Vintage racers typically shed a decade or two on arrival at Mosport, so Jack Boxstrom took note when he found himself absorbed by turning 80 at the Canadian Historic Grand Prix.
"I'm sitting in the Chaparral in triple-layer long underwear and it's about 160 degrees in the cockpit," he said of his absence of adrenalin. "I parked it for the weekend. Didn't race."
But here's what matters. Even as he was wondering if just maybe he has had enough of racing, at least in the heat, Boxstrom was telling friends in the paddock that he'll drive his white monster in the inaugural Brack Classic Hillclimb, Sept. 17 at Inglis Falls, just south of Owen Sound, Ont.
A hillclimb consists of solo runs, over a temporarily closed public road, each run timed to chart one's progress. Perfect for Boxstrom,"unlike in racing, if you screw up you don't hit anyone else's car, you just run off the course."
Perfect for the fledgling event, as well, because Boxstrom connects the best-remembered hillclimb in Ontario sports car history, up gravel roads at Rattlesnake Point, near Milton, Ont., in the early 1960s with this latest attempt at reviving the sport.
The 1961 Morris Minor in which he began racing and hillclimbing generated nearly 400 fewer horsepower than his Chaparral. Even now, all kinds of cars take to the hills: Rudi Gombert is running his 1980 Cadillac Eldorado in the Brack Classic, with "give or take, 500 horsepower," and so is Frank and Connie Mount with their 1939 MGTB Special, who've twice competed at the estimable Mt. Equinox hillclimb in Vermont, and Jack MacDonnell in his 1976 Datsun 280Z.
A special treat: Brack himself will make demonstration runs in the Lotus 59/69 in which he won the Player's Atlantic championship over future Formula 1 sensation Gilles Villeneuve in 1974 and 1975.
The Knox Mountain Hillclimb in Kelowna, B.C., continues as Canada's longest-established climb. In the 59th annual edition in May, Wouter Bowman was fastest up the mountain in a Mazda RX7, ahead of a Formula Ford race car and a MGB GT.
Mount Equinox celebrated its 68th anniversary in July as a survivor among New England hill climbs, many of which, like the Rattlesnake, have given way to development and municipal regulations.
The Goodwood Festival of Speed, the most glamorous of hillclimbs, at Sussex, England, serves as the ideal for Classic co-founders Bill Brack and Bob DeShane. Rob McLeese encouraged them to schedule their first Classic the same weekend as his Cobble Beach Concours d'Elegance, thinking the synergy would attract even more enthusiasts to Owen Sound.
Celebrated race cars are a Goodwood staple. Boxstrom's Chaparral fills that bill at Inglis Falls.
Famed Texan racer Jim Hall's Chaparrals forever altered racing car design after he introduced high-mounted wings and chassis ground effects. Chaparrals won Sebring in 1965, Nurburgring in 1966, the Indianapolis 500 in 1978 and 1980, largely because they stuck to the pavement so much better than anything else.
Boxstrom's Chaparral, however, predated such aero mastery. That's why he always needs to feather the throttle topping the Andretti Straight at 150 mph or so, lest he achieve flight at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, as Mosport now is known. "I can't pass anyone coming over the hill because the front end gets so light, the car moves around so much."
His Chaparral represents state-of-the-art, circa 1960, as conceived by California racecar builders Dick Troutman and Tom Barnes. They set out to better the European cars then dominant – Maseratis and Coopers – with a tightly-wrapped, front-engined package. Jim Hall took such a liking to their handiwork, he bought the entire production run of five cars – and dubbed them Chaparral 1.
The third of these Chaparral 1's sold for $1,111,000 at an auction in 2004. The first of the series, 001, was consigned by Boxstrom to the RMSotheby sale at Pebble Beach Aug. 14-15, with an estimate of $900,000 to $1,400,000. As for his second Chaparral 1, the one he didn't race at Mosport, he's not ready to let it go.
He loves how it goes like a scared cat on tighter circuits such as Lime Rock, Conn., where he won three years running – its short straight being less like a runway.
And the Brack Classic with four sweeping turns over 1.12 km? "It'll be fast," he said, without hesitation, sounding 70-something once again, maybe even 66.
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