PA Hillclimb

I notice that the PHA is shown as being founded in 1963. Although I can't find it, in the attic, I have a Trophy from the PHA for the 1959 Season. What is the relationship of that organization to the current one? Are there any contestant lists or results available, on line, for the early PA Hill Climbs? Is there anyone in PHA that could transfer my old 8mm movies and some slides onto DVD?

I took delivery of a new 1958 Bug Eye Sprite the Monday after the Watkins Glen GP in October 1958 for the sole purpose of Hill Climb competition. I think I ran the Fall Hershey event in '58 but can't remember for sure. I did run all of the 1959 Hill Climbs except the two sponsored by SCCA, Giants Despair was one of them. With the Bug Eye, I finished in the top three in all events getting twelve trophies in twelve events plus the Class H Production trophy for the season. I ran most events again in 1960 before going into the Army Reserves. In 1961 I sold the Sprite and replaced it with an Abarth Double Bubble which I ran several times a season until 1974. Most years I ran both Hershey and Reading plus a few others. As a member of Old York Road Sports Car Club, I was joined by several other Club members in the PA, Hill Climb events during that time as well as several active Road Racing events. It would be good to hear from other Hill Climbers of that period, especially ones who ran in Class H Production.

Don,

PHA was incorporated in 1963 as a sanctioning body much like SCCA and Nascar, prior to this it was a group of events mostly refered to as the PA State Hillclimb Championship. In the mid-1970's, the local sports car clubs like the Old York Road Sports Car Club could not get insurance coverage for hillclimbs leaving the SCCA as the only game in town. PHA went into a non-active state for a number of years with only 2 or 3 hills a year. In 1990, the old PHA voted to continue as the Northeast Division SCCA's promotional arm for Solo 1 events(Hillclimbs and Time Trials). In this promotional/series role, we are up to 9 events a season.
As far as old results of early events, we have an historian. His name is Ron Mann, rmann@hersheys.com . He has most of the results from the early events but, is missing a few and is trying to recover as much as possible of the early days. I am sure that he would like to meet you and scan some of your photos and slides.
Many of the hillclimbers of that period are still running cars or working events are volunteers, or grown up little kids that continued the family tradition.

Rich Sweigart

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