1908 Winning car. Al Poole driving an Isotta set a course record! Since it was only the second year the race had been run, his 1:17 elapsed time wasn’t exactly earth shattering. Photo was colorized for a postal card image.
May 30, 1907 was the first of the 4 years the Sport Hill races were held. William Platt’s sawmill is at the right, and that car is a 1907 Pope-Hartford owned by James H. Kelly of Bridgeport.
1909. The license plate indicates a factory owned Locomobile built in Bridgeport. 1909 Sport Hill Race
1909. Looking up “Old” Sport Hill road near where Deleware Road intersects today.
1909. A stripped down Ford Speedster near the starting line. Participants were allowed to remove body parts in order to lighten the automobile.
R.A. McNeil driving a Stearns Automobile
The 1909 crowd gathers around the spot where one of the spectators was injured when a car went off of the course.
Press stand on Snake Hill on Burr Street during the 1910 Race
Spectators line the course on the tightest turn of Snake Hill during the 1910 race.
Flagman watches as race car passes in 1910 event.
After the 1909 accident, additional troops were added for crowd control in the 1910 Race.
1908. Looking north on Easton Turnpike (Sport Hill Rd) just south of the Jefferson Street intersection. Spectators parked where they could and walked to see the races.
Finish line just south of Flat Rock Road in the 1908 race.
1909. Starting line at Mill River crossing at foot of Sport Hill. The number 5 Buick driven by Burman.
The number 40 Overland starts up the hill in 1909.
1909. A Chalmers-Detroit driven by Lorimar rounds a curve about where Westwood Drive would now enter Sport Hill
1909. Large crowds line the course, sitting right alongside of the roadway. A wayward race car injured several spectators that year when it left the cousre.
A local farmer uses the course between race heats in 1909. Note the man peddling sandwiches at the left.
1909. At the end of the day, a Maxwell passes by one of the mills on the east side of Sport Hill in the Plattsville.
Lorimar’s stripped down number 28 Chalmers-Detroit in a later heat.
Frank Lecault in a Palmer-Singer during the 1909 Race
1908 race. All races were held on Memorial Day.
1909. In between races, Easton residents used a more convential means of transportation to get up the hill.
The 1910 race was almost scrapped because of one local resident’s objection to using Sport Hill. A new spot was found on Snake Hill on Burr Street. These cars are parked on Burr just before the intersection with North Street.
1910. The final hill climb was run on Burr Street just north of the Fairfield town line.