It’s an uphill start to the workweek this #MotorMonday. This 1910 photograph shows a Matheson automobile racing its way up the Giants Despair Hillclimb in Laurel Run, Pennsylvania. The annual one-mile race featured six turns, including the one seen in this photograph and the 110-degree ‘Devils Elbow’ on its way to the finish line, which stands 650 feet above the drivers’ origin point.
First held in 1906, the hillclimb attracted racecar drivers from across the nation, and quickly became a proving ground for prominent automakers. A Matheson automobile driven by J.B. Ryall took the prize in 1907, but this 1910 race went to a Fiat driven by the International Motorsports Hall of Fame driver Ralph De Palma. The race, which continues to this day, has become Pennsylvania’s oldest motorsport event. This photograph is from the Hagley Library’s Matheson Automobile Company photographs (Accession 1989.327). More images from the collection can be found online in our Digital Archive by clicking here.
