Thread: Lake Garnett Grand Prix Revival 2015

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Back in the day there were several regional SCCA tracks around the mid-west, and one of the popular venues was the Lake Garnett Grand Prix held on a 2.8 mile track around the lake just outside of Garnett, Kansas. Here's a link to a really nice story about the track, and the showdown between the first Cobras and the Corvettes which were dominating the circuit up to that point - The Story of Lake Garnett - July 1963 - Club Cobra The Lake Garnett track was one of the first where Carroll Shelby debuted his new AC Cobras.

A few years ago a man and wife living in Garnett approached the city about the possibility of bringing back the event as a vintage race day. The city agreed to close the park for the day, but not much else so the couple got to work and organized the event. While it did not draw an amazing number of cars it was a huge success for the sports/vintage racing car crowd, and it's become an annual event. This year it morphed into two days, to make it easier for everybody to do everything they wanted during the two day event. I went down with a friend Saturday, walked around the car show and then went out to the track. We sat right at Flatiron Corner which is a nominal 100 to 110 degree turn coming out of the back straight, with a touch of reverse banking in the exit area for a little excitement.

This year a focus was Cobra Extravaganza, and there was a wide range of Cobras present including three original 289 street models that would total into the $1.5MM to $2MM range all together. What was great was that two of the three were out on the track during the unlimited sessions, running laps and putting the cars through their paces. Very cool!

A couple of other highlights. There was a little silver blue LOLA there that was said to be chassis #1. A sweet little piece of history, with several battle scars showing that the owner still Git's It On with the beauty. Another was a 1955 Porsche Spyder that had an amazing story if there's any truth to it - Early 50's Germany an engineer at Porsche quit his job, but had planned his exit for some time, making away with body molds, plans and specs for the Spyder. He went into production in his shop, and before long Ferdinand Porsche got wind of it and went to work to shut him down. The guy was building spec Spyders, complete with Porsche badging, and it took them three years to shut him down. During that three years he built five cars, and this one was one of them! I have no idea what it's worth (or if it's real), but the same guy brought one of the three original Cobras and the Spyder, driving them from the Lake of the Ozarks region over to the show. My kind of guy, for sure! One of the guys in his entourage (the one who conveyed the story of the origin) told me that the Spyder has a 5 gallon gas tank, and they had to stop twice for fuel on the way over. So, so cool.

Rather than select my favorites from the photos here's a link to the entire group and you can click SlideShow or simply scan through at your leisure. If you're offended that they are not hot rods then don't look

https://rspears47.smugmug.com/Lake-Garnett-Grand-Prix/

Man oh Man.. another offering of photos! You've been very busy.

Again, as always, thank you!

Forgot to say, the photos in the folder have all been edited, cropped for what I feel is the best view, and represent about 1/3 of what I shot that day. As a car came into Flatiron I was tracking it shooting three to five frames at a time, then shifting to the next one coming in and repeating. Culling out the chaff got it to what you see in the folder.

So which one wasn't a hot rod?

Thanks, nice of you to share.

Thanks Roger!
That would have been absolutely magnificent to watch.
Those Porsches are ugly critters, don't push any buttons for aesthetics; but they can go like a bad fart in a small room.

Some really nifty hardware there Roger, must have been a blast. I'm struck by how "comfortable" the countryside in the background looks both here and your Old Marais thread/pictures. It was interesting to note the suspension attitude differences from the parade lap shots to the helmet wearing speed shots.

As for the Porsche Spyder story............there's some serious lanyard pulling going on there.............

Originally Posted by Bob Parmenter

As for the Porsche Spyder story............there's some serious lanyard pulling going on there.............

Could be, Uncle Bob, could be. I'm not commenting on the truth of the story, simply passing on the story that was told around the square. May be one of those "Now ask me how it feels to try to see through wool" moments....

Nice stuff Roger