[Fot] other venues to SCCA - Final Thoughts

[DSPGTi at aol.com]

Let me give you a little observation. You can judge if it has any merit.
 
Several years ago, a group got together and revived the Hershey Hillclimb, in 
a town in Pennsylvania of the same name. The hillclimb was originally run 
many years ago when hillclimbs in the East were actually part of the SCCA 
National Championship. It was held on the property of the Hershey Foods Company (the 
Hershey Bar and Hershey Kisses) on an access road to the Hershey Hotel. In 
order to bring back the event the organizers convinced the Hershey Company that 
it was going to be a "Historic Event" and that a significant piece or racing 
history was going to be preserved. The first year had a modest turn out but some 
of the cars that showed had significant racing history and created a lot of 
interest. I ran my TR4 that year and once more two years later. The second year 
didn't see much improvement and there were a lot of questions about adequate 
insurance coverage. The organizers approached the Antique Automobile Club of 
America which is headquartered in Hershey, PA as well. Yes, they could bring to 
the table a suitable insurance coverage package. The only problem was by 
their standards (AACA) cars would qualify if they were 25 years old. The next 
couple of years, the numbers of entries increased. Just this year they had 70 some 
entries, about twice the number from the start. Think that is good? By my 
observation very few cars and racing significance this year. I personally had no 
interest in running there. My reason for being there was I rented out my 1980 
ITC Rabbit to someone who had an interest in getting into "Vintage" racing. 
The field had a mixture of up to date SCCA cars (a bunch of current hillclimb 
cars from our PHA group), Bugeyes with Rotary motors, Legends cars with 
motorcycle motors a few C4 (1984 up) Corvettes. There were maybe a half to a dozen 
authentic Vintage cars.
 
A few people asked me, "Where did the cool cars go?" "What happened to the 
old Jags and the AC Bristol's and stuff like that"? "How come you don't have 
your TR out"? "What the hell is that"? pointing the Legends car.
 
We will see what the future brings for the Hershey Historic Hillclimb, but I 
won't give it much chance for survival. Most vintage drivers don't want to go 
back and spectators aren't getting what they came to see. They certainly 
didn't come out to see a Rabbit.
 
Dave Y.



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