Submitted
by Bob D'Amore
09-Jul-2007
How about 100 degrees
and just about that much humidity -- kind of appropriate for what has
to be the hottest PA. hill climb in recent years. The Giant rises 844
feet over its precise one mile of smooth asphalt. There are 5 turns
and a rolling 22 degree slope that keep it from technically being an
NHRA type event. Darryl Danko, who lives just past the finish line was
able to average 93.99 MPH between the start line and his driveway. Despite
already owning the record with a 39 sec. flat run in '06, Darryl, after
hanging most of the caution tape, putting up banners on the telephone
poles and running most of the wire, jumped into his Rahal Lola T89 and
scorched the hill to the tune of 38.3 seconds. He showcased his versatility
by shooting off the road just before the Elbow, clearing an eight foot
drainage ditch, yet within 3 hours he was back on the course shredding
the asphalt. Following his victory he began collecting the trash barrels
and taking down all the paraphenalia he had put up. Darryl and his father
Jack sponsor the Giant's Despair hill climb, which means they not only
subsidize it financially, but they along with volunteers, get to do
all the physical work to the hill. Darryl was also thoughtful enough
to reserve a pit space for me near the start so I would not damage the
side pods on my McKee crossing the rough pit road.
Four of us drove down from New England -- Butch King (sorry, he's 'Charles
King Jr.' in the official program), Bill Rutan, myself and a very brave
soul whose name I never learned. Butch had talked his unknown friend
into showing up at the event with a very neat SBC powered Porsche 914.
As one wag told me, "You should go see the 'picnic basket' with
a small block Chevy in it. It's being teched." The car drove the
tech inspectors crazy, particularly when it came to classifying it.
Finally they decided since Butch was responsible for its being there,
they put it in the S3 class with him. Why not? He already had the record
holding 900+ HP Indy Lola, a supercharged big block Ford clone of Jerry's
Patriot, right down to its automatic tranny and twin fans on the rear
radiator to run against. For good measure they added a wicked, low,
modified roadster containing a small block somewhere beneath its downforce
producing bodywork. Oh yes, there also was a run-of-the-mill SBC powered
modified running S3. Butch battled mightily, changing gears, carbs and
spark plugs like a top-fueler between rounds. He left the line banging
on the rev limiter in all 4 gears, bringing the thousands of cheering
spectators to their feet. He finally chewed his way to third, trophying
in a class where none of the cars weighed half of what the Blazer weighed,
and all save the Buick-Lola had hairy V8s.
Bill copped a break and finally got to run Vintage 3 -- it's the class
for pre-1963 Sports racers and formula cars. I'm not sure what kinf
of logic prevailed as Bill's Canvas Carpet is a 1951 VW Beetle and should
have been running in the Roman Chariot street mod class -- if there
was one. I suggested to the organizers that they add together the car's
age and the driver's age, and subtract the time from that total, to
get the winner. E.g.; Bill's car and he add up to 132 years. Subtract
his time of 56 seconds and he scores 76. Compare that to the hill record
holder's 58 years minus his 38 sec run and he scores only an unimpressive
20. Bill actually won the event by a mile. As it was he creamed the
V3 record by 4 seconds and will now be listed in the Giant's Program
as the V3 record holder -- probably forever. As you can imagine my scoring
suggestion was not received with any enthusiasm by the PHA officials.
I would have come in second to Bill with a 64 score.
The SBC Porsche 914 sporting fresh Massachusetts license plates ran
a very creditable 53 seconds, which is kind of amazing for a first-timer
on that hill. He was about 2 full seconds behind his mentor and host,
Charles King Jr. Butch was actually faster last year. I think the safety
steward's insistence that Butch remain on all 4 wheels at all times
intimidated him. Last year a spectator's video showed Butch going through
the Devil's Elbow on two wheels, raising such a cloud of dust that the
spectators disappeared into it. I timed the video and so-help me, Butch
was not only faster than I around the 'Elbow', but faster than the Lola
T89 with its maginificent wings and ground effects.
I finally found a hill where I was not afraid to use the gas pedal and
placed 4th overall, and was the fastest of the non-ground effects cars.
I was also told by many that I was faster over the 1520 feet that separate
the start from the Devil's Elbow than any other car to include the Lola.
According to my tach I was hitting over 140 MPH as my front wheels left
the ground just before braking for the Elbow. Further up the hill screaming
across the 900 feet before the finish, well above where any spectators
were allowed, no one could see me repeatedly miss my shift into fourth
gear - and I would coast across the finish. I was still able to lower
the H3 class record by another 3 seconds. The driver of the Driscoll-clone
car came up to me after his last run and asked if I had recently gone
to 'driver's school'. I'm sure he meant it in a nice way (?).
I am learning a lot about wings. The less angle of attack I use, the
faster I go -- which means I'm still not using the downforce to go through
the turns faster. On my 2d run I 'lost it' in 3 of the 5 turns. Each
time the huge side panels seemed to catch the slide and stop it well
short of the shoulders. This gave me quite a bit of courage -- kind
of like a drunk who starts bar fights. It did allow me to use the throttle
a lot more than I had anywhere else. Who would believe a car that accelerates
harder in 4th gear than in the first three, thanks to the wing's downforce
finally hooking up the rear tires? I was going to take the wing off
until it dawned on me I'd lose that 4th gear punch going into the Elbow.
It was a premier event and reflected all the fine work that went into
its preparation. There was a super dinner party Saturday night at the
fire hall for all competitors and their guests. My thanks to all involved.
Congrats to Bill for his new class record, and to Butch for thumbing
his nose at overhwelming odds.
Brgds,
Bob D'Amore
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10-Jul-2007
My Giant's Despair
report was hopelessly inaccurate. I really thought Butch had reformed.
However a new fan to hill climbing wrote in to the PHA forum this morning,
gushing all over about how exciting it was to watch the fantastic action
by the Devil's Elbow. He was particularly amazed by a Chevy Blazer that
repeatedly 2-wheeled through the Devil's Elbow. Darryl Danko turns a
Lola T89 into a giant frisbee in the same spot and all this bloke remembers
is the bycyling Blazer?
By the way would you believe the wild crowd up at the Elbow all know
Jackie King, referring to her as the 'Blazer's Mother'. So help me.
PHA puts her up there as crowd control because the mob respects her.
Before Jackie it took 30 state troopers to do the same job.
I want to make sure that Bill Rutan understands that in the Vintage
3 class one does not have to run bias ply vintage tires from the actual
period (1964-72), complete with authentic canvas showing, and UV hardening,
etc. Buy some new tires and put that V3 record up on the moon, Bill.
P.S. Show up at Duryea and put the class record there out of sight with
the 'Tub'. Let's start filling their record book with NEHA names. Bill
Hudson? Sherm? Steve?
I think Bill's going high hat and plans to road race with VSCCA. He
also has good news for Sherm -- somebody from Europe put a deposit on
the German-Buick.
Ta-ta,
Bob D'Amore
---------------------------------------
12-Jul-2007
I found a 1966 report
on Giant's Despair. Our Bill Rutan was tearing that place up 41 years
ago -- and he's more than 3 seconds faster today -- on the same tires.
Saturday morning saw late comers taking their practice runs, including
Hal Keck, who brought a 427 Cobra, looking for his third consecutive
win. We also saw a strange looking vehicle of Volkswagen origin on the
line. Owner-driver Bill Rutan, Essex, CT explained it was solely for
hill climbing. Open-wheeled on a 1952 VW chassis, it has a standard
Volks nose piece, aluminum side panels, and a 1500 cc Porsche Carrera
engine under a vinyl deck lid, and is driven through an ancient VW crash
box. Weird though it looked, the "bathtub special" and Bill's
other mount, a Quantam Saab Formula C, were the only under-two-liter
cars to break the one minute barrier; the VW time of 59.330 and the
Formula C time of 59.485, gave Rutan a matched pair of first place trophies.
Brgds,
Bob D
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