COLORADO SPRINGS — The Monster tamed the mountain.
Japan’s Nobuhiro “Monster” Tajima set an overall record Sunday with a time of 9 minutes, 51.278 seconds to win his sixth unlimited division title at the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb.
On a day of numerous records on the mostly paved highway, the biggest one of all finally fell.
Tajima smashed the vaunted 10-minute barrier in the 89th running of the nation’s second-oldest motor sports race.
“He ran a tremendous race,” Bobby Unser Jr. said. “He’s always smiling but today he has a great reason.”
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Tajima was hopeful headed into Sunday’s race, but his confidence was shaken when his engine began to overheat and his power steering went with about two switchbacks left.
“The performance of the rest of the car was good enough to finish,” Tajima said.
Tajima’s nearest rival, Rhys Millen, had troubles of his own, losing his brakes with two turns left in the W’s, a series of tight turns a bit more than halfway into the race.
“They started getting soft in the middle of the W’s and were completely gone,” he said after recording a 10:09.30, more than a minute better than his 2010 finish.
“I couldn’t slow down at all heading into that second (to last) turn. There’s nothing you can do when you’re going into a turn at 120 mph. I don’t know how I got through that corner at full speed.”
Millen estimated he lost almost 20 seconds by having to shift down early instead of relying on his brakes.
Millen’s father, Rod, won the time attack 2WD division in a record 11:04.98, beating defending champ and longtime friend Jeff Zwart, who set the record (11:07.72) last summer.
The other big record that fell was Louis Unser’s 36 finishes, when Colorado Springs’ Randy Schranz won the Pikes Peak Open with a propane-record time of 11:55.15.
Clint Vahsholtz set a record in the super stocks division at 10:55.54, beating Layne Schranz, who completed the 12.42-mile course in 11:22.46.
But the day belonged to Tajima. He dedicated the win to his country to recognize victims of the recent earthquake and subsequent disasters.
“My country has been so good to me,” he said. “I wanted to give them something back for their support.”
The most popular man on the mountain spent several hours posing for pictures with fans and handling interviews with foreign media.
“I am so happy,” he said moments after exiting his overheating car. “I am champion.”
And he remains the undisputed King of the Mountain.
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