Got some input from the historical society that puts on an annual revival event that helped to refine some details, including deletion of the haybale chicane (evidently a latter-day safety innovation added by enduro karters who still use the course... which means that in the good old days a brake failure on the fastest part of track gave you the option of ditching into the lake or launching off the top of the dam into the valley beyond
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It does appear that the haybale chicane was in use during the '63 Grand Prix. See red text below.
Cobra Fords Rule Garnett Track
Garnett, Kas. -- A mongoose might have beaten the Cobras yesterday; none of the sports cars competing here could.
In their first appearance at the fifth annual Garnett Grand Prix sports car race, the AC Cobra Fords simply ran away from everything on the track. Both top feature races were won by the cars which have been racing only nine months.
With 65,000 persons watching in 90 degree weather, Ken Miles of Hollywood, Calif., outpoled every car in the feature race.
He finished ahead of Harry Heuer, Chicago, driving a Chaparall [front engine Chaparral I], and Jack Hinkle, a Wichita banker, driving a Cooper Monaco Ford.
The victory earned Miles the overall trophy as best driver.
But the big stars were the Cobras. Four of them were lined up in the first three grid positions of the A, B, and C, productions in the 4th race.
They tore away from a standing start and when it was over they had lapped every car but one, a Corvette Sting Ray, driven by Dr. Dick Thompson, Washington, D.C.
The Cobra's victory had been anticipated by Bob Johnson's crew. Johnson, from Columbus, O., won the A production race. On the infield, before the races, his crew placed a headstone on a freshly dug grave. Beneath the head of a grinning Cobra, the epitaph read: "Here lies the Sting Rays." A spray of flowers (Lotus, of course) completed the funeral effect.
Johnson's victory was postponed when Harvey Woodward was forced to drive his Elva Mark 6 in the Garnett lake. Woodward, who lives at 4115 West Fifty-fourth terrace, Roeland Park,
said that as his car approached a chicane (an artificial barrier set up to slow the drivers) on the back straight away, his throttle apparently stuck.
To avoid colliding with cars jammed up at the chicane ahead of him, Woodward said he cut right.
His car, traveling at about 80 m.p.h., flew about 40 feet and landed right side up in the lake.
"It went in as smooth as a skiff." Woodward said.
As the car started to settle in the water, Woodward released his safety belt (he estimated he was 10 feet deep then) and swam to the top. His car continued down another 30 feet.
A hot sun shining on the asphalt made the course slick. Miles said that braking was extremely difficult on four corners of the track where oil had been spilled.
"The last 15 laps I had to coast into corners or risk a spinout." he said.
The only accident resulted not because of a slick track, however, but because of sticky brakes.
Mrs. Phyllis Kiser, driving in the Production G race, said that as her car approached the flat iron turn in her third lap, the brakes stuck sender her car sideways and flipping it over. She suffered minor cuts and bruises. The race was stopped and restarted.