The Cobras would race in the Production class; before the race, some "competitors" protested that Ken Miles' car violated the Production-class rules, since it had a differential cooler installed.
An easy fix...the diff cooler was bypassed and, to the satisfaction of the judges, the car was permitted to run in the Production class.
The race began...with the three Cobras quickly taking the lead
..and they finished 1-2-3... Bob Johnson, the independent, taking first-place (...mission accomplished?), followed by Dave MacDonald and Ken Miles...beating all the Corvettes.
Now comes the neat part... Shelby and Miles figured that if, without the diff cooler, they were considered "stock"... then it stood to reason that
WITH the diff cooler, they would qualify for "Modified," and should be able to compete in the day's main event.
CS and Miles discuss the strategy of qualifying as a "modified"
The judges had no choice but to agree...so they prepped Ken Miles' car and entered it into the Modifed race, against the Grand Sport Corvette.
...and Miles promptly won the race
and the
Grand Prix Championship at Lake Garnett.
This day was an amazing display of just how dominant the Cobras would become in US road racing competition. Clearly, the team had to feel pretty good about the weekend.
Al Dowd, Shelby's Racing Manager and Competition Director, and some of the crew set up a mock grave in the infield, with a little headstone that read, "Here Lies the Corvettes"
The Shelby crew constructs a mock grave for the Corvette team.
Ken Miles must have certainly felt pumped after both his team and personal achievements that day; Ken found the moment right to give a big, cheesy grin to a photographer.
Miles flashes a smile to the spectators.
Other than a misstep at Kent in the following month, the Cobras went on to finish first place in
EVERY remaining USRRC event for the rest of the year...taking the USRRC Championship in GT for 1963.
oh...they did it as well in 1964.
and.. oh, yeah....in 1965, too.
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