Photography by Alec White/Guess Work Photography
When it comes to hillclimbs, you get a wide variety of cars, from wild to mild, and the SCCA Appalachian HillClimb Series is no exception. Its 2024 champions drove cars such as a Chevrolet Cobalt-based Goblin kit car, a Red Devil T-82 Formula 500 sports racer and an Oldsmobile Cutlass NASCAR stock car. The formula for the series works.
“2024 was a really strong year for the program, with big turnouts for both drivers and event team members, despite only having three hills,” SCCA’s Vice President, Rally/Solo and Experiential, Heyward Wagner, says. “2025 is kicking off with a record entry list for Pine Mountain and real potential for new hills by year’s end.”
What were the winning formulas for the racers, though? Here’s a rundown of the champs.
Michael Snowden
1997 Mazda Miata
Michael and his father H. Scott built a car they could drive to events and compete with. With homemade aero, a VVT engine swap and E85, the Miata propelled Michael to a championship. “After autocrossing for many years, it was a refreshing change of pace,” Michael says of hillclimbs. “The competition in Sport class is fierce and made me push myself to improve over the weekend. I also enjoyed the camaraderie in the class.”
Aaron Elsner
2001 Porsche 911
“I was looking to try something different,” Aaron says. “My friend Christian Aranha told me just do it. I am glad I did!” Despite a mishap at the Dragon, Aaron earned a championship with his mostly stock 996. “I’ll spare the lame excuses,” he concedes. “I was trying to break a 2:00 time and zigged when I should have zagged.” While incurring only cosmetic damage, Aaron has a 996.1 aerokit car for this year.
David Clemens
2002 Chevrolet Corvette
David couldn’t get enough with his Corvette Z06, so he entered it into hillcliimbs. “My 2024 season was the largest season of my racing life,” he says. That might be an understatement. His busy schedule included three time trials, seven autocrosses, 11 road races and three hillclimbs. He’s building another C5 Corvette Z06 to do more time trial events and compete for championships in the SCCA Blue Ridge Region autocross and the Appalachian HillClimb Series.
Lawrence Shue
2003 BMW M3
Lawrence entered the year thinking it would be a test-and-tune exercise. He swapped in a 2020 BMW M4 powertrain–S55 engine, ECU, DCT, wiring–into his E46. It seemed to work. “Car performs well with nearly 500 wheel horsepower, although it’s a handful when boost hits,” Lawrence says. “Overall, not bad of a result for eight weeks of work!” Oh yeah, his DSC isn’t working yet, he hopes to address that and cooling this year.
Dillon Broyles
2006 Mazda MX-5
The formula to success for Dillon? A Mazda MX-5 with a swapped 2.5-liter inline-four from a Ford Fusion, but that’s only part of the equation. “I just showed up at each event and drove as fast as I could,” Dillon says. He’s since sold that MX-5 and will move into Super Modified for 2025 with a C5 Corvette Z06. “I’m a bit intimidated by the power delta,” Dillon admits, “and will be cautious for sure.”
Heyward Wagner
2005 Mazda RX-8
After running a Honda Civic, Heyward went with a turbo 13B-powered RX-8. “As the event lead for two of the three hills, I’m always just happy to have things smoothly enough to be able to jump in the car,” Heyward says. “Claiming a championship definitely wasn’t expected. Only took one run at the final round due to work commitments and illness.” This year, Heyward plans to add autocross and time trials in addition to the hills for his RX-8.
Tommy Plaza
1990 Oldsmobile Cutlass
When Tommy saw an old stock car go up for auction, he couldn’t resist. For less than $10,000, he had a race car. But what to do with it? He ended up doing hillclimbs. Tommy plans to return this year with simple goals: “Gotta keep the paint side up and hope I don’t break anything major,” Tommy says. “Also, I need to make sure I can replant my flag atop the classic stock car class.”
Cody Puckett
1970 Chevrolet Camaro
Cody mashed-up classic and modern well with his Camaro. The car uses LS3 power, a four-speed dog box, a Winters quick change rear end, a three-link rear suspension and a C5 front suspension. While he blew an engine before Flag Rock, Cody put in another engine and broke the class records he set before at both Flag Rock and the Dragon. His plan this year? A new ride–a 1937 International D2 pickup–and hopefully new track records with it.
Ted Visscher
2008 Red Devil T-82
Ted calls his car “an overgrown shifter kart.” It uses a fuel-injected, four-stroke 600cc engine. “I don’t like carburetors,” Ted says. “I dislike two-strokes and CVT tuning. A four-stroke F600 is like sports racer lite.” His chief competition? Legend Cars, which “pressure me to go faster,” he says. Ted plans to step away from the seat this year to concentrate on family obligations, but you’ll still see him on the hills as a corner worker.
Justin Reed
2016 DF Kit Car Goblin
Justin started with “big aero upgrades” on his Chevrolet Cobalt-based Goblin. Unfortunately, it upset the balance of the car, leading to the car going through a ditch and resulting in his worst finish ever, a P7. Justin contacted Nine Lives Racing for a solution. The next two events, Justin set records. This year, Justin has a bigger heat exchanger for the turbo, but otherwise the same car in his quest for a third consecutive championship.
Want to join in on the fun? Here’s the 2025 SCCA Appalachian HillClimb Series schedule:
Hillclimbing is such a rad sport.
"See that hill? Get up there as fast as you can."
Very cool!
The F600 and ginormous-winged Camaro are both sporting GRM stickers.
This is the sport that excites me most about eventually participating in. Not flat like an autocross and a whole lot more dangerous too, but boy, what fun that must be! I decided to build the 240Z for hillclimb events, since the hillclimb is where I want to hone my driving skills the most anyway. Reading articles like this always give me butterflies in the stomach and I look forward with anticipation :)
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