26 replies to this topic

[ffstorer]

I am assisting the Garnett Kansas car club with an observance of the 50th anniv. of the sports car races at Lake Garnett.

My information on the entries and results from the 1959 race are limited based on an article in Sports Car, August 1959, Jack Hinkle was the overall winner in a Maserati (a 300s?). Tom Newcommer was listed as the GM winner in a Lotus (11?). Ken Kennedy of KC won GP in an Alfa (what model?). Patsy Randle won the Ladies Race in an Alfa. Harvey Woodward of KC won EP in an "Ace Bristol".

We do not have a complete list of entries or results from the 1959 race. We have more information from later years.

All rememberances, pictures, etc. from the Garnett races is appreciated.

Send me an email and I will send the club's press release. The June 6, 2009 event will include laps around the course which is in its orginal configuration and in excellent condition.

Fred

[fbarrett]

Originally posted by ffstorer
Patsy Randle won the Ladies Race in an Alfa.

Fred

Fred:

Patsy was Bill Randle's wife. They both raced and ran Eichhorn's, an independent Porsche shop in Denver, through the 1960s. I met her only briefly, but she must have been a character. Once, she got mad at Bill and took off out of town in his Porsche 904; wound up in Oklahoma somewhere. She evidently had an affair with one of their mechanics, so the marriage ended, and Bill moved to California, remarried, and ran a service department at a Porsche dealer. Both have passed now, but their shop spawned a whole generation of Denver Porsche mechanics: Grady Clay, Al Lager, Pat Moyle, George Teague, and others.

Other than Sports Car, I'm unsure where to look for results, but I'll give it a shot. There are still quite a few Denver-area drivers around who raced at Lake Garnett. I bet you could get to them through the SCCA Colorado Region newsletter or web site.

Frank

[Jerry Entin]

Fred:
Jack Hinkle had sold his 300S Maserati by then and he won the Lake Garnett feature in a 2-liter 200SI model. Tom Newcomer ran a Lotus 11 and Ken Kennedy an Alfa Veloce.

all research Willem Oosthoek

[HistoricMustang]

Welcome Fred!

This is Lake Garnett (1991 image). Does the course take the drivers around what appears to be a beautiful lake?

Henry

[ffstorer]

It does. The couse is in its orginal configuration and in excellent condition. It is still used for park access and endro kart racing. See link below for a map.

http://nrsccahistory...akeGarnett.html

Fred

[fbarrett]

Fred:

I checked Speed Age; its final issue, July 1959, had a brief announcement of the upcoming Lake Garnett races. On The Grid didn't start until later. Ah! The October 1959 issue of Road & Track has a report! By Frank Bennett, it's too long to re-type here and has no photos, but if you e-mail me with your mailing address, I'll send you a photocopy. In summary:

July 4th, opening day, thunder showers, weather clearing
Practice: Two TR-3s flipped coming out of the dip
123 cars entered, largest ever in a Midwest event
Saturday: five races
1st race, for novices, 26 competitors: winner was Ken Kennedy, Kansas City, Alfa Veloce; second was Bernie Lynn, Alfa
Ladies Race Saturday afternoon: 12 entries; winner Patsy Randle, Newcastle, Wyoming (this was before they moved to Denver), Alfa, new lap record of 2min, 22sec; after big battle with Grace Harris, Kansas City, Elva (probably second)
G Modified: winner Tom Newcomer, Lotus, car #99, his 13th win in 14 starts; lap time 2:12.4; second, Ed French, Kansas City, Lotus

Sunday, clear weather
Big-bore race: 15 laps, 29 entries, Leaders were Jack Hinkle and Bob Aylward, both in Maseratis, both from Wichita; two laps from finish, Bill Moore, Wichita, Corvette Special, skidded at Muleshoe, flipped into the lake, fished out uninjured by marine rescue squad; race was red-flagged with Hinkle first, Aylward second.
Ladies Race: winner Grace Harris; Patsy Randle DNF, mechanical failure; second was Edna Sherman, Alfa
Feature race: 20 laps: winner Jack Hinkle; second Bob Spooner (B Production), St. Louis; third Buddy Berlin (B Modified), Ocmulgee, Okalhoma. Hinkle's top speed was 133.3 mph; his average race speed was 80.7 mph.
Other Sunday winners:
B Mod: Walt Gray
B Prod: Paul Packard
C Prod: Homer Frazie
D Prod: Cecil Goeldner
F Prod: Michael Collins
MGA Class: R.E.L. Hayes
E Prod: Harvey Woodward
TR-3 Class: John Mahley
G Prod: Ronald Hunter (probably the same Ron Hunter from Denver who raced in SCCA forever and died of a heart attack in the pits at Pueblo some years ago)
H Mod: Ed Alsbury
MG Class: Joe Mayer
H Prod: Frank Manley
I Prod: Bill Ong

Frank

[ElvaMK2]

I found this photo in Sports Car (SCCA) mag while looking for info on my Elva MK II. The second car in the lineup is a MK II and looks like the Owen Coon/Ralph Treischmann MKII. They were from Chicago. Coon sold his car around 1959 so either one could be the owner of the car when it ran at Garnett. (I'm not sure of the date of the photo).

http://img6.imagesha...cklkgarnett.jpg

[etceterini.com]

Here is the cover of the 1960 program (that I just got in the mail today)
which shows the winners of the 1959 race:




Cliff Reuter
www.etceterini.com

[raceannouncer2003]

Cliff

The photo of the #2 car is, I believe, Jack Hinkle in his first Birdcage Maserati, 2456. But he didn't get that till 1960, did he? Which Maserati was he driving when he won in 1959 at Lake Garnett? Maybe that photo on the program was taken in 1960?

Vince H.

[ERault]

What is the car behind the Elva and the Abarth on the photo posted by ElvaMK2 ? Could it be Hinkle's Maserati 200 SI in 1959 ?

[Jerry Entin]

As Vince mentions, Jack Hinkle did not get his Tipo 61 Maserati until 1960. His first race in the car came at San Marcos, Texas, on April 17, 1960, so the cover photo of Hinkle was a recent one.

The Maserati in the 1959 Lake Garnett photo, behind the Abarth and the Elva, is difficult to identify because it only only partially. It could be the Jack Hinkle 200SI, the Bobbie Aylward 250S Maserati or the Enus Wilson 300S.

If the hard-to-read race number is indeed #21 [my first impression], the car would be the Aylward 250S.


all research Willem Oosthoek

[Cecil Goeldner]

I drove #26DP Austin~Healey to a 1st in Class in the 1959 Lake Garnett Grand Prix. I have some Healey photos of that era. See my web site here http://pages.sbcglob...ider/index.html





Cecil Goeldner

[Cecil Goeldner]

On the Maserati in the photo, I agree that is Bobby Aylward's 250S. He often arrived late and unregistered. Then if the number he had pre-painted on his car was already spoken for he carried a roll of tape and simply taped the number 1 in front of the existing number on his car. This looks to me to be that or a similar situation with the numer 121 visable on the rear deck.

Cecil Goeldner
#26 DP

[Wolfi]

Hi,

I own the Bobby Aylward Maserati 250S, #2431. When was this picture taken. According to my data Aylward raced with #121 at the Stuttgart Inaugural Race in June 59 and at Lake Garnett in July 1962. Do you have more information about Aylward?

Regards

Wolfi

[ffstorer]

Wolfo:

Great news; it is rewarding to make the connection to Bobby's Maserati!

I would like to share with you more information about Bobby. Most of what I "know" are stories and legend and several people in this neck of the woods have others.

Because I can't seperate fact from legend I don't want to do anyone any harm.

Can you send me off line contact info?

Fred
Bartlesville, Oklahoma

[etceterini.com]

This then is Bobby's Maserati:

[Jerry Entin]

Wolfie:

Bobby Aylward ran his first race with the 250S, chassis 2431, at Mansfield, LA [that is Louisiana, not Los Angeles] on August 31, 1958. Before that he raced a Lotus 11 during 1958. At Mansfield Bobby's race number was 121 and in spite of banging in the right side of his Maserati's nose, he finished 2nd overall in the feature, only beaten by Ray Jones in the A.D. Logan Ferrari 410S.


all research Willem Oosthoek

[Wolfi]

Hi,

these are the results I have (apart from the one you added) so far for Aylward in the Maserati 250S. Any corrections, additions wellcome.


09/20-21/58 Galveston ? Bobby Aylward 2nd OA
(crashed into Rose at the checkered flag)

11/ 01-02 /58 Oklahoma Petit #21 Bobby Aylward 7th IC Grand Prix

05/23-24/59 Vichy – St-Louis Region #91 Aylward

06/??/59 Stuttgart Inaugural Race #121 Aylward 2nd OA (4th race) 1st OA (6th race)

07/11-12/59 Buckley Field #112 Aylward 5th OA
Races, Colorado

10/04/59 Kansas City Races ? Aylward 2nd OA


07/7-8/62 Lake Garnett GP #121 Aylward DNF
KS


Regards

Wolfi

[Jerry Entin]

Wolfi:
Here are some of the races Willem Oosthoek has for the car:
Bobby Aylward's 250S Maserati:

First race, as discussed, August 30-31, 1958, Mansfield

The SCCA calendar featured a race where, if hosted, Aylward would have entered, but I have never been able to find any race reports: September 13-14, 1958, Hutchinson, Kansas

The September 20-21, 1958 Galveston races were called Golden Days [in spite of the rain]

His victory at Stuttgart, Arkansas, was on April 18-19, 1959, not in June

The thread-starting July 4-5, 1959, Lake Garnett Inaugural is still missing

He appeared in the November 7-8, 1959, Oklahoma City Petite Prix

The switch to Chevy power must have come in 1960, although the combination was never very successful.

all research Willem Oosthoek

[Wolfi]

Thank you! Do you have some of the missing results?

Regards

Wolfi

[Jerry Entin]

I presume that, after finishing 2nd OA in the prelim of the inaugural Lake Garnet Regional, Bobby Aylward retired in the feature race. He was too competitive to let a Corvette get ahead!

all research Willem Oosthoek

[etceterini.com]

Could the 05/23-24/59 Vichy – St-Louis Region #91 Aylward have been at Smartt Field
St. Charles/ St. Louis?? My Dad thinks he took the above photo at Smartt Field....

[Jerry Entin]

It may well have been Smartt Field. Never ever heard of Vichy and I just looked it up on my good old AAA atlas. It is in the middle of nowhere, a Hamlet just off Interstate 44. I doubt Vichy even had an airstrip. Nearest towns are Jefferson City [30 miles] and St. Louis [50 miles].


all research Willem Oosthoek

[Terry Walker]

Vichy, Mo definitely has an airport:

[Wolfi]

The Vichy event was suggested by John de Boer.

Regards

Wolfi

[etceterini.com]

OK,
I just talked to my Dad and he does remember going to Vichy/Rolla to a race,
so that must be were the photo was taken.

-cliff

[HistoricMustang]

Thanks Chuck!

http://www.chuckbran...egarnettkcs.htm

Those were some wild times back in the 60's and 70's.

Henry