Giants Despair Hillclimb 2025 was held July 12-13, 2025 in Laurel Run, PA. This SCCA Sanctioned event was hosted by the Giants Despair Hillclimb Association and was the fourth event in the eight event 2025 PHA Championship Series.

The hill was paved about a year ago, and we were all hoping for fast times.   But the weather forecast was dismal going into the weekend… 

Fortunately, it was mainly dry all weekend, with an occasional rain shower or two here and there, and it was not too unbearably hot and humid.  “Hey wait”, you might say, “a rain shower or two is OK”?  Absolutely!  The course dried out immediately after the brief rain showers as it always does at Giants. 

And while it sucks to be the car caught in the rain, as I was once or twice, I cannot complain about the weather or the road conditions for the majority of the weekend!

But who cares about the weather? Let me get to the actual hill news!   Ron Moreck took the Hill Record with a 37.692, dropping almost a second on his last run.  The previous Giants Despair Hill Record was set in 2014 by John Burke with a 38.024. 

Congratulations to Ron Moreck for taking the Hill Record!

In addition to Ron’s course record, 17 class records were set.  We have a bunch of new classes this year, so I want to first talk about the records that were set for existing classes.

Eli Sharp’s record stands out in GT Lite (GTL).  Eli ran a 53.558 in her 1965 Austin Mini Cooper S, taking the 20 year old record by .055 seconds from Bob Oswald Jr in his VW Bug.  Congratulations Eli!

Brian Halecki took the American Sedan (AS)  record by 0.334 seconds from Gary Polaskoski (2017) with a 46.375 in his 1987 Chevrolet Camaro.   

BTW, Brian can be thanked for how nice the pit  and camping area is, and he puts an enormous  amount of time into the Giants Despair event on top of what he spends on working on the grounds.

In Improved Touring B (ITB), Emily Oswald took the record by 0.133 seconds from Max Valerio (2023) in her 1984 VW Rabbit with a 57.253.

In F Production (FP), Matt Hoegg took the record by 0.869 seconds from Tim Murphy (2011) in his 1998 Plymouth Neon.

In INEX SPEC (IS), Joe Humanik ran a 52.787, and took the record by 0.471 seconds  from Michael Hunter (2024) in his 2007 Inex Legend.  Michael Hunter actually beat his own 2024 record by 0.288 seconds, but not enough for first place.  Great driving, both of you!

In Special 1 (S1), Bill Feist took George Bowland’s 2010 record in his 2006 Stohr WF1 by .142 seconds, running a 40.775  

And in Special 2 (S2), where Ron Moreck took the class record and hill record, we also need to mention that Mark Aubele beat the previous S2 class record by .845 seconds, running a 39.209 in his 2012 Wolf GB08.  Mark’s run shouldn’t be overlooked, as it was an amazing time, and he was the only other driver to go under 40 seconds!

And now for the classes that are new this year, or have no prior records…

Bryan Fritzler set the record in the new Prototype (P) class with a 47.324 in his 2003 Fritzler Corsair.   It took me a minute or two to find a photo as I was expecting a blue car – love the new color scheme!

In Formula 600, Brandon Usloski set the record in his 2000 Red Devil T2 with a 49.32.  His class has been changed from Formula 500, and he is only off his record of 49.057 set in 2023 by 0.263.

We made some major changes to the class structure this year, replacing the SCCA Solo derived Street Prepared and Street Modified classes with eight new classes.   These new classes had great participation, and are proving to be quite popular.

Crystal Hoegg set the record in Sport Lite (SL) with a a 56.156 in her 1998 Plymouth Neon.  Her car previously ran in FSP, and she was over 1.5 seconds faster than last year.

Next up is Jody Miller in  Sport (S), previously running DSP.  In Sport, he set a record and beat his best time from last year by .615 seconds with a 51.222.

Jeremy Sereyka set the record in Super Sport (SS), running a 53.383 in his 2014 Ford Focus ST.   I’m pretty sure he was a novice at this event, so good driving Jeremy!

Bryan Dion set the record in Sport Max (SM), running a 46.586 in his 2007 VW GTI, beating his time from last year by over .5 seconds.  He previously ran this car in Street Mod FWD (SMF).  

Note that I’m partial to VWs in general, but this car is really pristine (as well as really fast).  I love seeing it at the hills!

In Sport Unlimited (SU), Craig Carpenter set the record in his 2016 Audi S3 with a 43.508, blowing away his time from last year by almost 3 seconds.  Craig previously ran the car in ASP, and set the ASP class record in 2024 with a 46.134.

Bryan McCrea set the class record in Modified (M), running a 49.182 in his 2013 Scion FR-S.   I don’t know when he last ran Giants, but had he stayed in his class from last year (STU), he would have been the class record by over 2 seconds, so this is a really impressive time!

In Super Modified (SM), Aaron Bass set the records in his 1985 Porsche 944 with a 49.439.  This is a new car for him this  year, and he has been running great times at all the events so far.

Colin Bombara set the record in Outlaw (O), running a 40.723 in his 2000 Subaru Impreza RSTi, and narrowly missing joining the “under 40 second” club.  Colin came in 3rd overall.

Speaking of overall results, rounding out the top 5, positions 4 and 5 were held by Bill Feist and Bill Feist.  Bill ran a 40.775 in his 2006 Stohr WF1 that he runs in Special 1 (S1), also narrowly missing joining the “under 40 second” club.  And then he ran a 41.838 in his 2024 Jedi Sport Racer that he runs in Special 3 (S3).

But these events are not just about the fast drivers in the fast cars.  As someone who doesn’t have a fast car, I can tell you that the awesome experience of racing up this hill is not dependent on whether your car is fast  (or even if you are).   

I always love to showcase Sue Salsburg’s car, as the majority of the other 1961 Jaguar MK2’s are now trailer queens.  She was quite happy with her time, especially as it was almost 5 seconds faster than last year.

And then there is Don McLaughlin in his 1983 Renault R5.  I have decided to set my sights on him this year, as my car should beat his, especially at Giants where horsepower is everything.  His time of 64.655 was over 2 seconds faster than last year.  

Don told me that he is really happy that I’ve set my sights on him, as it means that I’m back, as in caring about what times I set.  He might be right.  🙂

Don also takes a ton of pictures at each event, and I will include a link below  to his flickr account in the photographer section so you can see all of them.

I was also personally really happy to see Tracy Gaudu back, and she ran a respectable time in a very competitive class.  We didn’t have much time to catch up, so I hope we see more of her at the remaining PHA events this season.

As far as my car goes, thanks to Mike Robinson, a new fuel pressure regulator was installed.  The car ran great!  I normally run 15″ tires at this event because I run out of gear before the finish line.   I didn’t bother this year, and boy do I regret it.   I really need to run taller tires here!  

Oh wow, maybe Don is right, and I’m back? 🙂

I had a lot of fun, even in the rain.   I’m happy with my times, and I was faster than last year, but I did not catch  Don, and in fact was almost a second slower.  Maybe I’ll catch him at Duryea,..

This post isn’t complete without a campfire picture.

There were a bunch of hilarious shenanigans when Matt Rowe started handing out glow sticks.

Thank you to all of the photographers who contributed to this post.

Don McLaughlin:  https://www.flickr.com/photos/mcdallion/albums/72177720327602700/

On facebook, please look at the posts from Brian Murray,  Chis Gore, Dean Bates and Eric Santiago!