PIKES PEAK, Colo. -- There aren't many road courses in the world where a row of hay bales is all that's keeping you from careening over a cliff to an all-but-certain death.
And yet, the speeds are only increasing at the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, where racers have been chasing the clock up the 12.42-mile road to the summit since 1916. It's against that backdrop -- the drive for innovation and speed on a course where the only notable change in 100 years is the addition of pavement -- that the venerable old run up the mountain has become one of the most important races in the world.
Some still call it "Unser Mountain," thanks to that family's domination of the race for decades. But over the past 30 years, Pikes Peak has attracted a diverse group of drivers and multi-million dollar engineering and marketing efforts from major auto manufacturers, including some that don't even sell their products in the United States.
And innovation is driving the big storyline at Pikes Peak this weekend: Whether an electric-powered car will whoosh past the fossil fuel competition and take the overall win. It would mark the first time that an electric car defeated one powered by an internal combustion engine on equal terms.
Against the protests of many, paving was completed on the famous road to the 14,110-foot summit in 2012. The mythical 10-minute mark was never broken on dirt or a pavement/dirt combination, but today's quickest runs in the 8-minute bracket can be equally exciting for fans and drivers alike.
"I really miss the dirt because I like driving a loose car," said Jeff Zwart, a Porsche factory driver and eight-time class champion at Pikes Peak. "Now, honestly it takes so much commitment and it's almost a craft, where you really attack it.
"It's a road racing circuit now and the main difference is we drove past adhesion in the dirt, and now we drive right up to that limit of adhesion. So it's just a different style of driving."
Zwart, 59, is a successful photographer and videographer based in Southern California. He was sent to Pikes Peak on assignment for Road & Track magazine more than 30 years ago and has returned since.
Zwart became friends with Rod Millen, the New Zealand-born rally ace whose 1997 run of 10 minutes, 4.54 seconds was the fastest ever on dirt. Millen built Zwart a Mazda rally car in which to learn the track, and since 1994, Zwart has successfully teamed with Porsche.
Millen's son, Rhys, is a former Pikes Peak class champion and a contender for overall honors this year driving an entry in the Electric Modified Car category.
Leading the electric contingent in an even more radical electric prototype is nine-time overall champion Nobuhiro Tajima. The man whom Japanese fans call "Monster" has brought a series of increasingly crazy vehicles to the mountain over the last 25 years, and this year is no exception. Tajima's battery powered vehicle is said to produce the equivalent of 1,500 horsepower.
The paved road mark they're trying to break is 8 minutes, 13.9 seconds, set by rally superstar Sebastien Loeb in 2013 in a car that combined the best of Peugeot's rally car and Le Mans prototype experience.
The 2013 Peugeot program was the latest in a series of high-profile manufacturer attacks on Pikes Peak. Audi started the trend in the mid-1980s when it brought a works Quattro rally car to America for Michele Mouton to pilot. Bobby Unser came out of retirement to drive an Audi to his record 13th victory at Pikes Peak.
Honda Performance Development was set to follow suit this year, but engine problems in the Le Mans style prototype, which it planned to run with IndyCar regular Justin Wilson, forced an early withdrawal. Honda and HPD are still represented by 13 other cars in various classes.
Drivers with world rally experience including Mouton, Tajima, Loeb, Rod Millen and Ari Vatanen have dominated the event for the last 30 years. But the 2012 paving of the track could change that trend.
"To me, there are three sections here, with three different characteristics, just as the Nurburgring has. It's fast and flowing, then a technical section, then just hang on for dear life!" Jeff Zwart
Pikes Peak is quietly establishing itself as "America's Nurburgring," an apt comparison with the legendary circuit in Germany that hosted the German Grand Prix through 1976 and still serves as a popular tourist attraction and test track for manufacturers.
"I've spent so much time at the Nurburgring myself, and I always explain the similarities to the Europeans because they understand that," Zwart said. "They're essentially the same length, within half a mile, and [Pikes Peak] has more corners.
"But to me, there are three sections here, with three different characteristics, just as the Nurburgring has. It's fast and flowing, then a technical section, then just hang on for dear life!"
One of this year's rookies is Dominic Dobson, a former sports car and Indy car driver who co-founded the PacWest Racing team.
One trip to Pikes Peak was all it took for the Seattle native to decide he wanted to give it a try.
"About six years ago, a couple [of] motorcycle racing buddies of mine dragged me here and to the Bonneville Salt Flats," Dobson said. "I fell in love with both and decided these were going to be my two bucket list races. So here I am.
"Maybe we'll go to Bonneville in a year or two," he added. "I'd kind of like to drive an Indy car there and see if we can go 300 mph."
For now, Dobson has the task of learning Pikes Peak and its succession of 156 corners, many of which are blind or feature daunting cliffside drop-offs. The challenge is made greater because drivers don't actually get to run the full 12-mile course until race day; for practice, the mountain is split into three sectors, with groups of cars running on each section of track.
Time is of the essence; the Pikes Peak track is actually a public road and most of the land on the mountain is controlled by the U.S. Forest Service. The summit is a popular tourist destination, whether via car, bicycle or cog railway. Practice runs from daylight (usually about 5:30 a.m.) to 8:30 a.m., whereupon the competitors pack up and the road is given back to the public.
The lack of track time is a challenge for newbies. "It's pretty tough," Dobson said. "You can memorize certain corners that will 'get you,' and the rest kind of all blend together. Every time you do it you get a little bit better. The guys who have run here for years know where you can stay on it and where you have to really lift off."
But once you've driven Pikes Peak, you tend to keep coming back. In 2012, Jeremy Foley survived one of the most harrowing accidents ever captured on video and yet he's back this year. When it became clear the Corvette he was preparing would not be ready in time, he rented a modified ARCA stock car to drive.
That's typical for a track where most first-time competitors become lifers. Pikes Peak may be gradually changing, but a racer's resolve is one thing that stubbornly stays the same.