Dick,
 Unless you have strength issues ( due to many years of Experience in manual labor ) I don't think you'll have issues with a Non- P/S rack effort. The average H/C in USA is less than 3-1/2 minutes. My 72 only made me tired if I had to make a back to back run due to timing errors.  I was running 20X13X9 Slicks on all corners. If I had spent more time on Chassis setup, The car might have been easier to drive. My fatigue was also due to a less than properly sized seat for pinning my diminutive hiney snugly in said seat. Gear changes can really get you when you 1 hand the wheel, so ergonomics are all important.
 Like real estate, and good carnal relations, .. Location Location , Location!

Pintosopher 

Dick,
 I don't have my alignment specs but at the time I put the car together it was doing dual duty on the Street and Auto X . I have the 13X7 steel wheels and the front had enough backspace to really piss off the alignment Tech. The rear were deeper offset with the same 7 inch width. The right front was set to less neg Camber for the crown on the road and the caster caused it to go into neg camber quickly to save the outside tread. Keep in mind, that Hillclimbs are run on closed public roads, and unlike racetracks aren't ideal for any particular setup.
 Think about those Opels in the You Tube H/C videos, they squat enough in the rear to raise either front tire off the surface in the corners, Your Pinto could do it too!

Pintosopher, an unknown roll center in a world  of late apexes

The only way I could see a problem is using a pump for a non-rack type steering unit on a rack and probably not even then. The pumps pretty much all can produce far more pressure/volume than ever needed, they simply bypass off the rest not used. If using a late power unit that ran on a rack originally then no trouble at all. Racks don't really change that much inside, they all use a simple o-ring in middle and seals on both ends. The piston sizes don't change by much.

Might not tire you that much but plenty of rough handling when driving off-road taught me that if you lose it for a second then power could let you recover in a split-second emergency whereas otherwise you might DNF. Say you get rattled enough to lose tight grip for a second........ ....