My parents got me hooked on the Newport Hill Climb years ago. Their first trip was around 2005. In 2012 Dad talked me in to racing my old Packard. It's been all up hill since. Here are some pics from this year. I left a day later than normal to beg my parents till the last minute to join me. Their pending house sale and viewings of it put a big dent in my fun this year so I took more pictures than normal to ease their pain of missing the race. Did I mention I was running late? About an hour into the trip, an old Chevy sedan appeared in my rear view mirror. I thought "FUN" Someone to travel with. About that time he blew by me. Open headers, no glass except a windshield and on the throttle, hard. I glanced down to find my camera and he was gone. Holy Crap. That got the old ticker going. I was lumbering along about 80 with traffic at the time. My view when I got there... this was for sale in the camping area. And the line up of cars... I'll add more tomorrow.
This is just part of the parking area for people to enjoy our fun . They offer a camping area too. Several years back there was a terrible crashing sound in the staging lanes and the event stopped. Turns out, all of a sudden there was a 1910 Brush setting on top of my back bumper. No one was hurt. This is a pic of the pilot that landed it there. I had a cardboard box hanging off of my back bumper that said "Brush Guard" when I went by him this year. If anyone got a picture, please share. He loved it.
It's going to take a week to post all of them. Please forgive me if I repeat one or two. They expanded their rules a bit this year to allow more vintage motorcycles. See the gold stickers in the back window? The only way to get one is to compete during race day. And you only get one per year. I've seen it quit a few times. The empty spot is where my Dad's 31 should have been setting.
It is a blast seeing all the old cars! But once you are there you might notice the swap meet and flea market. And all of the food vendors that serve just about any kind of food you can think of. I pretty much live on fried peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and taco's in a bag all weekend with an occasional ear of sweet corn here and there to go with my porkchop. Nearly every inch of this tiny little town is covered with some kind of fun.
Tantank- Thanks for sharing the photos. You've got shots of quite a few cars I didn't see. Looks like a lot of these were shot maybe Saturday or early Sunday morning. Everybody's bundled up pretty good. I was there Sunday only and by the afternoon you didn't need nearly so many layers of clothes on! Like the shot of the parking lot. For a little town like Newport they sure pack 'em in like sardines! Hope to see you next year.
You are welcome ClayMart but you are a better photographer than I am. I hope everyone sees your post about the fun. Yes, most of the posted pics so far are from Saturday. I drove nearly 4 hours in the rain to get there and the weather was crappy but as you can see by the parking lot pic, not much compares to a weekend of vintage racing. The staging lanes were full too. It took all day to get in 2 practice runs and they were nearly back to back. On the way back in to town from the first run, I heard the announcer say 5 minutes and the staging lanes are closed. I knew a short cut. I was the last one to run the hill Saturday. Road was wet. I spun like hell off the line and braved the hill with vacuum operated wipers. What a blast! I have some pics from Sunday I'll post soon. Looks like you got to see some cars I missed from the drivers seat. I enjoyed your post too. Thanks. Here are a few more pics.
Ok kids, now for some race day fun. They raffle off an antique car every year. This year it was a Nash. More to come....
The Jalopy Journal
