There have been more hillclimbs in California than in any other state. There are more cars and it is second only to Texas with the amount of roads. The Sierra Nevada’s, the Coast Range, and the southern Cascade Range are in the northern part of the state. The San Gabriel, San Bernardino and Santa Monica Mountains are in the south. There seemed to be no problem finding a hill to climb.
“Sports Car” hillclimbs in California began post WW2 in the late 40s. Introduction of foreign cars into the states led to the formation of local sports car clubs. Many retired airstrips were converted to race tracks. Sports car racing popped up everywhere and hillclimb racing sprang up too. Mountain roads and even local hills and fields were looked at as another challenge to climb. Some of the earliest hillclimbs were literally plowed paths up a ranchers mountainside pasture. Examples would be Agoura Hills and Powderhorn Ranch, among others. As roads were paved or surfaced with concrete, the shift to paved events began. If they could race up it, they did!
The earliest event that I found was the Palos Verdes Hillclimb in August and December of 1947. I only ran one year. Another early one was the Sandberg Hillclimb in Southern California. The first event there was April 2, 1949.** It was such a popular hill that is was run several times a year through 1952.
**A 1952 edition of “Speed and Sport” shows a photo of the “1949” Sandberg Hill while another paragraph identifies the first date as being April 2, 1948 which was a Friday. I think the 1949 date is the correct one.
Early Manufacturer “Stock” Climbs 1900-1935
Agoura Hills 1955
Arrowhead Springs 1958
Bodger Road 1963-1964 (info soon)
Bucks Lake (NHA) 1987
Charleston Road (Volcano) 1958 (info soon)
Clear Lake (or Sulfer Bank Mine Rd) 1951-1952 Clear Lake Highlands Rd 1963 (info soon)
Cobb Mountain 1952-1958 (info soon)
Donner Pass 1966-1968 (info soon)
Enchanted Forest 1963 (info soon)
Georgetown (also Sierra) 1958-1980 (info soon)
Powderhorn Ranch 1960 (info soon)
Grizzly (NHA) 1993-1994 (info soon)
Honey Lake (NHA) 1986 (info soon)
Hoopa (NHA) 1986-2019 (info soon)
Julian 1956 (info soon)
Korbel (NHA) 2021-Present (info soon)
Lake Casitas 1961 (info soon)
Lone Oak 1959 (info soon)
Lord Ellis (later years NHA) 1973-1984 (info soon)
Luther Pass 1967-1968 (info soon)
Mission Bell 1960 (info soon)
Mt Diablo (or Nob Hill) 1966? (info soon)
Mount Tamaipais 1961 (info soon)
Nevada City 1955 (info soon)
Novato 1958-1961 (info soon)
Oceanside 1958?-1960 (info soon)
Palos Verdes 1947 twice (info soon)
Pismo Beach 1952-1953 (info soon)
Porsche Club Specific events (info soon)
Powderhorn Ranch 1957-1960 (info soon)
Quaking Aspen 1954 (info soon)
Sandberg 1949-1952
Squaw Valley Sports Car Olympics (info soon)
Ventura 1953-1955 (info soon)
Willow Springs 1954, 1958-1960, 2013? event also (info soon)