Pike's Peak racer photos?

[Jantrix]

Does anyone know of a source for pics from the Pike's Peak hill climb challenge throughout it's history? The offical site only has modern pics. I'm primarily interested in 1950-80 time frame. I did some Googling but not much pops up. Thanks.

[Ace-Garageguy]

If you do google image searches for "pikes peak hill climb" followed by a 4-digit year, you get a lot of pix, some of which are relevant.

Modify your search criteria to include the big names like the entire Unser family , Curtis Turner , David Pearson , Parnelli Jones , Bud Tinglstad , Rick Mears , Mario Andretti , Paul Goldsmith, etc, and when you get results, follow the links. What you want is all there, it will just take some digging.

[Jantrix]

Thanks much, will do so. As I finish up my Carrera Panamericana Stude, I'm thinking I want to do a 60's Pikes Peak racer.

[Art Anderson]

Pike's Peak cars are pretty difficult to research, as even though the Pike's Peak Hill Climb is the oldest continuous motorsports event on the planet, it was never heavily covered by the racing print media. Sure, there were pics in magazines such as Hot Rod, Road & Track and Car & Driver, but they only covered highlights. I was rather surprised to find very few pics of PPHC cars online as well.

Art

[Danno]

Pike's Peak cars are pretty difficult to research, as even though the Pike's Peak Hill Climb is the oldest continuous motorsports event on the planet, it was never heavily covered by the racing print media. Sure, there were pics in magazines such as Hot Rod, Road & Track and Car & Driver, but they only covered highlights. I was rather surprised to find very few pics of PPHC cars online as well.

Art

Even sadder still, is the fact that no good archive exists.

We (Pikes Peak Auto Hill Climb Association) tried to establish a museum many years ago (in the mid-80's) ... in Manitou Springs, "at the foot of Pikes Peak" ... but funding was sparse. Even though we had a lot of donated vehicles on display, and a lot of contemporary photos and memorabilia on display, we were never able to find copious amounts of older photos or films. There were quite a few programs from various years, but once again, only a few cars were ever depicted in the programs.

Even being located in the heart and hotbed of hillclimbing, it was embarrassing how little photo-documentation we could get our hands on or even find from the early days (pre-70s).

We usually heard something to the effect that 'everybody was too busy racing to take pictures.'

And, you're right, Art, until the manufacturer wars of the 80's, the automotive press just didn't pay much attention to Pikes Peak.

[Art Anderson]

Even sadder still, is the fact that no good archive exists.

We (Pikes Peak Auto Hill Climb Association) tried to establish a museum many years ago (in the mid-80's) ... in Manitou Springs, "at the foot of Pikes Peak" ... but funding was sparse. Even though we had a lot of donated vehicles on display, and a lot of contemporary photos and memorabilia on display, we were never able to find copious amounts of older photos or films. There were quite a few programs from various years, but once again, only a few cars were ever depicted in the programs.

Even being located in the heart and hotbed of hillclimbing, it was embarrassing how little photo-documentation we could get our hands on or even find from the early days (pre-70s).

We usually heard something to the effect that 'everybody was too busy racing to take pictures.'

And, you're right, Art, until the manufacturer wars of the 80's, the automotive press just didn't pay much attention to Pikes Peak.

Danno,

I saw that museum in July '93, got to Manitou Springs on the 6th, but having family in tow who preferred going up Pike's Peak by the cog railway, time for touring the Museum was out. However, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum does have a PPHC car in their collection: Al Unser's Jaguar-powered former AAA Dirt Track Championship Series car--the red and green car, with whilte stripe.

BTW, the excellent book, "The Unser Story" does have a fair number of pics of PPHC cars, understandable as the real name of the event should have become the "Unser Family Hillclimb", considering how many wins by what, 4 generations of Unsers?

Art

[Danno]

Danno,

I saw that museum in July '93, got to Manitou Springs on the 6th, but having family in tow who preferred going up Pike's Peak by the cog railway, time for touring the Museum was out. However, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum does have a PPHC car in their collection: Al Unser's Jaguar-powered former AAA Dirt Track Championship Series car--the red and green car, with whilte stripe.

BTW, the excellent book, "The Unser Story" does have a fair number of pics of PPHC cars, understandable as the real name of the event should have become the "Unser Family Hillclimb", considering how many wins by what, 4 generations of Unsers?

Art

Too bad you didn't get a chance to check it out. We had some really interesting exhibits. It was shortly after your vacation in Manitou that the Museum folded up its tent.

Correct. Four generations . . . so far.

I have an excellent book, "Unser - An American Family Portrait," published in 1988. It came out while I was still active with the race. All the racers in the Unser family ~ including Uncle Louie ~ autographed it for me. Spent 16 summers with the Unser clan (and everybody else) on Pikes Peak.

For many, many years Indy and Pikes Peak had a close relationship, particularly during the years that General Motors provided Pace Cars and Official Cars to both events. Many of the Pikes Peak Officials were guests of the Indy 500 during race week, then drove a fleet of Official Cars back to Colorado Springs for use at Pikes Peak after the graphics were changed. (The actual Pace Cars were shipped from Indy to Colorado Springs, as they were usually too exotic for the highway trip.)

Those were the years . . .