Freezeout

One of the longest running hillclimbs in the Western states is located in Emmett, Idaho. Started in 1967 by Southwestern Idaho Sports Car Club, this hillclimb has endured. In 1989 the Bogus Basin Hillclimb Association took over as the organizers of the hillclimb along with running the Bogus Basin Hillclimb.

Here is a link to a news special on the history of the Freezeout hill. It is a little over 5 minutes and you’ll learn the history of the hill and its’ name.

So, how did the hillclimb get started?

In the early sixties Freezeout Road was still the main route into town, Hwy 16. In 1967 a new route was opened, so the road became the alternate route. . That same year Dr. Harman Holverson, a longtime resident of Emmett got together with the car club and Freezeout Hillclimb was born. At that time there were few, if any houses on the hill. The hillclimb began 100′ up from Cowboy Bridge and for the first two years finished at Monument Corner. The finish was then moved near the top of the hill giving the the present course, which is 1.65 miles with an elevation change of approximately 600 feet.

In 1986 The Northwest Hillclimb Association (NHA) was formed as the sanctioning body and the SWISCC classing was replaced by the NHA Classing. In 1989 BBHA made the decision to abandon the old class records and establish new records for the NHA classes. That is why no dates earlier than 1989 are seen in the current hill record list. I have old records listed below though, as I believe we need to recognize the best of all years when possible.

Freezeout was last run in 2024. Let’s keep our fingers crossed that it starts up again soon. It is a great venue. Here is a link to my YouTube video of Freezeout, 1986 vintage.

The course is always sandy, as the wind blows the silica from the surrounding hills onto the course. A note though, in many of the years the hillclimb would coincide with a bicycle road racing event, so the course was cleaned for that race…that helped the hillclimb also!

Article and results on the 1977 event. See all the articles below, some with results.

Records and King & Queen Lists:

Records thru ’85	Records thru ’88	Records redo ’89
Records/K & Q thru ’97	Records thru 2002	Records thru 2005

Results:

1967	1968	1969	1970	1971
1972	1973	1974	1975	1976
1977	1978	1979	1980	1981
1982	1983	1984	1985	1986
1987	1988	1989	1990	1991
1992	1993	1994	1995	1996
1997	1998	1999	2000	2001
2002	2003	2004	2005	2006
2007	2008	2009	2010	2011
2012	2013	2014	2015	2016
2017	2018	2019	2020	2021
2022