Local Father-Son Racing Duo Conquer the Peak
Clint Vahsholtz Snags 25th Win on America’s Mountain
Trevor Phipps
Last year, Mother Nature struck vigorously and delivered, menacing high speed winds to the top of Pikes Peak, forcing the famous international and historic race to stop at the halfway point at Glen Cove.
This shortened course turned into a major bummer for the thousands of fans who watch the event every year, along with race organizers and the many competitors.
But this year, moving the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb up a week set the stage for better and kinder weather for the racers. More importantly, the change in dates resulted in improving prospects for Woodland Park’s acclaimed father-son racing duo, Clint and Cody Vahsholtz, who tamed America’s Mountain in impressive fashion.
The 104th running of the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb took place on Father’s Day June 21 and went off without any major setbacks. The weather allowed the racers to go all the way to the summit during a clear, sunny day.
Before the race, the local Vahsholtz racers were concerned about the top of the course as last year bumps were so bad they sent cars airborne. Race officials did say they were going to do some grinding and pavement work in the days leading up to the race. Their efforts must have paid off.
In fact, most competitors would probably agree that they had one of the best days on the mountain of their career. Records were broken and many raced up the mountain at the fastest speeds they ever recorded.
Local racer Clint Vahsholtz fared well enough to earn his 25th divisional win. The elder Vahsholtz took first place in the Pikes Peak GT4 Trophy by Yokohama-NA (Naturally aspirated or not turbo) division with a time of 10:42.790.
While Clint didn’t record as good of a time as he may have wanted, he convincingly beat the only other racer in his GT4 NA division, Tad Cusack, by nearly nine seconds. Vahsholtz ended the race with the 32nd best time out of all the racers.
Vahsholtz and his amazing racecar are slated to be exhibited during the America’s Mountain Festival, which takes place next weekend in downtown Woodland Park. His car, capped by a rather bold, America’s 250th birthday paint job, will be on display. In addition, Clint Vahsholtz will be available to ask questions and tell race stories regarding his impressive career in competing in the Hill Climb over the last few decades and winning hordes of titles.
Clint’s son, Codie Vahsholtz, also had quite a day on America’s Mountain. Codie had his best run up the mountain and took home second place. His final time was 9:16.344
Codie’s most feared opponent, Dan Novembre, ended up getting the best of him by around 15 seconds with Novembre’s run almost breaking the nine-minute barrier. In fact, Novembre’s time of 9:01.689 set a record for the open wheel division at the Pikes Peak Hill Climb.
Before the race, Codie Vahsholtz said his number one goal was to improve his personal best time now that he added more power to his Vahsholtz Racing open wheeler with a twin turbo. Before this year, Codie’s best time was 9:19.192.
And while he didn’t get into the eight-minute range, Codie Vahsholtz bettered his personal best by almost three seconds. Codie’s time earned him second place in the open wheel division and seventh overall.
Records Broken and Serious Wrecks
The Vahsholtz weren’t the only ones to have a good race day. Several divisional records were broken during the 104th race. Laura Hayes set a record in her Pikes Peak GT4 Trophy by Yokohama (Turbo) division at 10:17.538. And racer Jim Morris set a record in the Front Wheel Drive Division at 10:33.104.
And while this year’s “King of the Mountain” (the racer with the best overall time) didn’t break a record, he still had quite the run. French racer Romain Dumas snagged his sixth overall title on America’s Mountain with a time of 8:18.202.
This year, Dumas raced up the mountain in his 2025 Ford Super Mustang Mach-E (EV). He finished just over 11 seconds faster than Robin Shute who picked up second place with a time of 8:29.497. But Dumas was quite a bit slower than his all-time best time of 7:56.148. He set this record in 2023, riding with an electric Volkswagen.
But even though race day went well for most Hill Climb competitors, the event had a few scary moments. During the race that lasted over eight hours, there were a few times red flags forced the race to stop. This occurred due to some racers driving off the road, prompting the red flags.
And at least one wreck served as a serious reminder of how dangerous the race can be, especially in the top section. During his run up the mountain, racer Patrick Culligan was involved in a high-speed accident in the “cog cut” part of the course at high elevations.
Culligan was airlifted to a local hospital at around 1:15 p.m. on race day. The next day the racer was reported to be in stable condition, but he did end up breaking his femur and pelvis.
And then during practice, nine-year veteran Pikes Peak racer Rob Holland crashed in the same section of the course as Culligan. Holland’s vehicle sustained damage so severely that he was unable to race in this year’s competition.
Holland told KRDO that the wreck during practice was the biggest of his racing career. “Every time I came down, I hit another boulder or, you know, and it was it literally every time you hit a boulder, it’s like hitting a brick wall again,” Holland told KRDO News.
Holland said further that he has spoken with Culligan after the wreck. “Not only is he coming back, I will tell you right now, he is probably in the hospital figuring out what car he is going to drive next year,” Holland said, according to KRDO.
