The two General Motors engineers who were caught speeding on January 8 in a pair of brand new Chevrolet Corvettes and then jailed for illegal street racing appear to have left the company.
Alexander Thim and Mark Derkatz were pulled over by Kentucky State Police near Bowling Green where the sportscar is built for breaking the 45mph speed limit. 27-year-old Thim was reportedly caught driving at 120mph (193kph) while 30-year-old Derkatz was driving at 100mph (160kph). GM was aware of the incident and now, according to the pair’s LinkedIn accounts, they are seeking new employment.
Their pages both say that they stopped working for GM in January 2020 – is that a coincidence? Thim's page specifically says that he "previously worked at General Motors launching the new 2020 Corvette" while Derkatz wrote about his "multiple roles at General Motors."
We don’t know if they were fired by General Motors or if they chose to resign, but it seems pretty clear that they are both currently out of the job.
It could have been far worse for them had they caused a serious accident and got themselves or someone else injured. The two Corvettes did not sustain any damage however they had to be towed to a local impound. They were claimed by GM officials the next day.
In a statement released at the time, GM said, “We are aware of an incident involving our test vehicles and are currently investigating. Safety remains our overriding priority at General Motors. We have no further comment at this time.”
The moral of this story is simple: Do not go street racing. It is illegal and extremely dangerous.
