Originally posted by Jerry Entin
Gary Knutson with Doug Cimino's 32 Ford.
Gary at 16 has just won the Georgetown Hillclimb. This race was run on a twisty dirt road, similar to Pikes Peak. It was located off the highway between Colorado Springs and Aspen, Colorado.
The car was modified with Ardun heads on a Flat Head Ford engine. They also used this car for Drag Racing.
photo found for site Vicki Knutson
Jerry:
The Georgetown Hillclimb was run out of Georgetown, Colorado, an old mining town that (today) lies right along I-70 between Denver and Vail. The event was held only a few times in the early 1950s, until a competitor at another hillclimb (Lookout Mountain) was killed, and the state governor stopped all motorsport events on public roads (a round-the-houses race had been held in Aspen).
Today we lost another competitor in the Georgetown Hillclimb, Otto Werlin. Born in Germany, he was the nephew of Jacob Werlin, who headed Daimler-Benz during WWII. Otto had come over here before the war and enlisted in the US Army, serving as a interpreter in Germany. He once told me how a DB limousine would pick him up for weekend furloughs, mystifying his colleagues. He lived in Georgetown and drove an early 1950s Porsche 356 in the hillclimb but bent a wheel (3-1/2x16).
Otto went on to manage the Loveland Ski Area, just west of Georgetown and retired maybe 10 years ago. Over the years he picked up some fun cars: a 289 Cobra, a Mercedes-Benz 300SEL 6.3, and a de Thomaso Pantera, all of which he drove into his 80s. He was a big supporter of the Shelby American Collection in Boulder, Colorado. He passed away in a Denver hospital this morning. We'll miss him.
Frank