100TH Anniversary
Giant’s Despair Hillclimb
“It doesn’t get any better
than this”
The 100th Anniversary Giant’s Despair
Hillclimb was about as good as a TIME TRIALS event can get…
One hundred and three drivers competing in forty-two
classes set eight new class records over the course of a beautiful three-day
weekend.
In addition, Darryl Danko set a new Hill Record in
his Lola Indy car at 39.000!
Thanks and a “hearty well-done” to Tim Royer in
particular, the Dankos, Oscar Kovaleski,
and all of the officials, workers and competitors who helped to make the event
the tremendous success that it was.
Registration and Tech. actually began on Thursday
night and continued on Friday until
Saturday morning began with a driver’s meeting
followed by timed runs interspaced by a mid-day break for lunch and festivities
celebrating the event’s long and legendary history. Despite some delays (no major incidents),
competitors were able to take three timed runs up the course. A fitting climax to the day was Darryl Danko
breaking the existing hill record of 39.914 with a time of 39.689!
The party Saturday night at the Wilkes Barre Fire Company was an excellent chance for all to enjoy
good food, good music, and camaraderie of fellow enthusiasts.
Sunday morning brought another perfect day! Using the same format as Saturday, after a
brief driver’s meeting, timed runs began and continued through the day with
only a few delays as a result of “off-road” excursions.
Again, Darryl Danko capped a fantastic event by
lowering the Hill Record yet further to an awesome 39.000 flat!
The following competitors set new class records: in
DSP, Mike Ancas in a Neon at 55.043; in CSR, Skip Levengood at 49.754 in a Toyota World Sport; in DSR, at
44.897, Ken Taggart in a Cheetah SR1; in HIST 3, Bob D’Amore
in a MCKEE MK8 at 49.347; in ST MOD, Bob Deysher at
50.110 in a Mazda 323GT; in ST MOD 2, Jeff Fazio in a
Toyota MR2 at 48.394; in Spec 1, George Bowland at
42.770 in his BBR SHARK; and (as mentioned before) Darryl Danko in SPEC 3 with
a new class and Hill Record of 39.000.
The following are this driver’s
observations of just a few of the happenings on the hill: Rich Shafer of Cool
Shirt- sponsor of the PHA Team Championship- competed along with his co-driver
Mark Mashburn in his very fast Camaro…Mark,
don’t you know it’s not a good idea to beat the car’s owner? After Dave Rohrbach
“altered” the nose on his Van Dieman, Rick Rohrbach, his dad, worked literally day and night to get
the car back in competition…thanks, dad.
Chris Mower has a new toy- a Neon! Adrienne Vrabel and
Crystal Whisler “dissed”
their dads. The Witman brothers, the Oswalds
and the Maloneys are into sibling rivalries. Don McLaughlin altered the front of his Le
Car. Rob Deysher’s
Mazda is a little rocket! Sue Salsburg took Terry Ozment from
National on a “little” ride up the hill…she loved it! John Champion exited the “elbow” on two
wheels. Bill Rutan
competed in his “VW Bathtub”- the same car he competed in forty years ago, and
Butch King stormed up the hill in his 406ci Chevy S10- I wonder how it goes in
the snow.
Thanks again to all the people who contributed to
making the 100th Anniversary Hillclimb an event to remember.
The next event is the
Joe Foering,
#37