COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KOAA) — Veteran Eli Olivas returns to Pikes Peak on June 21, carrying the names of fallen special forces soldiers on his car, the Mourning Star.
Olivas had no prior racing background, but that did not stop him from conquering the Pikes Peak Hill Climb for the first time in 2025. This Sunday, he returns for his second run up the mountain, but it almost feels like the first time since the 2025 course was shortened due to weather.
“When they made the announcement that they truncated the course in half, it was pretty demoralizing. But it was the right call. The hill climb committee definitely save(d) lives that day making that call," said Olivas.
Olivas has two honorable discharges from the military. He first served from 1994 to 1999 as an infantry soldier, then re-enlisted after 9/11.
"I wanted to do something different, so I became a Green Beret. I got selected to be a medical sergeant, which is what I did at 10th Special Forces Group and then started deploying to Iraq," said Olivas.
After leaving the military for the second time, Olivas struggled to readjust to civilian life. Though he was out, his military brothers were still fighting and some losing their lives. This eventually took Olivas to his darkest moment.
"I went down a very dark path of drinking and drug abuse. It culminated one night. I was drunk, high on cocaine and pills, and I pulled the trigger on myself,” said Olivas. “In that last moment, the good Lord came to me. He pushed the gun away, and he gave me the vision. Told me to have a car built. He said 'take it to all the Special Forces groups, have them write the names of the fallen on it, and then I want you to race Pikes Peak.'”
Through the gun smoke filling the room, and his ears still ringing from the sound of the firearm, Olivas says he saw the vision the Lord was bringing to him.
Though he had no money and was at his lowest point, he worked to better himself and see that vision through. He has now been sober for more than three years.
That vision became the Mourning Star, his race car, covered in the names of military members who died fighting for their country.
"Every section of the car is a different Special Forces group. I had them write out their group number and then also their nickname," said Olivas.
When asked what it means to carry those names up the mountain, Olivas did not hesitate.
"God it means the world to me. It's everything to me, they really kept me going. They gave me a purpose again to live in life. I don't have a wife and kids. These guys are my family," said Olivas.
When Olivas heads to the starting line this Sunday, he says it is not him climbing the mountain, it is the men he honors carrying him to the top.
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