Understanding video Inspiration: Bronczilla Conquers Pikes Peak, 1994
We’re not the kind of people who hate Mondays here at BaT, but it’s not an uncommon refrain in the working world. If going into the week is an uphill slog for you, please take encouragement from Pikes Peak champ Leonard Vasholtz, who faced a long climb with a “grip it and rip it” mentality in his “Bronczilla” Super Stock truck. Enjoy!
Truck classes have existed at Pikes Peak in various forms for years, with a duo of haulers tackling the mountain for first time in 1935. But the segment hit its stride heading into the 1990s with the Super Stock Truck class. This footage hails from 1994, when Leonard Vahsholtz won his second SST title, dominating the full dirt course with a record time of 11:36.63. But the truck class was locked in a quickly-escalating arms race. Vasholtz’s record stood for only one year before his friend and rival Robby Unser clocked an 8:58.20 run in his 1995 Chevrolet S-10.
Vahsholtz’s truck was a Ford Bronco, at least on paper. Pikes Peak legend John Wells built the tube-framed, fiberglass-bodied bucking Bronco around a Vahsholtz-prepped small-block Ford V8, which pushed over 600 horsepower. The engine sat behind the front axle, vastly improving weight distribution when compared to a contemporary production Bronco. This difference shows every time Vahsholtz pitches the truck into a corner, which happens often enough in this video that it’s hard to pick just one favorite moment.
As for the more recent doings of the truck affectionately known as “Bronczilla”: Reawakened by Jimmy Ford for the 100th running of Pikes Peak in 2022, it was updated for the now fully paved course with stiffer and lower suspension, bigger brakes, more aero, and 800 horsepower. While it didn’t make it up the hill in 2022, the Bronco returned the following year to finish fourth in the Open division. Not bad for an old horse-lizard!
The video is presented by the VY A.L.M YouTube Channel, which is also home to other iconic Pikes Peak lap replays.
