Old Widowmaker Hill Climb at Point of the Mountain

[Stephen]

My brother in law is making a short documentary about recreation at Point of the Mountain. He's a big paraglider but had no idea about the old Widowmaker Hill Climb that happened there from the 60's to the 90's. Aside from reading a few articles about it and On Any Sunday I'm pretty weak on knowledge.
Anyone here have some good info, or better yet, know anyone who participated?

 

[DAA]

No really good info. But I attended them every year for quite a few years. My Dad started taking me and then when I started driving I went with my friends. Saw some awful wild stuff go down at the Widowmaker. Both on the hill and in the crowd. Remember one year, they were having trouble with spectators on the course up on the hill and there was a pretty big reward for the first rider to hit a spectator on purpose.

Watching the guys with the balls to ride down from up high was as cool as watching them try going up. But there were more than a few guys that got mid hill and said screw it and tried to hit a spectator inbounds.

I honestly think it was my "friends" from Rose Park that got it shut down. The year they all went to jail was the last year they had it out there, anyway. I left early. Met a girl... No jail for me . But, seriously, six or seven of our crew went straight from the hill to jail that last year. I guess towards the end, first one tried to climb the hill in his Impala, then one tried in his Camaro and rolled it. And no sooner had the wreckage been cleared than another guy I know tried it in his CJ and rolled it too.

When I was still pretty young and going with my Dad, I watched a dude in a Cougar run another dude over on purpose. The porta potties were full to overflowing. Guy went in and some bikers pushed it over onto the door. He had to climb out from the toiled lid. He jumped in his car and drove right into the middle of them spinning a brodie in the dirt. One of the Sundowners had fallen on his hands and knees when the driver squared up on him and punched it. I watched it from pretty close as he ran him right the eff over. He took off trying to get away and head on collided with a Suburban with a family in it. Watched the crowd roll the car over a few times with the driver still in it before he got drug out and stomped by the bikers.

Saw all kinds of crazy shit there.

I miss the old Widowmaker...

- DAA

 

[DAA]

Another Widowmaker experience. Also when I was pretty young. Had ridden out there on the back of my Dad's T120RT. He was a Triumph guy through and through. Had a lot of them. But his T120RT was his pride and joy. Very rare bike, only 204 of them made, for homologation. Even most Triumph guys don't know one when they see one. It's in my garage now.

But anyway... We parked it and walked over and watched the hill climb for a few hours. Walked back to check on the bike and an out of state MC, I forget which one, but one of the California clubs, Mongols I think? They were stomping some local biker pretty good right there by pops bike. Turns out, they told us with pride, that local biker dude had been touching pops bike and they took it upon themselves to stomp him for it. And they did...

- DAA

 

[Unimog]

I never attended it personally, but I was wrenching at the Suzuki dealership in Orem in the late 80's. One of our customers was a racer and I worked on his bike every year. As I recall the last incarnation was a Suzuki 1100 with about a 6' swingarm on it.

 

[RustEoldtrux]

I drove by the Widowmaker hill tonight on my way to meet up with xj_nate. Pretty sad to see it's just a giant gravel pit now. I went every year from 1974 to 1980, but don't have any wild experiences to tell about.

 

[Coco]

You can still see the lines on the mountain today from it. I was always intrigued about that when my pops told me when I was a kid.

 

[lhracing]

I remember going to outdoor concerts on the flats at the base of the hill, I saw BB King there in the early 70's.

 

[DAA]

You can still see the lines on the mountain today from it. I was always intrigued about that when my pops told me when I was a kid.

They moved the lines several times at least. If more than two or three guys topped out the next year they would move and nobody would make it all the way up again until the lines got wore in.

- DAA

 

[Bub]

I was there one of the years the announcers started calling out bounties for participants hitting spectators on the course.

Also had a dude killed in front of us in a spectator riff, Two dudes where drunk as hell an fighting. One gave the other a good walloping so the beaten dude jumped in his dune buggy and ran his attacker over. Killed him.

As we where leaving one year a woman went into labor. They tossed her into a lifted suburban and the guy drove it right down the hill. Made his own road outa there.

Saw some kids in a Blazer head up the hill to the left of the climb trying to get to a better observation point. They did pretty good but then turned 90 degrees and tried to cross the hill and total yard sale.

I miss the old Widowmaker!

 

[Stephen]

From what I've read things got outta control in the late 70's, early 80's, but by the time the early 90's came around things had calmed down? Then it got shut down because of encroaching development? Sound about right?

 

[DAA]

The section of the crowd I hung out in had not calmed down much.

- DAA

 

[Stephen]

The section of the crowd I hung out in had not calmed down much.

- DAA

Who's fault was that, Dave?

 

[cruiseroutfit]

I’m a member of Draper FB page and there are occasional cool pictures and stories.

 

[anderson750]

I know a guy who participated a couple times in the 70's

 

[frieed]

Find the old movie "On any Sunday"

The Original Widowmaker Motorcycle Hill Climb (VIDEO)

Motorcycle Hill Climb has been taking place since its inception in the early 1900s. In the late 1960’s and ’70s in the small town of Draper, Utah, there was a motorcycle race held that was unlike any other at the time. Earning the name “Widowmaker” is a long scar carved into a steep hillside of...

historygarage.com

 

[N-Smooth]

https://www.instagram.com/p/CUxv_aQMNto/?utm_medium=copy_link

I wouldn’t even have attempted this so I’ll at least give him that prop

That’s so gnarly

 

[jwoodard801]

My brother in law is making a short documentary about recreation at Point of the Mountain. He's a big paraglider but had no idea about the old Widowmaker Hill Climb that happened there from the 60's to the 90's. Aside from reading a few articles about it and On Any Sunday I'm pretty weak on knowledge.
Anyone here have some good info, or better yet, know anyone who participated?

I know some people I could put you in contact with… as a matter of fact, I met the first man to crest the original widow maker hillclimb right before he passed. We have a poster that is a picture of the event, front wheel reaching into the sky as his rear tire gives him the last foot or so of contact. It’s signed and carries the title “ride like Joe” across the top. The history of the event is amazing. My father actually entered one year. Don’t tell anyone I said this because he might be offended. But he had “mechanical failure”. Which is short for “forgot to turn the petcock to the on position” 🤣 Anyway, a lot of these old timers are around and I personally think it’s incredibly important to document what they accomplished before (like Joe) they are all lost to time. You can contact me here or at jwoodard801@gmail.com and I’ll see what I can do to help you guys out. Take care.

 

[Stephen]

I know some people I could put you in contact with… as a matter of fact, I met the first man to crest the original widow maker hillclimb right before he passed. We have a poster that is a picture of the event, front wheel reaching into the sky as his rear tire gives him the last foot or so of contact. It’s signed and carries the title “ride like Joe” across the top. The history of the event is amazing. My father actually entered one year. Don’t tell anyone I said this because he might be offended. But he had “mechanical failure”. Which is short for “forgot to turn the petcock to the on position” 🤣 Anyway, a lot of these old timers are around and I personally think it’s incredibly important to document what they accomplished before (like Joe) they are all lost to time. You can contact me here or at jwoodard801@gmail.com and I’ll see what I can do to help you guys out. Take care.

Great info, I'll pass it on. This was a couple years ago that he was looking to put this together, not sure where he's at with it these days.