Dragon III Hillclimb Wrap up

Talk about Hill Climb events here and watch this site for any last minute changes to the schedule.

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tedebayer
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Dragon III Hillclimb Wrap up

Post by tedebayer »

In spite of rain and some timing issues Saturday, we had a GREAT weekend of racing on that beautiful mountain! Full article here : http://www.dragonhillclimb.com
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We had a large group of Novice Drivers who attended our classroom and enjoyed the help of a Mentor driver over the weekend. We had no incidents of any kind and EMS reported with over 1500 spectators, not even a bee sting or a chigger bite! The car selection ranged from a Cheetah DSR to a Karmann Ghia, a Factory Five Type 65 Coupe to a Locost 7 and from a vintage Venus Formula Vee to a Fiat 124 Spider. We had several drivers in their 70's and several drivers in their teens... and 4 lady drivers who competed well and encouraged many others to follow and race next Spring. The townspeople welcomed our drivers... many stories of opening after hours to mount tires or sell parts and volunteers to promote the event. 12 of our cars were sponsored by local businesses for a pre-arranged $85 in cash, food, gas, or discounts on accommodations.

Here's a video of our course in a miata... 2.4 miles is a long trip and it rewards repeat drivers. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkFKyyF ... r_embedded

The part you will be most interested in is how George fared on his FIRST trip to the Dragon Hillclimb.
George and Blair Underwood were on the hill days before the event cutting grass, mowing and setting up the hill and their help was GREATLY appreciated. George sat out Sunday due to rain (due to potential rust concerns of the driver more than the BBR Shark). Sunday he made one recon run and one "at speed" run which was good enough to take Specials Class win, the Fastest Time of Day and the coveted Dragonslayer Sword! After a moment for the picture of George receiving his sword from our Dragon mascot and local Beauty Queen, George used the sword to spear one of our inflatable dragons, hoisted it up on his shoulder and strutted off through the crowd with it's lifeless body swaying to and fro. The crowd went wild with applause and cheers for our new King of the Hill! George never fails to entertain ... and we are glad to have him running with us. Blair managed to push his DSR Cheetah to a Class win and 2nd Overall for the weekend!
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While George set Fastest Time of Day, he did NOT take the Record for the Hill set by Cory Friedman in his Porsche GT3 Grand Am car at Dragon I. This gives George a GOOD reason to keep taking his vitamins and come back for Dragon IV in June 23-24 of 2013. Past Winner Heikki Rinta-Koski in Lotus 7, Blair Underwood in his DSR Cheetah, Rally Driver Robert Martai in his Evo and George are all within striking distance of the Hill Overall Record... and Cory says he is planning on returning to defend his record in the Spring. Now, if we can just get a certain driver from PHA in a Black Evo to make the trip to the Carolinas.. we will have a shoot out that will long be remembered. As we say down he'ah in the South... " COME GET SOME!"

Please accept a BIG Thank You to PHA and it's members for inspiration, advice and fellowship with our SEDIV event staff and hillclimb drivers. It has been a pleasure for our event managers to speak with you on timing systems, promotions and safety. We HAVE a Novice program largely because of you and it is definitely allowing growth and adding new drivers but in a SAFE manner. We will continue to send drivers up to your events and hope you will join us for some of ours next year. We are building a lot of new interest and excitement in the sport of Hillclimbing in the South... it is our hope that one day, men who climb mountains with ropes will be frustrated that they have to explain to people "NO WE DON'T USE Sports Cars!" ; )
jerdeitzel
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Re: Dragon III Hillclimb Wrap up

Post by jerdeitzel »

I was able to head south for the Chasing the Dragon hillclimb this past weekend. They put on a great show, and it is a hill i highly recommend to anyone that wants to taste a different flavor then what we have in PA. Ted and his group are really putting together a nice product for us that are addicted to this sport. :)
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