Cascade – Taking risks is nothing new for Mike Ryan. He does it all the time as a Hollywood stuntman. So going 97 mph in his modified big rig on a narrow, twisting road up the side of Pikes Peak doesn’t seem so crazy to him.
“Who really knows what crazy is?” said Ryan, 48. “I have never met a normal person in my life. Besides, what is normal, anyway?”
Ryan, who lives in Santa Clarita, Calif., will test his mettle Saturday morning when he competes in the big rig trucks class at the 83rd Pikes Peak International Hill Climb. Racing begins at 9 a.m.
“The legend of the Hill Climb is what brought me to the mountain,” Ryan said. “I was always fascinated how drivers could conquer the elements of the Hill Climb.”
Ryan first came to Pikes Peak in 1995 and raced in the motorcycle class. He moved to the big rig class in 1997.
“As a stunt driver, I started doing a lot of work with semi-trucks, so it just made sense for me to start racing a big rig at Pikes Peak,” Ryan said.
Ryan’s only competition in the big rig class will come from Mike Gibbons, 38, from Rochester, Wash. Gibbons will be driving in his second Hill Climb.
Last year, Ryan won the big rigs class in 6 minutes, 5.03 seconds. Because of poor weather, most of the drivers last year raced from the starting line to Glen Cove, which measures 5.5 miles. Gibbons was third in big rigs at 6:55.90. Under normal conditions, competitors finish the Hill Climb by driving 12.42 miles to the top of the summit.
Ryan also will be racing the clock.
“My focus and my main goal is to break the 13-minute barrier in the big rig class,” Ryan said.
In 2002, Ryan clocked a class-record time of 13:21.40 in dramatic fashion, flipping his truck through the finish line, just making it past the timing light.
Pikes Peak isn’t the only destination for big rig drivers. Ryan has competed in the Land’s End Auto Hill Climb south of Grand Junction and the Silverstone Queenstown Gold Rush International Hill Climb in South Island, New Zealand. Gibbons has raced the past five years in events sanctioned by North American Big Rig Racing. He has a three-truck team competing in races this season at circle tracks in California, Washington, Idaho, British Columbia and Calgary, Alberta.
Gibbons also has founded Rolling Thunder Big Rig Racing – which will race on dirt tracks.
“The circle tracks, whether they are on asphalt or dirt, they are in a confined area with a lot of bumping going on,” Gibbons said. “At the Pikes Peak Hill Climb, you have to be so concentrated, it is just amazing. Nothing else exists, and you only have one chance to be your best. There is no room for safety errors.”
Such reality has become a lifestyle for Ryan.
“Mike Gibbons owns his own logging company in Washington and is a true big rig driver,” Ryan said. “I am the biggest pretender because I am stuntman, who likes racing big rigs at the Hill Climb.”
Ryan’s introduction into the stuntman profession came when he met a stunt coordinator the summer before he turned 19. He received his big break in 1991 when he was hired on to do stunts in “Terminator 2: Judgment Day,” starring Arnold Schwarzenegger.
That same year, Ryan did stunt work for the movie “Thelma & Louise.” Other big-screen work on Ryan’s résumé include “Independence Day” in 1996, and he drove the No. 28 Texaco car during scenes for “Herbie: Fully Loaded,” now playing in theaters.
Ryan and Gibbons have impressed Paul Dallenbach, a veteran open wheel racer at the Hill Climb, who shared the “King of the Hill” title with Robby Unser last year.
“What Mike Ryan and Mike Gibbons do in those big rigs is incredible,” Dallenbach said. “To go up Pikes Peak in a big rig as fast as they are going is amazing. About eight years ago, I had an offer to drive a big rig at the Hill Climb, and I didn’t want to have any part of it.”
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Race to the Clouds
What: 83rd Pikes Peak International Hill Climb
When: Saturday, 9 a.m.
Where: Race is run on a 12.42-mile course that finishes at the 14,110-foot summit of Pikes Peak.
Who: Features a variety of automotive, semi-truck and motorcycle classes
Tickets: Children 12 and under get in free. Tickets are available at all TicketWest outlets in Colorado Springs. Tickets also can be purchased at the toll gate the day of the race.
More information: www.ppihc.com
