Pre War Racing on Pikes Peak!

A few years ago I shared some amazing footage of the 1957 Pikes Peak run titled “No Margin for Error”. Now, let’s go back 20 years earlier to the 1937 and 1939 races, when things were even more dangerous on the Peak. Besides the road to the top being all dirt with no shoulder, these guys are running solid axle cars, mechanical brakes, and obviously no roll bars or substantial driver protection of any kind. There are some absolutely beautiful roadsters and sprint cars fishtailing around the turns at full tilt that really demonstrate what a feat it was to make good time to the summit. What makes these two films even more special is that both feature Louis Unser, also known as “Uncle Louie”, and winner of the Pikes Peak Hill climb nine times between 1934 and 1953.

Louis actually continued to race at Pikes Peak until 1967 when he retired at the age of 71. You might recognize the names of his nephews, Jerry Unser, Bob Unser and Al Unser, who all went on to championship auto racing careers of their own.