Would it?
The cars were on a .686 mile oval racetrack. Presumably the headwind on one stretch became a tail wind on the opposing stretch.
While you express the reasonable bottom-line sentiment that "This is nowhere near what we need to realize a marketable automobile," you've still got to recognize that this kind of thing may produce that one person who will finally succeed in bringing forth a technological achievement that will, at last, enable such vehicles to be produced.
So, look at this as a stepping-stone, not a destination; a "day of small beginnings". Don't despise it.