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into a sea of rocks. Last year’s race was delayed by 14 serious accidents, and one participant was fl own by helicopter to a nearby hospital. For his part, the lanky Finn is his usual stoic self today, if a bit cheerful in a somewhat macabre sort of way.

“Poof!” Grönholm exclaims as he removes one hand from the wheel to mimic a car launching off the road and into the abyss.

Reaching the 14,000-foot summit, which is thick with clouds and tourists, Grönholm unfolds himself from the Flex and smears the toe of his racing boot across the loose grit on the ground. He’d hoped for some rain to tamp down the dust and make the course tacky enough to yield a new speed record. The Japanese racer Nobuhiro Tajima clocked 10:01 in 2007, and since then everyone has been trying to break the 10-minute mark.

Now, though, Grönholm has another high speeds. Here, the challenge is altitude. And those brutal turns.

Racing is in Grönholm’s blood: His father, Ulf, was one of Finland’s top drivers, and his Finnish countrymen have long dominated the sport of rally racing. One of the most famous carracing movies ever made, Climb Dance, captured Finnish driver Ari Vatanen as he drifted around Pikes Peak’s dusty corners in a Peugeot, his tires tracking mere feet from the road’s fearsome dropoff . (Remarkably, only three drivers have died in the race’s 92year history.)

When Grönholm’s friend, four-time Swedish Rally champion Andreas Eriksson, asked him to come out of retirement and join a Pikes Peak assault, the feisty Finn couldn’t say no. It’s a risky move. He’s a little rusty and, at 41, a tad old for such a tough race. “If the driver makes a mistake here, Oy! Oy! Oy!” says Grönholm, shaking his head at

PEAKING EARLY From above, the fi rst sidecar; Jerry Unser in 1957; Michele Mouton in 1985; spectators in the ’30s prize in mind: hot chocolate and donuts. He’d read in a guide book that the summit concession has top-notch pastries, so he and Alanne happily join the long line. After all, the driver offi cially retired from racing after the 2007 season, and competing on Pikes Peak is his version of a vacation—one he’s hoping will make him the fastest driver ever to reach this cloud-piercing summit.

PIKES PEAK IS A LEGENDARY RACE, the second-oldest in America after the Indianapolis 500 and a feather every off -road racer would like in his cap. Part of its mystique is the road’s breathtaking implausibility. Hacked into the rugged rocky mountainside in 1915, Pikes Peak Highway is the brainchild of Spencer Penrose, who owned the grand Broadmoor Hotel at the foot of the mountain. To celebrate the road’s completion, he hosted a race to the top the following summer.

Since then, the Hill Climb has drawn the world’s best drivers. At the mountain’s height, engines lose 30 percent of their power, drivers’ refl exes grow sluggish, and snow and hail are commonplace, even in July. All great races have their unique demands: Baja has sand, Rally Finland murderously

FINISH LINE //14,000 FT.

BOULDER PARK // 13,380 FT. UPPER GRAVEL PIT // 13,060 FT.

BOTTOMLESS PIT // 12,760 FT.

ELK PARK // 11,900 FT. DEVIL’S PLAYGROUND // 12,780 FT.

GLENN COVE // 11,440 FT.

BLUE SKY // 10,560 FT.

HALFWAY PICNIC GROUNDS // 9,960 FT.

START LINE // 9,390 FT.

N

TURN PIKE Racers climb 4,720 feet and turn 156 times

SKID MARCUS Grönholm‘s Ford Fiesta is fi tted with an oversize wing to counter the thin air near the summit.

the consequences. He’s fond of making comic-book sound eff ects, though he’d rather avoid a slapstick ending.

AT 7 A.M. ON RACE DAY, Grönholm stands in the pit sipping a bottle of water. He’s got a cowboy’s build, tall and lanky, with a hard-edged jaw and long legs that propel him quickly along without ever seeming hurried.

Next door, Tajima sits in his car, waiting. Grönholm’s Fiesta is splayed open beside Eriksson’s, like a patient on an operating table, as the white-shirted engineers bustle about. They’ve worked through the night, tweaking both vehicles, and now they look haggard.

The Fiestas are specially tailored for Pikes Peak. Despite their extra-large race wings (to compensate for the mountain’s thinner air), they look a lot like the showroom Fiestas Ford will roll out in summer 2010—except, of course, they have bigger brakes, a roll cage, a high-test turbo charger and a stampede of additional horses under the hood.

Eriksson’s car also boasts a rebuilt shell, since he wrecked it in practice three days before the race. So it’s really up to Grönholm to challenge the 10-minute mark. “Today I’ll prioritize safety,” Eriksson says from the doorway of the team truck. “Marcus, he does everything right, all the little stuff . When he makes a mistake, it’s huge, a real screwup.” But such snafus are rare, which is why rally fans revere Grönholm and expect a dazzling performance from him on a course that’s famous for intimidating lesser drivers. Adds Eriksson, “Marcus is not afraid of anything.”

Grönholm slides into his racing seat, buckles his harness and straps on his helmet. He revs his engine to the redline, then slams it into gear. All four tires spin and the Fiesta rockets forward. He has no clue how fast he’s going—there’s no speedometer—but as he whips around the fi rst corner, the raw acceleration sends a shiver through the crowd. A helicopter shadows him from above, fi lming Peak Performance an homage to 1989’s Climb Dance. He hits all his turns perfectly, Alanne calling commands into his microphone from the passenger seat. But just three miles from the top, where the course steepens and drivers prepare for a fi nal punch to the summit, the Fiesta’s turbo quits, cutting the power in half. Grönholm plows ahead, mulishly urging the failing Ford up the last switchbacks. A fi re

BOARDING PASS breaks out. Just a quarter-

Pikes Peak may be full of twists and mile to go. He persists, turns, but Denver is trailing fl ames in the fi nal a straight line from more than 100 cities turns. When he crosses throughout North the fi nish line, a rear tire is America. United connects Denver to more of the world than engulfed. “I wanted to get to the top,” any other airline. Grönholm says later, with a grin. Amazingly, he fi nished with the day’s fi fth-fastest time. But he takes comfort in knowing that Tajima didn’t break 10 minutes either, despite fi nishing intact. There’s always next year. “I know what I need to do now to come back and be fastest,” he says. Besides not catching on fi re, he plans to skip the donuts. Boulder, Colorado–based writer KELLY BASTONE races a 1964 Volkswagen Beetle convertible, which rarely crosses any fi nish line fi rst.

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It’s Just Lunch Dating Specialist Amy Brinkman asks “Why waste time on online profi les and the bar scene when you could be on a date right now?”

How has dating changed over the years? From my perspective, technology has changed everything. When we started It’s Just Lunch eighteen years ago, singles simply introduced themselves and began talking – done. Now, couples chat, email, instant message, tweet, text and even video chat. People relate through their computers and mobile phones. Th is makes it easier than ever to stay in touch with someone you already know – but nearly impossible to meet someone you don’t. Now the methods that people used to rely on for romantic introductions are gone. But busy singles don’t have the time or desire to cruise the bars or scan online profi les. Th is is exactly where It’s Just Lunch comes in. We introduce our clients to real people – not online profi les or phone numbers. We provide that missing network, and we do it in a way that fi ts into everyone’s hectic schedule. How does It’s Just Lunch “match” singles? We believe that nothing replaces the human touch, and we don’t believe in “computer matches.” It doesn’t matt er if you both like to jog, both like Chinese food, and both would like something long term – you can like all the same things and still not like each other. Th at’s why we use our intuition to create the match. First we interview each client like you would get to know a new friend, learning about their personalities, their likes and dislikes, and their relationship goals. Th en, we call to arrange their fi rst date. We contact both clients, get their schedules, fi nd an easy time and place for them to meet, and even make them a reservation. As part of our policy, we don’t give out our clients’ last names or phone

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you want to start Any advice for the fi rst-date conversation? Rule number one: immediately.” Never talk about a past

Amy Brinkman, relationship. It can instill DATING SPECIALIST feelings of jealousy, awkwardness, or insecurity in seconds. If it comes up, give a brief answer and change the subject. Avoid topics such as politics and religion until you’ve gott en to know each other bett er. Make a conscious eff ort to ask or answer questions from your most positive perspective. Studies show people fi nd you more interesting when you ask questions about them. If you don’t know what to ask, just pause a moment to think . . . silence can be sexy and mysterious.

Betty Sinclair PJ Osgood Sara Darling Nicole Nance

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