PINKHAM NOTCH, N.H. – Officials with the Mt. Washington Auto Road in Gorham, N.H., the Sports Car Club of New Hampshire and Subaru of America have postponed the Mt. Washington Hillclimb.
Originally scheduled for July 9-12, 2020, the event has been rescheduled to July 8-11, 2021 due to concerns surrounding the current COVID-19 pandemic.
Organized by the Sports Car Club of New Hampshire for the Mt. Washington Auto Road with support from Subaru of America, the Subaru Mt. Washington Hillclimb was to serve as a three-day motorsports festival July 9-12, which would have included an 80-car competition field filled with some of the best road race, hillclimb and rally drivers from across North America and the world, as well as a contingent of rare vintage road race and rally cars, an autograph session, vendors, food trucks and other activities.
However, due to numerous health and safety concerns regarding the COVID-19 pandemic that are yet to be resolved by the State of New Hampshire and the Federal Government, including limitations imposed on large gatherings, interstate and international travel, limited lodging availability and most importantly, the health and safety of everyone involved with the Hillclimb, event officials made the difficult decision this week to reschedule the historic hillclimb to July 8-11, 2021.
“As much as we’d like to welcome competitors, volunteers, sponsors and spectators to the 2020 Subaru Mt. Washington Hillclimb July 9-12, 2020 as planned, we feel that as event organizers it’s the safe and prudent thing to do for everyone concerned to reschedule the Mt. Washington Hillclimb to July 8-11, 2021,” said Howard Roundy, Event Director for the Sports Car Club of New Hampshire. “We’d like to thank the officials, competitors, volunteers, sponsors and spectators for their support & understanding as well as the management team at the Mt. Washington Auto Road and Bill Stokes, Motorsports Manager at Subaru of America, for their help and guidance in making this difficult decision.”
The Mt. Washington Hillclimb is North America’s oldest automobile hillclimb event, first run in July 1904 — seven years before the first Indy 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and 12 years prior to the inaugural Pikes Peak Int’l Hillclimb in Colorado. The Mt. Washington Hillclimb was run sporadically from 1904 to 1961, then not again until 1990 when it was run consistently until 2001.
Following a 10-year break, the Mt. Washington Hillclimb returned in 2011 as part of the Mt. Washington Auto Road’s 150th anniversary celebration as the Auto Road first opened on August 8, 1861. Since then, the Hillclimb has taken place in 2014 as well as 2017. Event officials, competitors, volunteers, and spectators have been looking forward to celebrating a 30-year milestone in July 2020 since the historic Hillclimb was brought back after a 29-year hiatus in July 1990.
“We at Subaru Motorsports USA, like all racing fans, are disappointed that the Mt. Washington Hillclimb has been postponed. But the most important consideration is the health and safety of the teams and fans,” said Bill Stokes, Motorsports Manager for Subaru of America. “Since Travis Pastrana’s record-breaking win at the 2017 Hillclimb, our goal has been to return in 2020 to compete for another overall win and try to break that 2017 mark. We support the decision of the Mt. Washington Auto Road and the Sports Car Club of New Hampshire to postpone the event and look forward to returning in 2021 with our sights set on another all-time record up the mountain.”