The 5th annual Picacho Peak Hillclimb weekend was held on 6th & 7th November and was the usual 'roaring' success. Proceedings started on Saturday morning with a driving tour headed by Rod and Nancy Frazer that visited the beautiful Saguaro national Park before going on to Ken Petrick's place for a garage visit. Everyone enjoyed the run.

Sunday didn't start out too well with steady rain in the morning but never mind, we carried on regardless and were rewarded with gradually clearing skies and a dry track. We had twenty two cars run the hill, five of which were from the home club. Andy Neal Jnr amazingly brought no less than four cars! A '26 stock Model T, a '29 Roadster PU right off the farm, a '30 Tudor and a high speed '35 V8 Flatbed. How about that for enthusiasm? And he walked away with three trophies! Also from Tucson was Andy Snr, Sam Logan, Tom Wulff and Fred Secker. King of the Hill was Art Moore from Upland, CA in his superbly prepared '30 Model A Speedster with a time of 8.672 seconds. If there had been a prize for furthest traveled then Chuck Adelsman would easily have won it having driven his '31 Town Sedan all the way from Minnesota just to come and have fun with us. From California we had Jim Brierley in his '28 Rootlieb Speedster, Ron Mosher in his '29 Roadster, Marcel D'Avignon in his '30 Coupe, John Mutschler in his '28 McDowell and Sam Eubanks in his '28 Speedster. Leonard Shortland from Prescott brought his'30 Roadster, Dennis Cling brought his '29 Roadster Pick Up from Tempe, Joel Young came from Phoenix with his '27 T Speedster and Bobby Holler and Robert Hill came from Nogales. Bobby brought a '31 Tudor plus a '29 Pick Up and Robert brought a '30 Coupe.
Once more we had excellent support from the Park management who were more than willing to go the extra mile whenever we needed help. We are so fortunate to have them on our side. Jim & Cathy Brierley and the FAST team played their usual invaluable part without which we would not have had a hillclimb. And providing the glue that held the whole event together were the Tucson Model A Club members who pitched in wherever they were needed.
So another Picacho Peak Hillclimb is done and dusted. It was great fun. See you next year on November 5th & 6th.

Click on ENTRANTS to see everyones times, WINNERS to see the hotshots and PHOTOS to see all the action.

Another Picacho Peak Hill Climb has come and passed into the annals of near vertical auto racing as a rousing success. A wide and varied assortment of T's and A's in various states of restoration or the lack there of made the grade. It should be emphasized that you don't need a race car to make a run up the hill. Many cars in impeccable states of restoration were there and raced in the stock class. Figuratively speaking, of course, caution and good sense were flung from the window as axle keys were sheared, head gaskets blown and rods were very probably folded in two. They came, they saw and they surely conquered that towering edifice known only as the "Hill".
The weather could not have been better as competitors arrived from all corners of the globe. Arizona was well represented not to mention California, Minnesota and Colorado.
The Neal boys, Andy Sr. and Jr. from Tucson have my undying envy for bringing two T's, two A's and their '35 flatbed truck, all stock and all running at the same time. Andy Sr. won the S2 class with a 15.15 ET in the '31 Tudor. Andy Jr. won the T1 with a 21.28 ET in the un-restored '26 "T" Sedan and T2 in the '26 "T" Touring with a 15.70 ET and S1 in the '30 "A" Coupe with a 14.00 ET. And if that isn't enough for ya Andy Jr. also won a time only run at 17.16 with the '35 flatbed truck he used to haul most of the fleet with. The Neal's get my participation award.
Joel Young of Phoenix won the T3 class with an 11.06 ET in his '24 "T" neck snapper Speedster, running a Rajo head with dual AA-SR Winfield downdraft carbys, a Ruxtel rear end and Rocky Mountain brakes.
T3 was won by Dave Parker from Amado AZ in his remarkably un-restored '27 "T" Roadster Pickup. Dave brutalized the "hill". He runs a Caterpillar yellow "T" block with a Culbert OHV head and dual carbys. Put a hood over that mill and you can drop jaws anywhere you go.
Marcel Davignon from Paso Robles CA took the M1 Class with an impressive 11.26. Marcel has a '30 "A" Coupe, Winfield flathead, dual 97's, a T-5 trans and a stock rear end. Marcel raised some eyebrows.
Undaunted by a flat tire, Chuck Adlesman from Minnesota and of late Cottonwood AZ took the M2 in his '31 Town Sedan powered by a Winfield flathead, Weber carb and T-5 trans with a 13.44.
Jim Brierley of Temecula CA won the SP1 class at 11.05 atop "Ol Green". His Speedster is motivated by a Winfield flatheaded "B" block with a Winfield C-S downdraft carby and a Halibrand Model "A" QC. Yeah Halibrand made "A" QC's.
Fred Secker's beautiful Dirt Track Racer took the H class with a 12.16. It's powered by a '28 Chevy four cylinder block with a '28 Olds three port head and two 1.75 inch SU carbys. Fred's from the Old Pueblo A's of Tucson and he's the master mind of this great event.
The fastest time of the event and winner of the perennial Castillo/Moser competition was Raul "what's wrong with yellow" Castillo of Los Angeles CA. This hotly contested M3 class was ripped from Moser's grasp by a mere four thousandths of a second by Rolly and his 6 inch channeled '30 Coupe. Enforced by a "B" block, Cragar head and two 94 carbys, Rolly turned a blistering 9.812. Ron Moser and his McDowell powered "A" Roadster suffered a mechanical malady but, rest assured he will return again to do battle.
The hands down pick for the people's choice award would have gone to Dave Parker's '27 "T" Roadster Pickup. It is also my pick for best of show. This baby is un-restored and has suffered the ravages of time but, it tells a story and to my eyes it's a thing of beauty. As Dave returned to the pits after his assault on the "hill" he got a standing ovation from the throngs of obviously discerning revelers. Dave had kept track of this priceless piece of automotive history ever since he was a kid. After years of futile attempts to buy it from it's previous owners it fell into the hands of an unscrupulous impound yard that would surely have turned it into a cube of crushed steel. Like the cavalry, Dave came to the rescue just in time and a dream came true. The unwashed would call this faithful 'ol dog a rust bucket. It is obviously un-restored and touched hard by time but, there are signs that it has seen human intervention to keep this relic of times past, alive. I could put you to sleep going on and on about how much I like this old pickup and the stories it tells. When you see one of these old dogs look deep into the romance of it's past. Think of what it has seen and done over many faithful years of service and you will see what I mean.
Ok enough of my prattle, back to the hill climb.
Mouth watering food was served all day and everybody had a most excellent adventure. A big thanks goes to Jim Brierley and F.A.S.T. for the timing equipment, the Old Pueblo A's for sponsoring the event and the Saturday tour. And last but certainly not least Fred Secker for putting it all together. For information on this and next years 2006 Picacho Peak Hill Climb go to www.picachohillclimb.org.