TBT: Fords Find Success at the Summit in Pikes Peak Race

The Model T was a hot seller right out of the gate, but the transformational Ford was also put into use for racing and other stunts in those early years. Some of the best known are a series of climbs — stairs, hills and mountains — including the Pikes Peak in Colorado. In the past 100 years, numerous Ford-built cars, trucks and SUVs, some piloted by iconic drivers, have scaled the mountain for the annual Pikes Peak International Hill Climb.

The 12.42-mile, 156-turn course, known as the Race to the Clouds, is considered America’s second-oldest auto race. It begins at more than 9,300 feet above sea level and rises to a final elevation of 14,115 feet. The competition was founded in 1916 by entrepreneur and philanthropist Spencer Penrose as a spectacle to attract attention for the new Pikes Peak Highway and to draw visitors to his hotel. The race went on hiatus during World War I and World War II.

A Model T had already seen the summit at Pikes Peak by 1913, but Guy Petersen had the best finish of the five Fords who entered the first iteration of the Pikes Peak race with his Model T, completing the course in a time of 28:03.00. By 1921, a Ford had won the race in 17 minutes and 39 seconds. Then in 1922, Noel Bullock took his 50-horsepower Ford Special to a surprise victory in the Open Wheel class in 19:50.90.

Decades later, famed driver Parnelli Jones took a Mercury Marauder with a 427-cubic-inch V8 to back-to-back, record-setting victories in 1963 and 1964. Also the Indianapolis 500 champion in 1963, Jones slashed more than 30 seconds off the previous stock car class record time with the first of his repeat victories on the gravel course.

“This course really wrings out a car,” he said in one of several Mercury advertisements that bragged about the feat. 

In 1965, Ak Miller won the sports car class in a Cobra Ford with a time of 14:09.10. Legendary motorsports driver Bobby Unser drove a Ford Talladega to a Stock Car Class division record in 1969 with a time of 13:40:05. Also, members of the Vahsholtz family have taken a wide variety of Fords to victory at Pikes Peak from the 1970s to today, including a Ford Fairmont, Mustangs and Rangers. Other drivers have also taken their Fords to victory in the race throughout the years.

More recently, Ford has used the race to build excitement for the then-all-new Ford Fiesta in 2009, when international rally driver Marcus Grönholm finished second in the Unlimited class in an 800-horsepower, rallycross-prepped model. Also, the late Ford Performance and former action sports driver Ken Block’s wild run up Pikes Peak was documented in the “Climbkhana” film.

Ford Performance will be entering the 101st Pikes Peak International Hill Climb on Sunday (June 25) with the all-electric SuperVan 4. Click here to watch.

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