is up nearly 50 percent from the same period a year ago. Sign-ups for museum memberships are rising fast. And the merchandising has started, with sinkhole-related shirts, postcards and prints.