No matter what storms up the grade during the annual Pikes Peak International Hill Climb - car, quad ATV, motorcycle or "big rig" - you know it's one of the fastest rides to the 14,110-foot summit. In your everyday car, you couldn't match the time set by the slowest vehicles in this year's event on June 30. Truck buffs can be proud that one of the faster times was set by a rig that more than just looks like something you drive.

The Kenworth/CFI Red Racer, driven by industrial stylist Bruce Canepa, set a new Big Rig record: 13 minutes, 59.96 seconds, breaking his time of last year by 1 minute, 25.19 seconds.

This is on 12.42 miles of twisting, dirt-strewn asphalt with an average upgrade of 7%. Canepa's pace is probably three to four times quicker than the average vacationer takes hauling the family up the mountain.

Of course, the Red Racer and the only other Big Rig, Mike Ryan's Freightliner SuperTruck, were unimpeded by traffic, as each had the course to itself while assaulting the hill. And these trucks are high-strung race vehicles that will never pull a trailer.

Ryan, unfortunately, did not finish. Less than halfway up he spun out on slick pavement - it had rained hard just an hour before his turn - and he stopped facing a hill. While backing away, he got a rear wheel hung up on a berm, and that was as far as he went.

Ryan's blue single-rear-axle SuperTruck is completely purpose-built.The Red Racer, however, is based on a T2000. It conceivably could pull a load, because from the cab back, its mainframe and tandem are almost stock. The front half, though, is a tubular structure not unlike that under a NASCAR car, and the engine is repositioned for weight distribution and hopped up big-time.

A Caterpillar C-16 sits under the cab, not the hood. It pumps out 1,200 horsepower and 3,500 pounds-feet at 1,700 to 2,600 rpm, vs. 600 and 2,050 in stock trim, mostly by software mods in its electronic control module. ZF beefed up a Euro-type 5-speed Ecomat automatic transmission to take all that motivation and send it to the rear wheels.

The Dana rears with their 4.11 ratio were locked up to enhance traction, and the high-spirited KW crew, led by Mike Gilbert, Kenworth's assistant chief engineer, removed some suspension parts to shave 80 pounds from the chassis. They cut another 20 pounds by drilling holes in the plastic door panel ends, 35 by substituting aluminum coolant plumbing for steel, 60 by using a lighter-duty front axle, and so on, trimming about 1,000 pounds altogether. This translated directly to better handling and higher speed.

Canepa averaged 53.2 miles per hour in his Race to the Clouds, as the event is also called. He blasted past the course's major radar checkpoint at 90 miles per hour - as fast as many of the other cars and bikes in the competition. The fastest overall time was set by a guy in an open-wheel racer: 10 minutes, 39.76 seconds. His speed through the radar trap: 125 mph.

Canepa was also backed by pit support from Contract Freighters Inc., Arvin Ride Control, Bridgestone and DuPont. Other manufacturers also helped with parts and advice. Kenworth's Gilbert says the Pikes Peak racing experience helps engineers evaluate systems and parts that may eventually become available on production trucks.