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A pair of veteran champion ship drivers, Colorado Springs’ Vern Root and Gordon Herring of Golden, and “Honest John’’ Kilborn of Decatur. Ill, a vet eran sports car driver who is substituting for the injured Herb Shannon in a stock car, are the final entries for the 42nd annual Pikes Peak Auto Hill Climb, which is scheduled for Saturday at 10 a.m. Already set for the race are all of last year’s defending champions Bobby Unser, who arrived Saturday, in champion ship cars, Indianapolis winner Parnelli Jones in a stock car, and Ali Miller in a sports car Managing Director J. C. Agaja nian has posted a purse of more than $22,000. Root, a home town boy who graduated from Colorado Springs High School, will be making his third appearance in the 1242 mile “Race to the Clouds” in his Chevrolet pow ered Olsen Photo Special. He is also doing the mechanical work on the car The 28-year-old mechanic has been driving stock cars for many years in the Colorado area. He was runner-up to another champion ship entry, Wes Vandervoort, for the 1959 Pikes Peak stock car racing association. Vern and his wife, Opal, have a son. Russ 3 months Herring is one of the veterans of the “Hill.” He made his deb ut there in 1955 and has raced up the 14,110 foot mountain ev ery year since. His finishes in clude a fourth, a pair of sixths and a seventh. He has been racing midgets, sprint cars, championship cars and stocks since 1936. He was BCRA cham pion in 1959, “61 and ‘62. Herring is again wheeling his own 270 cubic inch Offenhauser powered championship car. Kilborn has been racing sports cars for the last 13 years, be fore switching to stock cars last veteran will wheel a 194 Plym outh. There should be several ad ditional stock cars entered fol lowing the C.D.R. 250-miler. However at this time, it is not known which cars they will be. Practice begins Monday at 5 a.m. and runs until 8. They will practice again on Tuesday and Wednesday at the same time. Qualifying will be Thursday be tween 6 and 9 a.m. A trio of sports car drivers, including veteran Chuck Fred erick of Golden, and rookies Jim Kennedy, Jr. of Colorado Springs, and Ronnie Raye of Pueblo, also filed their entries this weekend Frederick, a ski shop owner, finished fifth in last year’s Hill Climb. Already set are the first seven finishers Miller, Thom Jamison, Al Daniels, Larry Doolen, Frank Peterson and Jay Irwin. Frederick has been racing 2 Corvettes at such places as Road America, C.D.R. and As pen as well as hill climbs at Old Raton and Ten Sleep. How ever, for the Hill Climb, the 29-year-old veteran will wheel a Cobra Ford. Kennedy is one of the hot young Corvette drivers who is making his Hill Climb debut this year. He has already recorded a pair of firsts and a second at Calhan this season in his Corvette, which is also his street car. He has his climb experi ence from running Buckhorn and Pueblo’s Burnt Springs. Raye is a veteran driver who began racing in 1950. Since com ing to Colorado he has raced modifieds and super modifieds at Sportsman's Raceway Park, Pikes Peak Speedway, Beacon Hill Speedway and Englewood Speedway. He has driven sports cars in various hill climbs. He will be driving a 1959 Cor vette roadster for Don Ware of Pueblo.
Newspaper Details
Colorado Springs Gazette
Colorado Springs, Colorado, US
Sun, Jun 28, 1964
Page 30
Full Page
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USA 22 Jun 2026
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