Big rig racer Mike Ryan walked away with the trophy and a new record July 1 at the 84th annual Pikes Peak International Hill Climb in Colorado Springs, Colo. He broke his own 2005 record of 12 hours, 46 minutes and 81 seconds with a time of 12.43.667 in the Exhibition Class division.
Ryan beat four-time New Zealand B Class truck racing champion Shane Chapman, who finished with a time of 13:36.322. Chapman, who took second place in the 2000 Pikes Peak race, is a former record holder of the Race to the Sky Hill Climb in Queenstown, New Zealand.
The Colorado event, also known as the Race to the Clouds, was held on a 12.46-mile course, running from mile 7 of Pikes Peak Highway to the 14,110-foot summit of Pikes Peak. The course up the mountain is mostly dirt, with 156 turns, cliffs of 2,000 feet and no guardrails.
Ryan made the trip in his hand-built Freightliner Century Class S/T Super Truck, which has a 1250-hp Mercedes Benz engine and a modified ZF 5-speed transmission. The 8,000-pound truck has reached speeds of more than 100 mph.
