NHA Announces Its New Montana Hillclimb

At Bogus Basin last fall Bill Cooper and I sat on the back of Andys wrecker bemoaning the fact that Montana had no hillclimb. We decided we would do something about that! We went to work and this letter serves to announce Montanas new event, the Premier Pioneer Mountains Hillclimb. For those of you looking at the map; it is located in Southwest Montana, in Beaverhead County. It will be held approximately 38 miles west southwest of Dillon, Montana, near Polaris, Montana.

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The course will start near Elkhorn Hot springs and run approximately three miles generally in a northwest direction. The Pioneer Mountain Scenic Byway is a federally designed, federally constructed and county maintained road connecting Polaris with Wise River, see www.byways.org/explore/byways/2136 .

The event will take place on 11 and 12 September, 2010. These dates were chosen for several reasons; one of which is, it replaces the old Teton Mountain date. That was always good for the drivers and families that had to travel from the west coast and northern California. It links the Bogus Basin event with a 4 day work week so people do not have to make two trips. The area between these two events, i.e. northern Idaho and Southwestern Montana is as pretty as it gets in this great country of ours. One can spend a week sightseeing, fishing, camping or whatever between Boise and Polaris.

The local governments, both county and rural, the businesses and the people are really excited and supportive of the event. Bill made the comment in a public meeting last week that he has never seen such support and enthusiasm in all of his years of being involved with racing. The Grasshopper Valley Fire Department has become our official sponsoring organization; they bring their organization, leadership, administrative, public relations, and logistical experience along with their command structure and are already deeply involved in how can we make this the best ever hill. Another sponsor and probably our headquarters for this event is the Grasshopper Inn, see www.grasshopperinnmt.com this link will take you to many wonderful sites in the area. Montanas historic first capital is located nearby in Bannack, MT. Other ghost towns and tourist adventures such as crystal collecting abound it the area. During our event the Masonic Lodge in Bannack will be holding its annual meeting.

Larry Akers