The Pike’s Peak Hill Climb is a long-standing event that attracted droves of racers who fought for the fastest time up the 12.42-mile road with 156 turns climbing 4,720 feet into the Colorado sky. Sadly the hill climb has been losing participants since the course became fully paved in 2012. But it’s not all bad news for dirt-loving racers.

A new hill climb in Baja California, Mexico is on the horizon. And every inch of its 19 miles and 4,000 feet climb in elevation is all dirt.

The inaugural Mike’s Peak Hill Climb is set for October 13 through 16, 2016 and already has the attention of big-time off-roading names. One of them is RPM Off-Road team. Its lead driver is Apdaly Lopez, the 2015 Baja 500 winner and 2014 X-Games Gold medalists in Stadium SUPER Trucks. Joining the Bristol, Tennessee-based team are Justin Matney, Lalo Laguna, Juan Carlos Lopez, and Clyde Stacy.

Matney is the 2016 Parker 425 winner, while Laguna has the winning trophy from the 2015 Baja Sur. Needless to say, RPM has a decent driver list. Apdaly, Justin, and Lalo will be piloting trucks in the unlimited class, while the long-time off-road racing supporter Stacy will drive a 1450 truck.

The inaugural run of Mike’s Peak will only host 144 driver entries. Classes range from full-on unlimited trucks to quads, motorcycles, UTVs, and cars.

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Why It Matters

Though Pike’s Peak is what made hill climbs popular, the decision by the Colorado highway department to pave the road essentially took the race’s thrill away – or so they say. The move to Mike’s Peak restores the unpredictability of a dirt road hill climb and opens up the allowable vehicle classes to beefier contenders. What’s more, Mike’s Peak won’t be paved anytime soon. It’s in the middle of the Mexican desert.