It's called the Race to the Clouds. If history is your thing, it's the second oldest race in America. This year marks the 84th running of the Pikes Peak Hill Climb. It's the most exciting race event, I've ever been involved with. It is an event unlike any other. The race has seen competitors with names you would recognize and those you wouldn't. Completing the climb successfully is enough to make you proud to have been a part of it. It's a great American race!

The race is run on a 12-mile course that begins at 9,200 feet and finishes at the 14,110-foot summit of Pikes Peak. This is a public highway that is open to traffic on a daily basis. Closed one day a year to allow the event to happen. An all dirt course until 1996 when it was partially paved to lessen erosion. Since the initial pavement project, it has increased over the years. In 1999, Lonnie Eubanks won the Quad division and set a new world record at 12:42.19. The times have decreased and the record for our division sits at 12:09.16 set by Bobby Parr in 2001.

Enough rhetoric, countdown to race day looks like this. Registration and riders/drivers meeting happen 3 days before the race. 2 days before the race is first practice. 1 day before the race is final practice and qualifying. And then it's race day. Sounds quick doesn't it?