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What is it about mountains that people want to drive up them as fast as they possibly can? In stock cars, motorcycles, Legends cars, electric cars, open-wheel racecars - and even in Class 8 trucks?

Every Fourth of July since 1916, drivers have been racing to the top of Pikes Peak near Colorado Springs - to see who can get there in the shortest time.

And for the past few years, Kenworth Truck Company and its largest customer, Contract Freighters, Inc., of Joplin, Missouri, have been running a custom-built Kenworth tractor to the top. Previously, CFI chairman and CEO Glenn Brown set the records. This year, veteran race driver Bruce Canepa took the reins of the 960 horses, roaring through "blind switchbacks and drop-offs that fall out of sight."

The race is just 12.42 miles, but on some days, from the finish line, you look down on the clouds. Herewith, some photos and interesting facts from "The Race to the Clouds."

Lt. Zebulon Pike first sighted Pikes Peak in 1806. He failed in his attempt to climb it and predicted no one would ever succeed. u In 1893, Katherine Lee Bates took a carriage to the summit of Pikes Peak and was so moved by the view that she wrote the words to the song "America The Beautiful."

A 960 horsepower Caterpillar C-16 engine with an Allison 6 speed automatic transmission propels the Kenworth/CFI "Red Racer" T2000 tractor.
Kenworth/CFI driver Bruce Canepa previously set a straightaway speed record of 115 mph on the mountain in a car he both designed and drove.
The entire Kenworth racing team of nine engineers and technicians volunteers its time to participate in the Pikes Peak race.
This year, the Kenworth/CFI Red Racer broke the previous record for a Class 8 truck by over 39 seconds, and bested its nearest competitor by over 2/3rds of a second with a time of 14:34.41.
The tires on the Kenworth/CFI truck were Bridgestone R250s on steer and M711s on drive axles. All were custom hand-grooved and siped by Bridgestone personnel the night before the race.

The first Pikes Peak race winner, Rea Lentz of Spokane, won $3,000, saying, "I just had to win. I was broke." That was in 1916. Today, participants race for glory alone.
In just 12.42 miles, the race includes 156 turns and rises 4,708 feet to the summit, at an elevation of 14,110 feet.
Over 150 drivers participate in the race, but most run alone or in small groups, racing against the clock. The road is too narrow and dangerous to do otherwise.
The current Pikes Peak race record holder is Rod Millen, with a time of 10:04.06 in a Toyota Celica GT. His record has stood since 1994. Average speed: over 74 mph.

On the day before the race, 590 camping permits were issued to race fans who braved winds and wintry night temperatures to get the best viewing spots for race day.
For safety reasons, no spectators are allowed to ascend the mountain after about 8 AM, and none can leave until the race is over, late in the afternoon. The annual Pikes Peak race has been held every year since 1916, making it the second oldest race in America, after the Indianapolis 500.
Even though it's named after Zebulon Pike, the mountain's official name is "Pikes Peak," with no apostrophe in "Pikes," a change made by the Colorado legislature in the 1930s.
Over 600,000 people visit Pikes Peak each year.

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