Pagoda Hillclimb a family tradition
Jim Oswald, his daughter, Emily, and brother, Robert Jr., keep racing up Duryea Drive, following what Robert Oswald Sr. started many years ago
The Pagoda Hillclimb began Saturday as upwards of 70 drivers took part in the timed trial event that features a 1.35-mile trek of sharp turns up Duryea Drive before finishing just below the Pagoda.
For many drivers, the race is a familial tradition that gives different generations the chance to come together and share their love of cars while also trying to improve their times up the mountain.
“It’s what we do,” said longtime racing enthusiast Jim Oswald, also a Lower Alsace Township supervisor. “You know, we don’t go skiing in the wintertime and we don’t go golfing, we go race.”
When it comes to racing, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree in the Oswald family.
Jim is the son of Robert Oswald Sr., who last year at 85 completed his 50th year of racing on Duryea Drive and has the most wins of anyone in the Pennsylvania Hillclimb Association. Now his sons Robert Jr. (Bob) and Jim, as well as Jim’s daughter, Emily, carry on the racing tradition and are taking part in this weekend’s festivities.
The Pagoda Hillclimb concludes Sunday with racing from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The Duryea Hillclimb will be held Aug. 20-21.
“My dad started racing here in 1970 when I was 7 years old, so I’ve been around it for a long time,” Jim Oswald said. “Over the years, I started as a corner worker and when I got old enough to start driving, I raced. When I got married, my wife went from being a corner worker to racing also. So it’s just in our blood.”
The Oswalds compete in all eight races put on by the Pennsylvania Hillclimb Association, which tests the skills of drivers along with the performance of their souped-up cars on uphill terrains.
“There’s eight events a year, and if I don’t race them all I at least try to get there to watch my daughter race them,” Jim Oswald. “It’s a lot of fun and it’s like one big, happy family.”
On Saturday, Jim and Emily drove a 1984 Volkswagon Rabbit that the two bought and worked on together in their home garage, where they make many of their racing cars from scratch.
Emily, a mechanic by trade, has been racing since 2015, but said she has only managed to get the upper hand on her dad once. On Saturday, Jim finished in 101.668, while Emily completed her time in 101.788.
“My dad and I bought the car together,” Emily said. “I did (beat her dad in a race) once and then he shut that down real quick. He got me back.”
Jim and Bob each carry on their father’s winning legacy as the two are among the top 10 in all time wins on the Pennsylvania circuit. While Jim may have the advantage over Emily, Bob had the best time of all three Oswalds Saturday, finishing in 94.057 seconds.
“I’m under two minutes at the Duryea (Hillclimb) here, which is an accomplishment,” Bob Oswald said. “It’s just a lot of fun for us to go out and get to do this, drive up these hills and try out a new car I built for this year.”
Bob drives an Inex Legend that at first glance appears to be the perfect car for the twists and turns of hillclimbs, and as he said, has all the specifications to fit the part.
“They (Inex Legends) are made down in Harrisburg, North Carolina,” Bob said. And they were developed back in the ’90s to be an affordable form of racing. It’s got a 1200 cc Yamaha motorcycle motor in it and weighs 1,000 pounds. Has 125 horsepower. So yeah, it’s a lot of fun.”
In addition to racing, Jim and Emily also work with the safety crews throughout the day. If they weren’t in one of their cars, the two were at the starting line setting up the next racer and staying prepared for any accidents.
“I’m an EMT, and firefighter with heavy rescue experience, so I, you know, render aid until the ambulance gets down there, or until the fire truck gets there,” Jim said. “So if there’s an incident on the hill I go up with the safety truck. We have people all over the hill that offer to be corner workers then they report down to us and the whole point is to try and clean it up as quick as we can so we get the drivers as many runs as they can for the weekend.”
The Oswalds were just one of many families on hand to extend the tradition of racing, according to event chairman Rich Rock. Rock also said that the race benefits the community as admission is free but donations are taken to benefit Pagoda-Skyline, a non-profit, citizen volunteer organization dedicated to the restoration and preservation of the Pagoda, the William Penn Memorial Fire Tower and the Skyline Drive area.
“We have families with three or four generations racing, so there’s a number of people here who’ve been doing it for a long time,” Rock said. “We partner with Pagoda-Skyline Incorporated and they are collecting donations so it helps them and part of our proceeds end up going to the Reading Recreation Commission.
“It’s important to the community and I talk to people all the time who say, ‘I’ve been coming since I was a kid’, and, that sort of thing. Yeah, it’s a longstanding tradition”
Although the thunderous roars of speedy cars in powerful engines provide the excitement, its clear that togetherness and camaraderie have fueled the spark that drives so many to the Pagoda and Duryea hillclimbs every year.
“It brings everybody together, that’s for sure,” Emily Oswald said. “I know this is what brings us all (the Oswalds) together every other weekend. So its nice way to keep everybody together.”