Crow Mountain Hillclimb, Scottsboro, Al
"Gentlemen, Start your engines!" is not a command normally heard at
the base of Crow Mountain near Hollywood, Al. Actually that was not exactly that
wording this weekend either. It was more like: "5 minutes drivers - get
your helmets on and straps tight." But you get the idea: real race cars
were lined up on County Road 33.
We arrived at the site late Friday with just enough light left to set up our
tent in the HUGE field Mr. Proctor loaned us for the staging area. Once camp was
established, we took a scouting trip up the mountain. We soon saw the extent of
the preparation made by the Tennessee Valley region of SCCA. The turn areas were
nicely cleared and all the corners marked and portable toilets were placed at
all the corners except strangely not at corner three where I was assigned to
work? But the sunset over the valley viewed from the top of the mountain made me
forget all about it.
We drove into Scottsboro to register and found The Unclaimed Baggage parking
lot filled with the strangest mix of race cars I have ever seen. There were open
wheel formula cars, beautiful vintage British and Japanese sports cars, stock
looking Miatas and Hondas, a strange winged thing with a snowmobile engine, some
fire breathing Mustangs and Camaros and to top it all off, the real General Lee
from the Dukes of Hazard TV show. Personally autographed by John Schneider.
Saturday morning we got into position early for the safety checks and watched
Mike and Bill run up and down the mountain ferrying supplies in Bill’s
Cherokee and chasing cars that did not belong off the hill. Once the workers
were in place and the errant vehicles were cleared from the course, the racing
began. Each car got one free run up the hill to see the track from their race
car before the competition times were recorded. Even on the practice runs, it
soon became apparent that the winged thing that was obnoxiously loud was going
to be the car to beat. We were happy it was so fast so we did not have to hear
it very long.
Corner three workers had lots of fun both days. Saturday was Jamie Hamilton’s
birthday. We couldn’t let the day go by without celebrating; therefore, we
blew up balloons and attached them to her straw hat. The drivers had a good time
seeing our fun and they helped to make Jamie’s birthday. Ruthie also had a
balloon attached to her hat. We thought she had great ideas all day. When she
walked to the next turn one of the young spectators wanted to know if she had so
much static electricity that a balloon would stay on her head. I thought she
should have said that she just had too much hot air in her head, and the balloon
was a good place to release it. She could have also told him that after a week
of work her brain had to stretch over the weekend. We also had an awesome ham
operator named Bill. He had so many stories to tell. He kept the day enjoyable
for us, and he was there at the radio to keep us informed of what was going on
at start, finish and the other corners. Thanks a lot Bill. You were great! On
Sunday we didn’t have our balloons since they popped. Ruthie’s balloon
popped when a tree limb hit it. Is all she saw was little green pieces falling
to the ground.
Sunday morning the organizers had ironed out some of their first event kinks
and the racing proceeded with vigor. The drivers were getting more familiar with
the hill and pushing their limits a bit more. Tom Boyett exceed his limits
slightly coming out of our corner and we heard a huge WHACK just as he went out
of sight. We soon heard the call for a red flag and once we had ours displayed
we went up the hill to see if he could help. Tom was fine but not his Honda. The
Hill family from Independent Wrecker service soon extracted the car and we were
back to racing again.
The entire event was lots of fun! The local apple orchard kept us supplied
with apples. They sell many varieties. Check them out. The apples were very
tasty! At the end of Saturday I wanted a shower. Mike met up with some friends
whom we had not seen in several years. They invited us over and we were allowed
to get a shower. Thanks to our friends Brent and Denise Hall. (By the way their
daughter Marie is in the band that worked the concessions.) At the end of
Sunday, the results were tallied and the car with the monster wing won overall
by 10 seconds. Congratulations to all the competitors! Thanks to the community
for allowing this event to take place in their community. Thanks also to Mr.
Proctor for having us there on his land. We hope to see you again.
Official Site
Final
results
In car
video from Joe Ippolito
George
Bowland in car Video
Rallying
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