All of that's designed to move or to let the car slide. 'In Nascar they hit the wall, and maybe another car. They've had Nascar entrants they've rejected, forcing teams to go get much burlier tubing. 'We have the strictest roll cage regs in motorsport ,' he explains.

Since they can't change the surface, Snow says organizers have addressed safety. 'The dirt was consistent, it would build up in corners and slow the cars down.' The pavement is narrower, he says, by as much as 20 feet in some corners, 'So we've seen cars go off in places we never used to see them leave the road.' Snow says paving the road forever changed how racers have to approach the challenge.

From a general safety standpoint, it's better to leave it as it is.' 'It'd be like running the Long Beach Grand Prix with no barriers between the track and the spectators, and as far as the average tourist goes, the gravel slows them down. In 1997, multi-time Pikes Peak champion Rod Millen told the Colorado weekly paper Westwordthat paving the road would be dangerous. As for guardrails? Pikes Peak is not a federal highway, so they are inconsistent at best. Not to mention that it's hard to keep anything that burns fuel fed enough air. If you're not acclimated, it's hard to breathe. Over 12.4 miles, the race route describes 156 turns and already starts at 9,390 feet. Gravel or pavement, this is one of the highest, most challenging roads to drive in the world, let alone to race. Paving also forever changed the character of the race, Snow says. 'Don't forget, we're not part of any other series, so it's very hard to bring a car here designed for rally or pavement, Baja or NASCAR and get the car just right.' That's in part because unlike even road courses in other series, where drivers get a week's worth of practice, at Pikes Peak there are only four practice mornings, including race day, since this is a public road, owned by the US Forest Service. He says in 2006, the PPIHC nearly went under because so few drivers wanted to risk racing.

'That nearly killed the race,' Snow says, because it was impossible for racers to properly anticipate how to set up their cars. Rather than paving from the bottom to the top, sections were paved here and there. Mitch Snow, Director of Promotions and Legacy for the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb (PPIHC), says the craziest part about the paving project, which was completed in 2011, was that it was done haphazardly.

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