When Hattie Orozco of Bailey finishes driving her school bus route, she will soon be stepping from the school bus into a new Corvette® Stingray™, a prize she won in addition to $100,000 in a lottery second-chance drawing.

Orozco, 63, said she knew she won the $100,000 prize in the second-chance drawing, but she “almost passed out” when she arrived in Raleigh and found out a new Corvette Stingray came with it too.

“When I got here and she told me, I was just beside myself,” Orozco said. “It blew my mind.”

Orozco won the grand prize in the April 20 Corvette & Cash second-chance drawing. Her entry was picked from more than 1.2 million entries.

“I never dreamed of winning something like this,” Orozco said.

Orozco claimed her prize Wednesday at lottery headquarters in Raleigh and, after required state and federal tax withholdings, took home $71,010. She also took the first steps to sitting in her brand-new car.

She gets to choose a 2021 model, or a current available model, and pick her favorite options to bring home a sports car with a value of up to $109,600.

Since the game began in July 2021, five North Carolinians won the prize of a Corvette Stingray plus $100,000 cash. Four prizes were won instantly on the scratch-off, and the fifth in the second-chance drawing. The lottery is ending the game since all five top prizes have been won.

Ticket sales from scratch-offs like Corvette & Cash make it possible for the lottery to raise more than $900 million per year for education. A $10 million grant, using money raised by the lottery, is helping Nash County build the new Red Oak Elementary School. For details on other ways McDowell County benefits from lottery funds, visit www.nclottery.com and click on the “Impact” section.