Cascade – All week, David Donner was plagued by bad luck at the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb.
Until Saturday.
Donner overcame his problems to win the overall title at the 83rd Race to the Clouds with an unofficial time of 11 minutes, 15.685 seconds.
“This was the longest week in my life in racing, and you tend to start doubting yourself when you had as many problems with the car as we had this week,” said Donner, who competes in the open-wheel division. “We had nicknames for this car like the ‘Access-Denied Special.’ Nothing seemed to go right for us. I wasn’t even able to make a complete run during practice or qualifying. But I learned more this year about the human spirit than I have ever learned. Desire and great people make things happen, and what an accomplishment. This is unreal.”
All competitor times at the Hill Climb will become official at 9 a.m. today.
Donner is wearing the king of the hill crown for the third time. He was also the best at Pikes Peak in 1991 and 2002. The engine he won those races with was in his 2005 Donner Special on Saturday when he made it up to the top of 12.42-mile summit.
“I have tried several different state-of-the-art, trick engines, but the only engine that I have ever won with is this old engine that I have had for years,” Donner said. “We call it Old Faithful. Any time we try something different, the car just sends it away. The car has a spirit.
“The engine was conservative (Saturday), and I am a little disappointed with my time, but we made it to the top of the mountain, and look what happened.”
Koichi Horiuchi of Japan came in second at 11:34.568. Horiuchi competes in the unlimited class. Spencer Steele, who ran in the open- wheel division, was third at 11:36.112.
Paul Dallenbach, who shared the overall title with Robby Unser a year ago and won the crown outright in 2003, didn’t finish Saturday. Unser didn’t enter this year.
New Zealand’s Andrew Hawkeswood came in fourth at 11:43.097. Hawkeswood, 36, had his title aspirations vanish when he ran over debris and shredded his left front tire at Devil’s Playground, about three miles from the summit.
“I have done a lot of rally driving and I have experienced driving with blown-out tires,” said Hawkeswood, whose car didn’t arrive at Pikes Peak until Wednesday because of problems with customs. “We would have liked to do better, but we plan on coming back next year and we will be more prepared.”
Mike Ryan and Randy Schranz not only won their respective classes – big rigs and exhibition – but also set PPIHC records.
Other record-breakers included Micky Dymond (750 pro), John Stallworth (quads) and Anders Nilsson (sidecar).
Ryan, a Hollywood stuntman by trade, clocked a 12:46.815, while Schranz came in at 12:16.184. Ryan bested his old big-rig record of 13:21.40, which he set in 2002, as he flipped his rig through the finish line, just making it past the timing light.
“A stunt lasts a few seconds, and it can be a lot wilder ride,” said Ryan, who has been competing in the big-rig class since 1997. “But, to do this for 12 minutes, it just doesn’t get any better than this.”
Leonard Vahsholtz and his son Clint continued their domination at the PPIHC.
Leonard won the super stock truck/SUV class to increase his career win total at the Hill Climb to 16, a race record. Clint won the super stock division for the 10th consecutive year in 11:58.403. He also extended his record number of Hill Climb victories in a row to 13.
In Super Stats Results 27B
