President Biden announced Sunday that he’s withdrawing from the race, endorsing Vice President Harris to be his replacement. Biden is also a huge Corvette guy. So him dropping out of the race means that come January, he’ll be free to don those signature aviators, hop into his Corvette and speed off into the sunset licking an ice cream cone, right? Sadly, that’s not actually the case, although the Secret Service does occasionally make exceptions.
The 1958 Former Presidents Act gives presidents and their spouses Secret Service protection for life after they leave office, and let’s just say the Secret Service really doesn’t want the former leader of the free world to drive themselves anywhere. It’s not necessarily illegal, but effectively, former presidents aren’t allowed to drive on public roads. Heck, back when Obama was president, he reportedly freaked out his security detail when he briefly drove a Chevrolet Volt on White House property. And in 2014, Hillary Clinton admitted she hadn’t driven a car since 1996.
That same year, Biden also joked in a speech to the United Auto Workers union that, “There are a lot of reasons to run for president, but there’s one overwhelming reason not to run for president. I like to get that Z06 from zero to 60 in 3.4 seconds.”
The Secret Service has made exceptions in the past, though. For example, he was allowed to drive on a 2016 episode of Jay Leno’s Garage. So while he won’t be making any slushie runs to 7-Eleven, it’s not impossible to imagine Biden arranging a few more special exceptions. After all, the new Corvette ZR1 is about to be revealed. Surely, GM would be willing to work with Biden’s security team to let him take one for a spin on a private test track, right? Right, GM?