COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo (KOAA) — The 104th Pikes Peak International Hill Climb took place Sunday, sending racers up 12.42 miles and 156 turns at speeds above 150 miles per hour.
For the drivers who take on America's Mountain, the mental side of the climb is just as demanding as the physical, but some say they chose to turn their brains off during the actual climb.
"Get to the green flag, you go, and honestly, for me at least, my brain kind of shuts off. I'm not thinking about anything else except my job at that moment." Laura Hayes said.
"Kind of push out of my mind that you're running next to a thousand-foot cliff. It's just another barrier. It's not different than a cone, no different than anything else,” Paul Wolff said.
"I just lock in. It's just you, the car, and the track. That's it. You just hyper-focus on what you're doing. No other thoughts in the world. Just racing,” Scott Birdsall said.
"It's a different brain I use at that point. When you're going 170 miles an hour between rocks, cliffs, and drops, there's no time to think. It's just do,” Robin Shute said.
Hayes, competing in the Pikes Peak GT4 division, finished at 10:17.538. The rookie Paul Wolff crossed the finish line at 12:35.300. Eighth-year competitor Scott Birdsall raced in the super unlimited division and reached the summit at 11:24.508.
Also in his eighth year on the mountain, Shute entered as one of the candidates who could finish with the fastest overall time to earn King of the Mountain.
While he did post a time of 8:29.497 and finished first in his super unlimited division, he was second overall behind Romain Dumas, who crossed the line at 8:18.202.
See the results of the race here.
_____
Watch KOAA News5 on your time, anytime with our free streaming app available for your Roku, FireTV, AppleTV, and Android TV. Just search KOAA News5, download, and start watching.