Breakneck Hillclimb - 1955 and 1956

[Bergsteiger 71]

Hi Gang!

You may (or may not) recognize me as half of "Team Bergsteiger" from the 2007 Polish Mt. Hillclimb. Well, my half did not show up in 2008, but the other half (my brother) did and campaigned the car. I live in Atlanta and I just could not fold time and space this year to make it work out, but I look forward to making an event or two next year.

Anyway, I function as a part-time historian for the National Road Autosport club's records related to the Cumberland Nationals SCCA race - held at the Cumberland Airport from 1953 to 1971. It has been really interesting thorough our involvement with PHA to find that many of the same cars and drivers appear in your history and ours. One really neat overlap in the history occurs in Flintstone, MD where the Polish Mt. HC is held today. In the summer of 1955 and again in 1956, the DC region of SCCA sanctioned a hillclimb called the "Breakneck" on a county road not far from the stretch of old 40 that we use today. We have gotten to know this bit of history through one of the local organizers who contributed programs and other material to our archive.

I have scanned and posted the material at the link below. Forgive the file server format, I will *eventually* create a web page around this. I am sure that Ron Mann and others will find this material of interest. As a club, we have focused on Carrol Shelby's win in 1956 driving the open wheel Ferrari that he campaigned on the Eastern HC circuit that year, but there were many noteworthys at the event (and 1955 as well). One of the neatest items that we have in 1956 are the hand written notes of the announcer. He notes that there were six Corvettes at the meeting - the largest turnout to date! Historians will note that Dick Thompson came in third driving a Vette, just behind Paul O'Shea in a Mercedes.

We still lack offical results for 1955, so if anyone out there has anything, we would love to share with you. We also have an frustrating lack of photos related to the Breakneck, if you happen across those we would love to see them as well. In other posts we will share some of our Cumberland Nationals photos too, you will recognize some cars and people in those for sure. I am leaving for the Petit LeMans this evening, so if you do not hear back from me it is just that I am out of pocket.

The link: http://www.cbenatls.com/breakneck_hillclimb/

Regards,
Scott

[Mel Horn]

Would you happen to have any information regarding the Town Hill/ Breezewood event that took place approx 1959? I am told it ws on old Rt 26 near Town Hill but unsure which side of the mountain.

It had apparently less than 20 entries.

My original information source didn't come through...

[Bergsteiger 71]

Mel, I will ask our Cumerland guys. They say that there were other HC around Flintstone into the 60s that were locally sanctioned, I had not heard that they were on Town Hill - but I will ask.

[dspgti]

please make all replies to new Topic area for "historic"

[Bergsteiger 71]

Would you happen to have any information regarding the Town Hill/ Breezewood event that took place approx 1959? I am told it ws on old Rt 26 near Town Hill but unsure which side of the mountain.

It had apparently less than 20 entries.

My original information source didn't come through...

Mel, my survey of the Cumberland guys did not find anything specific to Town Hill or Breezewood, sorry. We did however recall a feature article in SCCA's SportsCar from 2007 that discussed that piece of abandoned PA turnpike that once held speed events. Was it on the PA side of Sideling Hill? Anyone else see that article?

[Ron Mann]

I saw that article....but I don't think it was related to our Breezewood/Towne Hill event. The key is with the Central PA region SCCA. They have a Dave Dix listed as Historian...I have emailed him...I can't remember if he could not shed any light, or he didn't get back to me. It has been some time ago....either way, we don't have anything!

[Bergsteiger 71]

A friend of ours sent us scans of the SCCA DC Region Straightpipe covering the 1956 Breakneck National Hillclimb. This article contains a lot of information that we did not have and some stories that we had not heard. For instance, this article tells us that Shelby stripped the gears on the ex-Ascari grand prix car after the first run, and had to take his second run with only two cogs. The congeniality of the Flintstone VFD appears to be unchanged over the years, being noted several times. Interesting also that the writer remarks on the abundance of Corvettes that turned out for the event.

Enjoy!

http://www.cbenatls.com/breakneck_hillc ... e_article/

[dspgti]

What a great look into the past. Drivers didn't drink and went to bed early? yeah, right! Bromo and black coffee, I remember it well. It didn't work.

Dave Y.

[Ron Mann]

I like the mention of Ike Williamson, PHA's first Secretray in 1959 and 2nd President in 1960.