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A Hillclimb Championship for the Ages

By Bill Andrews

November 30, 2004 – It’s hard enough racing up the side of a hill that some would describe as a cliff, just hanging on to a bucking motorcycle and hoping to make it to the top in a competitive time — or just make it to the top at all.

Now, imagine you’re barreling up that hill on a machine that’s more than 30 years old. Chad Disbennett does that by choice.

Disbennett not only competes on a bike most would consider an antique, he won the 800cc class in the 2004 AMA Hillclimb Championship presented by Pace American with it, as well.

With consistency — and, he admits, a little luck — Disbennett claimed the "king of the hill" title while racing a late-‘60s Triumph against more modern multi-cylinder machines ridden by some of the best in the business.

Disbennett remains humble despite his championship.

"Even a blind squirrel finds an acorn once in a while," he says. "I just found more this year."

If so, those are pretty rare acorns. It’s been 14 years since British iron won an 800cc championship in AMA Hillclimb. At that time, Disbennett’s bike was already more than 20 years old.

He admits it’s kind of tough racing on a machine that was popular during the Aquarius generation, and it doesn’t make it any easier that he’s using it for things it was never designed to do. But, he says, those hurdles only make the victories sweeter when he can beat the competition.

"I know we're not making more horsepower," he says. "We're just out-riding them."

Disbennett also races an old Triumph in the 540cc class, with the chief difference being the bore sizes, he says. Obviously, racing old street bikes in national hillclimb competition takes a lot of work and ingenuity.

"We can still get a lot of parts, but there’s a lot of custom stuff that has to be handmade," he says. "Obviously, these engines and clutches weren’t designed to take 100 horsepower. They weren’t made for the fuel injection, they weren’t made for the power we’re running."

That sometimes makes it hard to get technical help. All hillclimbers are using highly modified machines, but those with modern engines who need tuning assistance can often get help from the company that makes the fuel injection system used on the bike.

"When we call and tell them, 'It’s a 1969 Triumph, can you give us the specs on that?' Usually you get a good chuckle and that’s that."

Problems this year with the 540cc bike killed Disbennett's chances for a title in that class. In the bigger class, Disbennett and his team were able to work around the problems and take home the title. Sometimes, it's a race against time.

"We know we can get a season and a half out of this Triumph before it blows up," Disbennett says. "We know that because it has and does. And that’s just a sickening feeling—especially for (engine builder) John Hamilton."

With all these troubles, one has to ask the obvious question: Why race 30-year-old Triumphs?

Chad Disbennett gets his championship award during the 30th annual AMA Pro Racing Awards Banquet held at the Paris Las Vegas Casino Resort.

Disbennett says it’s simply because he’s been around some of the best British-bike racers and mechanics all his life, such as his father and mechanic, Doyle Disbennett, who is a two-time AMA Hillclimb champion from 1969 and 1971, and Chad’s engine builder, John Hamilton, Sr., also a two-time AMA Hillclimb champion from 1978 and 1982.

Not long after Chad graduated college, he made the decision to follow in his father’s footsteps. He says he was talking to his good friend and fellow racer John Hamilton, Jr. one day about getting into hillclimb, and Hamilton said, "As long as you get a Triumph, dad will work on it."

"If it says Triumph on the tank, there’s a good chance it’s been touched by, or they’ve talked to Johnny Hamilton, Sr.," says Disbennett. "He’s simply the best Triumph man out there."

With racing British machinery practically a family tradition, Chad’s fate was set. Even now, with the championship under his belt, he feels there's room for improvement from the old Triumph.

"We are still not at the potential of it," he says. "We’re still looking at the gearing."

Still, even when things are hooking up just right, Disbennett says the riders on four-cylinder machines have a distinct advantage charging up the hill.

"A four-cylinder can turn the throttle off two or three times and still win," he says. "If I let off even once, I’ve lost. So, whatever happens, happens when I go. And whatever it is, it’s going to be spectacular. When we get a good straight ride, where we can hold the throttle open, I know we can have a good run."

And 2004 was the best run of all. Not just because he won on a motorcycle that had all the odds stacked against it, but also because victory tastes sweeter when served with that British-bike family tradition.

"It’s a wonderful thing to share this with my dad," says Disbennett. "As long as I’ve been walking I’ve been going to hillclimbs. So I’m just fortunate to go to the races with my dad—let alone win a national championship with him."

For more on the 2004 AMA Hillclimb Championship presented by Pace American, click here.

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