The winding uphill streets of Jerome played host to the Phoenix Chapter of the Four Cylinder Club for their hillclimb. The first event was held March 14 & 15, 1959, The course was laid out starting in the lower part of town by the school, and winding uphill by houses and into the business district. The length was a little over 1 mile. The amazing record of 51.1 seconds was turned in 1962 by a fellow driving a Lotus. Not a typical Lotus mind you, but one with a Plymouth Valiant engine.
Jerome was founded as a copper mining town and it the 1920s had more than 15,000 residents. By the time it was discovered by the Four Cylinder Club as a great location for a hillclimb, there were less than 100 permanent residents. Jerome was practically a ghost town The town’s folks probably welcomed the added revenue of all the racers coming to town for the weekend! Well, for a few years anyway.
Thousands of spectators and race fans came to the little town each year to watch. The course was changed slightly in 1961 and again in 1963 to allow smooth traffic flow of non competitors bypassing the route. Over the five years of the event there was more than a fair share of racing mishaps. Also some of the visitors (maybe the racers too) that came to the town to watch created problems by “mis-behaving”. . Finally after the 1963 event the locals had had enough and requested changes. The state required a hefty increase in liability insurance if there was to be another event. The rise in cost for the club was unattainable, so the Ghost City Hillclimb was no more.
**I find quite a bit of my hillclimb information from old newspaper articles. Another source for this hillclimb was a blogspot I happened upon. It has great photos from an actual competitor of this climb. Here is the Link to that article.
**Also here is a Link to a YouTube video of the action. Enjoy.
This has got to be the wildest photo of a hillclimb! Check out how close the spectators are to the course. That photographer in the blue shirt sure had a great shot! And the guy with his back casually to the car maybe 6 feet away. I bought this and the next two photos on ebay as slides. I had no idea what was on them till I scanned them.
A little fuzzy, but gives a great idea of the course winding uphill.
This was a Lotus 11B fitted with a Valiant engine. Only one ever made. Notice it says a “new course record of 49.85 seconds”. The Driver Bob Montana of Phoenix made an unofficial 2nd run to get that time. His official hillclimb record stands at 51.1 seconds. This car and driver took top honors in the 1962 and the 1963 event. The course change from ’62 to ’63 probably accounted for the slower time in 1963 which was 53.35 seconds.
I also have to mention the 2nd place car in 1962. It was a stock 1961 Ford Galaxy with a stock engine! The incredible time of 52.65 clocked was by 22 year-old Craig Pease of Phoenix. This was against a large field of very fast sports cars of all types. Read the fun article below:
Articles with Results:
“Mikell Wins Hill Climb” 1959 March 15, Arizona Republic
“Tucson’s Rogers Wins Hill Climb” 1960 May 31, Tucson Citizen
“Tucsonan Wins Jerome Race”, 1961 May 22, Arizona Daily Sun
“Montana Captures Hill Climb” 1962 May 21, Arizona Republic
“Lotus Valiant Tops Hill Climb”, 1963 May 20, The Oregonian
Other articles of interest:
“Ghost City Hillclimb May 20-21”, 1961 April 13, Arizona Daily Sun
“All Sizes, Types of Cars”, 1961, April 27, Arizona Sun
“1961 Jerome Hillclimb Is Racing The Hard Way”, 1961 April 21, Arizona Daily Sun
“Top European Cars in Jerome Race”, 1961 May 11, Arizona Daily Sun
“Full Field of Climbers Expected”, 1961 May 15, Arizona Republic
