Codie Vahsholtz Wins Open Wheel Division; Shatters Previous Winning Time Set by His Father
Trevor Phipps
During the 101st running of the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb last Sunday (June 25), Mother Nature blessed the region with perfect weather, a scenario that led to record speeds.
This was a big change from past Hill Climb races.
In fact, during the last two years, conditions on the course were rough with drivers having difficulty getting close to shattering records.
But this year, weather conditions were dry and sunny creating a picture perfect day for racing. The course was a little bumpy on top and wind speeds were high at the top of the course.
However, most of the racers capitalized from the better than normal track and weather conditions. Several division records were shattered. But the all-time-record of 7:57 set by Romain Dumas in 2018 remains unbroken.
For years in the race’s history, nobody ever thought that a car could race up the mountain in less than 10 minutes. But this year, the top dozen competitors broke the 10-minute barrier.
For 2023, veteran racer Robin Shute representing the United Kingdom was named the “King of the Mountain” with a time of 8:40 racing in a 2018 Wolf TSC-FS. All-time record holder at Pikes Peak Romain Dumas came in second with a time of 8:47 in a 2023 Ford Performance Electric Supervan.
Raphael Astier had the third fastest time at 9:17 and David Donohue took fourth with 9:18.
“Vahsholtz Mountain” Legend Continues
Woodland Park resident Codie Vahsholtz had the fifth fastest time up the mountain with 9:19.
More importantly, Vahsholtz took first place in his open wheel division and set a record in the class for the fastest time ever. This adds to the impressive victory tallies accumulated by the Vahsholtz family in the race to the clouds, a reason why Pikes Peak is often referred to as “Vahsholtz Mountain.” Three generations of the family have recorded a barrage of Pikes Peak Hill Climb victories.
Ironically, Codie Vahsholtz shattered the previous open wheel record set by his father Clint Vahsholtz in the same car by nearly 15 seconds.
This year was the first time since 2019 that both local racers, Clint and Codie Vahsholtz raced on the mountain. Unfortunately, Clint Vahsholtz was unable to finish the race.
This year Clint Vahsholtz made his try up the mountain with a new racing team in a 2018 KTM Reiter X Bow GT4 EVO. Clint Vahsholtz made it up the first section of the race in 1:52 seconds but then he failed to finish the race for uncertain reasons.
The race had a smooth run with most drivers finishing and having impressive times. A few drivers failed to finish and at least one vehicle drove off the road and wrecked, but there were no serious injuries reported.
One of the times the race stopped was due to mountain sheep on the roadway. The sheep were allegedly on the course munching on the bales of hay set up near the roadway for safety.
Racer Raymund Guerrero suffered when he came across the sheep on the road. He ended up finishing, but he clocked in a slow time at 13:40.
Veteran Paul Dallenbach and Scott Birdsall also didn’t make it to the finish line. In the end, a number of division records were broken during the race.
