I drove on Greenwood Roadway yesterday!

chuckbrandt · #1 (**permalink**) 04-18-2005, 01:59 AM

My son Duncan and I had the rare priveledge of driving my cobra yesterday on the historical Greenwood Roadway 3 mile road course near Indianola Iowa. It is in poor shape but you could still get a feel for what it must have been like when Ed Leslie in the King Cobra and Ken Miles in a Cobra raced there.

I, and I'm sure some of the others that were there, will post more info and more photos later in the week, but here is an interesting story I heard at the meet. This was told to a friend of mine by John Morton and later coroborated by Caroll Shelby himself, so I'm pretty sure it's true.

While preparing the cobras to race at Greenwood the mechanics just couldn't get chassis set right. They decided they needed an alignment rack and arranged to use one at Capitol Ford in Des Moines that evening. Rather than fool with the transporter some of the drivers and mechanics decided to just drive the cars into town. (note there were 5 cobras at the July 19th, 1964 race, not sure if this is when the story happened or not) For the first part of the drive they had a Warren County sheriffs department police escort but the escort pulled over when they got to the end of their jurisdiction. The Des Moines police were all over them as soon as they got into town. They did manange to talk the police into letting them deliver the cars to Capitol Ford before all of them were hauled off to jail! Somehow they got ahold of Caroll back at the track and he came in and bailed them all out, but he evidently wasn't any too happy about it.

More later, Chuck

marps · #2 (**permalink**) 04-18-2005, 06:12 AM

Chuck,
You manage to find the coolest historical cobra stuff! Looks like you guys had a great time.

RallySnake · #3 (**permalink**) 04-18-2005, 12:10 PM

Chuck,

Wow, thanks for the great pictures!

Paul

GEORGE ANDERSON · #4 (**permalink**) 04-18-2005, 09:28 PM

Chuck...great images...it cool your son went with and enjoyed too!
George

PDHse · #5 (**permalink**) 04-19-2005, 08:13 AM

Wow great pictures Chuck , any luck with the local newspaper? Paul

chuckbrandt · #6 (**permalink**) 04-19-2005, 08:20 AM

Hi Paul,
I haven't gotten around to trying yet. I think I may have to go to something like the Iowa State University library. I'll let you know what I dig up.

Chuck

chuckbrandt · #7 (**permalink**) 04-20-2005, 02:49 AM

I have requested the next published date of the Des Moines Register after the USRRC race on microfilm through the interlibrary loan system. Fingers are crossed, probably will take a couple of weeks.

I'd love to track down the jail story!

Chuck

PDHse · #8 (**permalink**) 04-20-2005, 12:04 PM

Great stuff Chuck, it would be great to see new old pictures of the Shelby crew.

chuckbrandt · #9 (**permalink**) 04-21-2005, 10:57 AM

My Buddy dropped off a CD of pictures he took at the track. Here are some highlights.

On my website I'm working with the pictures Duncan took through the windshield. I think I can do a pretty good tour of the track with a map showing where the picture is taken. I still have a few more to go through, probably check in a couple of days.

Note: These were taken on different runs, NO I Didn't Get Passed!

Later, Chuck

PDHse · #10 (**permalink**) 04-21-2005, 12:54 PM

Great looking Cobra Chuck, and the photos are excellent too.

chuckbrandt · #11 (**permalink**) 04-28-2005, 04:16 AM

I just finished updating my greenwood site with all the pictures and info I have so far. I'm still waiting for the newspaper microfilm and have some scanned race posters coming.

Comments and criticisms of the content and layout always appreciated. New content appreciated even more

Chuck

Greenwood Roadway Site

PDHse · #12 (**permalink**) 04-29-2005, 02:49 AM

Chuck, excellent website. In the King Cobra section , Ken Miles is seen reversing the KC, next to him is a silver Corvette. It must be Dave Macdonalds as it has a cobra sticker on it. Paul

chuckbrandt · #13 (**permalink**) 04-29-2005, 06:28 AM

Hey Paul,
Thanks for the compliments. Man, you have got GOOD eyes. I had to go to the original to find the sticker you were talking about. I also think it's reflected in the mirror. That is funny!

Chuck

chuckbrandt · #14 (**permalink**) 05-14-2005, 04:41 AM

I got the Des Moines Register microfilm for July 1964 and found lots of information on the USRRC race. There were a few little blurbs the week before and coverage of tech which was performed at the Des Moines Airport Friday and evidently involved braking from speed, qualifying results from Saturday, and Race results from Sunday. Not many pictures and most focused on Jim Hall's Chapparal which was the favorite. No mention of the jail incident that I found, but I got to thinking this was '64, they probably wouldn't have printed something like that anyway.

I plan to retype the better articles on my web page in the next week or so. I still need to check the Indianola paper which isn't on microfilm. Not sure when I can do that, the place that has it is only open thursday afternoons.

Later, Chuck

PDHse · #15 (**permalink**) 05-14-2005, 10:35 AM

Good work Chuck, look forward to reading more. Cheers

chuckbrandt · #16 (**permalink**) 05-14-2005, 11:24 AM

I was starting to type in the qualifying results and found what I was looking for!

"About the only excitement of the hot afternoon came when mechanics of the Carroll Shelby Cobra team were picked up on Highway 69 by the Iowa Highway Patrol for driving cars on the highway without license"

A bit different than the telling I heard but that should confirm the story.

Chuck

ff2_emtb · #17 (**permalink**) 05-14-2005, 02:41 PM

It is unfortunate that Greenwood has fallen into so much disrepair. It seems like every couple of years someone gets the notion of reopening the track, but it never happens. I think the $$$ to get it in shape is the biggest factor. I live in Des Moines and every so often go down there and just poke around. Still a very cool place. Now, if we can jsut get Nascar to let us run our cars on the new track in Newton....

Travis

chuckbrandt · #18 (**permalink**) 05-14-2005, 03:18 PM

Yes it is a shame, because the track looked really fun. Hey you had the Ruan Grand Prix for a few years, maybe someone with money and power will take up this cause.

Chuck

Mark Redmond · #19 (**permalink**) 07-13-2005, 02:53 PM

Chuck Chuck Chuck - Mark Redmond here. How come you didn't tell me you were finished with it. I want to drive it Please.

Chuck and I used to work together and I remember his motor sitting in pieces in his office. Now I see he has it all together. Great job Chuck, when do I get to drive it!

When I was working on my car he lent me the use of his welder a couple of times, saved me tons of time and money. It is not a Cobra but we must like the same color.

chuckbrandt · #20 (**permalink**) 07-13-2005, 04:36 PM

Hey Mark,
Your car looks SWEET... You can drive mine if I can drive yours.

Actually, there is still a motor in my office, this is a different motor. The motor in the cobra is going in my pickup when I get the motor in my office finished. Confused? yeah so is my wife

Do you remember Mike Arps from where we used to work together? He makes cobra kits now. Click on the Hurricane thing on the left.

We need to have some kind of alumni cruise night. Maybe Evan Stark will get his sublime mopar out.

Later, Chuck