Chandler Bruning Jr. was practicing in the lower section of the Pikes Peak hillclimb, in the first day of the event when his 1999 Chevrolet Monte Carlo, travelling at estimated 80 mi/h, flipped off the road on the righthander Turn 2, merely 200 meters from the starting line. It went down an embankment crashed through some pine trees and came to rest upside down 20 feet below the road. Even though the roll cage remained intact and other safety devices such as safety belts worked properly, one of the trees penetrated the car through the driver’s window, killing Bruning instantly. He died of neck and chest injuries, according to the Teller County coroner.
Bruning was driving his late father’s car. Qualifying was stopped for the day, but at the Bruning Family request the event went on. The race day, Gary Lee Kanawyer was the winner in his 1981 Wells Coyote.
This was the third fatality in the Pikes Peak hillclimb history. In 1921 driver Wallace A. Coleman died of injuries suffered during a practice session; in 1982 motorcycle rider Bill Gross, Jr. crashed at the Engineer’s Corner and a few seconds later was hit and killed by another motorcyclist.
The Pikes Peak Hill Climb is a long-standing tradition in Colorado Springs and the second oldest motorsports event in the United States. An annual event since 1916, the “Race to the Clouds” is run on a 12.42-mile (19.990-kilometer) course over 156 turns, that begins at 9,390 feet (about 2,900 meters) over sea level and finishes at the 14,110-foot (4.300-meter) summit of Pikes Peak in Colorado, United States. It features a variety of automotive, semi truck and motorcycle classes with an average of 150 total competitors.
