Published: October 02, 2009 11:30 pm         

Newport Antique Auto Hill Climb marks 100th anniversary of its first race

Newport — After inspecting the 240-cubic inch engine, John Felder closed the hood on his black 1940 Pontiac Friday morning as a 1940 Ford Coupe and a 1926 Ford ton truck drove past along Main Street.

Two small Australian flag stickers on the front window of the Pontiac showed that he and his friend, John Shorland, 72, had come a long way to practice today and race Sunday in the 100th anniversary of the Newport Antique Auto Hill Climb.

“We bought a car out of a hangar in Wichita (Kan.) and drove it up. Bought it off the Internet. We drove over 2,000 miles to get here. We got here [in the U.S.] two weeks ago,” Felder, 63, said in a thick Aussie accent.

It’s their second year for driving in the Hill Climb. Last year, they drove a 1930s-era Oakland with a V-8 engine. The two sold that car at the Hill Climb and hope to do the same with 29-horsepower Pontiac.

“We have to pay for our fare back home or we’re stuck here,” Felder laughed. “If we can’t sell it here, we’ll take it to Hershey, Pa., and sell it there.” He hopes to get $12,000 for the car.

The two haven’t decided who will race on Sunday. “He’s the riding mechanic,” Felder said of Shorland. “The quickest run [today] gets to drive on Sunday. If he drives quickest, he drives. That’s fair.”

Felder said the Pontiac has responded well, with minor setbacks. “We had a rear brake cylinder fail and the generator bearing failed, and we put a fan belt on and that was it,” he said.

“We’ve been playing with old cars in Australia for a long time. I like traveling in America. The greatest thing you can do in America is travel in an old car, because when you brake down, you meet the best people. We have met some fantastic people,” Felder said.

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the first race up Newport’s 1,800-foot-long, 140-foot high Newport Hill. Cars are divided into 31 classes for the race, and the competition allows cars built up to 1942 and discontinued models built up to 1955 such as Studebaker, DeSoto, Packard, Kaiser Frazier or Henry J, said Jim Haverkamp, competition director of the race for the past 42 years. Haverkamp lives in Terre Haute.

Last year, the race had 309 vehicle entries. The race also now has a class for antique motorcycles. The hill climb also attracts more than 350 flea market and swap meet booths.

Parking for the event is largely provided in a 55-acre field adjacent to the main road into the town, off Indiana 63, about 25 miles north of Clinton in Vermillion County. Practice runs today are 8 a.m. to noon and 1 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. A collector car auction will be conducted at noon. A parade will start at 5 p.m., with a cruise-in and street dance at 7 p.m. and fireworks at dusk.

Sunday is race day. Show cars can be seen from 8 to 10 a.m., along with practice runs. The opening ceremony for the race starts at 10:45 a.m., with the race starting at 11 a.m.

“It’s a great time. I’ve never placed, but I’m just glad to make it up the hill,” said third-year racer Rex Meadal of Frankfort, who had just brought in his yellow 1926 Model T to register for the race. “It’s more about the fun and seeing all the old cars.”

Bruce and Kay Atkinson of Monrovia are longtime racers. Its the 41st year Bruce Atkinson, 69, has raced in the Hill Climb; he will serve as grand marshal for this year’s race parade. He built his 1920 Model T Ford from parts he had collected for four decades.

“I decided to build a speedster and just went out to my pile and started getting parts. It’s 176-cubic inch, 20 horsepower, inline flat four [cylinder],” he said of the engine.

He also races a green 1926 Ford ton truck. “I’m only one of four or five in that class, so I usually win a trophy every year,” he said. Kay Atkinson was quite to point out that the couple has been married 50 years, “half of the time since the first race in 1909,” she said.

Ed C. Conrad, 72, of Clinton has been racing for 35 years, but will miss the 100th anniversary this year.

“I got termites in the [passenger] frame,” Conrad said of his brown 1935 Chevrolet 30-horsepower pick-up truck.

“I had to let it sit out in the rain and snow,” Conrad said. “It’s a wood frame with a metal overlay [for the passenger compartment] and that’s why I’m not driving it, because of the termites.”

“It’s disappointing, but I’m done now. Now I am doing a flea market booth, so I went down a notch this year,” he joked.

The Newport Hill Climb, now Newport Antique Auto Hill Climb, was first conducted on June 8 and 9, 1909, and was staged until 1915. It was brought back in 1963 and 1964. The Lions Club of Newport has sponsored the Hill Climb since its return in 1968.

Dean Kennedy, a Lions Club member and head of staging for the Hill Climb, said a long “landscape” photograph taken of the first race in 1909 will be duplicated early this morning.

Thirteen cars, such as a 1953 Henry J., 1922 Essex and a 1947 Desoto, will be parked in identical positions as the cars were in the 1909 photograph, surrounded by current racers and Newport residents. “Circuit cameras,” the type used in 1909, will be used to take the photograph, along with two modern cameras.

The record for racing up the hill since 1968 is 22.6 seconds, held by Hank Schluter of Lowell, driving a 1941 Ford pick-up truck, Haverkamp said.

Howard Greninger can be contacted at (812) 231-4204 or howard.greninger@tribstar.com.