F.A.S.T.

SOUTHEAST

 

Reply to: Ken Miller

                             40 Oakmont Lane

                                      Greeneville, TN 37743

                   E-mail: vickyman@comcast.net

 

For Pictures of the Hill Climb Click Here

 

FIDDLERS AND FIDDLEHEADS 2009 HILL CLIMB

April 24, 2009

 

We woke up to a beautiful day; not a cloud in the sky, no prospect of rain, with the temperature expected in the mid 80’s. A perfect day for a hill climb and perfect for a bunch of grey haired men to go play with their cars.

 

Mike Widman from Jacksonville, FL and several friends had pooled their resources and worked all winter building a Speedster to try taming Bluegrass Hill. Mike and three of his male friends plus his daughter were all going to drive the Speedster. Of course you know there would not be any competition between those five drivers – yeah sure! Any way, Mike and his friends had the Speedster loaded on the trailer, ready to go to Unicoi. At the last minute they decided to unload the Speedster and take one last spin for good luck. Talk about luck! They started the Speedster and promptly broke the crankshaft. Needless to say the Speedster remained in Jacksonville, FL as the friends left for Unicoi to become spectators rather than drivers. Hey guys, I hear they are making new crankshafts that are hard to break – maybe you can get one in time for Chattanooga.

 

And talking about crankshafts! Ken Miller had been building up a B block with a Miller OHV for the last several years. Ken finally got the new OHV motor in his Speedster this last winter. Ken was experiencing some problems with his leg so the Speedster with the new motor had not been run hard before the hill climb. Ken got in a couple of sorry practice runs and he turned the Speedster over to his grandson, Seth Sayler. Seth made one decent run and then after the second run Ken got a call – “hey granddad you better bring the trailer, the Speedster has stopped”, Yep, you got it – another broken crankshaft!

 

Well, after the dust settled after all of this excitement we finally got the practice runs underway and all of those grey haired men could play with their cars. Hill Climbers and hill climb watchers arrived from the states of FL, GA, SC, NC, TN, VA, IN and even TX. Bluegrass Hill with its 10.5% slope was ready for the challenge.

 

David Moore from Hixson, TN brought his beautiful 1931 Pick Up and captured top honors in the S-1 class.

 

Ron Kelley from Royse City, TX brought the 1928 Roadster Pick Up that was featured in the No. 3, 2008 issue of Hot For Hot Fours newsletter. Ron, as expected, took top honors in the ST-1 class.

 

Jim Boggs from N. Charleston, SC took top honors with his 1928 Tudor in the ST-2 class.

 

David Young from Hendersonville, NC was unchallenged in the M-2 class.

 

Ron Kelley also brought his new Speedster and let a couple of friends from Texas drive it instead of himself. Nate Rominger and Marty Thompson spent most of the day working on the car after just a couple of practice runs. Marty claims that Nate broke the car. Nate and Marty finally got the car repaired just before time was called and made their final runs up Bluegrass Hill. They must have done something right as Nate blew away the competition on the very last run of the day to win the SP-1 class. I guess the old saying is right if the car is not yours – “drive it like you stole it”. We found out that Ron could build a fast Speedster but was terrible at measuring tire widths.

 

George Miller from Clayton, NC found out that Ken had installed an OHV motor in his Speedster so George removed the flat head and installed his Olds 455 homemade OHV. George knows what he is doing and raced to win the SP-2 class and to be King of the Hill.

 

BreAnna Terry (daughter of Brent Terry) from Elizabethton, TN brought her 1925 T Speedster and drove barefooted in the T-SP class.

 

George Vineyard from Tunnel Hill, GA brought his 1932 beautiful Sprint car and ran in the Historic class.

 

The Johnson City press reported: “This is an event where a lot of people with silver hair come to burn off some energy and retirement income”. That statement is not entirely true as both BreAnna Terry and Seth Sayler are 18 years of age. Just goes to show you that the younger generation likes to play cars as well as the grey haired crowd.

 

Don Higgs felt sorry for his Jacksonville friends and let Carolyn Widman from Manassas, VA drive his Speedster in the SP-1 class. Carolyn almost beat Don or at least gave him a scare as she raced to become the Queen of the Hill.

 

Friday evening we gathered at the Farmhouse Gallery and Gardens for a delicious barbeque dinner and the Awards presentations. Entertainment was provided by a group of Hill Climb folks who had brought their instruments with them: Greg Deal, banjo; Randall Strickland, guitar; and Spencer Strickland, mandolin. The winner of a 50/50 drawing was John Moseley from Mt. Airy, NC.

 

On Saturday morning the Model A’s joined with other antique cars at a car show at the Farmhouse Gallery and Gardens. Over 30 bands played Bluegrass, Gospel, and Country music to the delight of everyone.

 

We have two future hill climbs scheduled. We are returning to Chattanooga for a hill climb on August 6-8 and then to Morganton, NC on September 11-12 for a hill climb in conjunction the Historic Morganton Festival. Read your F.A.S.T. newsletter for additional information.

 

This event was hosted by East Tennessee MARC with the Hill Climb conducted by F.A.S.T. Southeast.


FIDDLERS AND FIDDLEHEADS 2009 HILL CLIMB RESULTS

 

Car No.

Driver

Type Car

E.T.

M.P.H.

CLASS S-1

 

 

 

 

23

David Moore

1931 Pick Up

15.18

30.81

13

Betty Goebel

1930 Coupe

15.80

29.27

15

David Evans

1930 Coupe

16.24

29.22

CLASS ST-1

 

 

 

 

91

Ron Kelley

1928 Roadster PU

12.77

38.34

1

Buck Wellborn

1931 Sport Coupe

13.27

37.42

7

Carl Adams

1931 Pick Up

14.21

31.66

CLASS ST-2

 

 

 

 

5

Jim Boggs

1928 Tudor

13.32

36.52

14

Spencer Strickland

1929 Tudor

13.64

35.52

CLASS M-2

 

 

 

 

9

David Young

1931 Tudor

13.20

36.50

CLASS SP-1

 

 

 

 

12

Nate Rominger

1929 Speedster

9.88

47.89

12

Marty Thompson

1929 Speedster

10.51

50.29

11

Don Higgs

1930 Speedster

11.33

45.63

11

Carolyn Widman

1930 Speedster

11.55

46.08

55

Wanda Daughtery

1929 Speedster

14.32

31.74

97

Don Wathen

1929 Speedster

14.59

32.89

CLASS SP-2

 

 

 

 

6

George Miller

1930 Speedster

9.86

53.16

6

Seth Sayler

1930 Speedster

10.56

44.61

29

Bill Stelcher

1929 Speedster

11.54

43.91

3

Ken Miller

1930 Speedster

DNF

 

CLASS T-SP

 

 

 

 

14

BreAnna Terry

1925 Speedster

16.17

26.45

CLASS H

 

 

 

 

9

George Vineyard

1932 Sprint Car

11.90

42.34