Iconic NASCAR Cup Series Car Is About To Go Tearing Up A Mountain
Fans at Pikes Peak are going to get to see a car with serious nostalgia power
I still remember one of the first times I watched a NASCAR race in the late-ish 1990s. I must have been like pre-school age, and I immediately gravitated toward one car in particular that I thought was the coolest: Kyle Petty's No. 44 Pontiac Grand Prix with the Hot Wheels paint scheme.
I'm not alone in having an affinity for that car, and it just so happens that it's going to be back on track soon, just a very different kind of track.
Pikes Peak, the 103rd Running of the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb is on June 22, and former IndyCar driver has a lot of experience in the event.
He posted a video on Instagram announcing two things. The first being that his original ride for the event, a 2025 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1, had fallen through. However, Hildebrand noted that he had something in his back pocket if he found himself in need of a ride up Pikes Peak, and he had just the thing.
Pikes Peak is regarded as one of the most challenging things there is to do in motorsports, and Hildebrand noted that while this road-course spec stock car should be able to handle the job, it's not exactly cut out to be tearing up mountain roads.
JR Hildebrand will hit the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb in a No. 44 Pontiac Grand Prix in a Hot Wheels paint. scheme. (Photo by Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images)
"We have been busting it on this thing to get ready to come here to one of the most challenging events in all of motorsports," Hildebrand said, Road & Track. "Unquestionably, very objectively, a thing it was not meant to do in period. It's definitely not meant to do it now. It has not been prepped for it, but, to be frank, this is exactly why I bought this car."
I love it. There will be a lot of cameras and phones out when JR Hildebrand goes flying past in that beauty on his way up Pikes Peak later this month.