JACK PENLEY AND STERLING CHASE TO TAKE ON THE FAMOUS 156 TURNS IN 2025 PIKES PEAK HILL CLIMB
Colorado Springs, CO – The Broadmoor Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, presented by Gran Turismo, has challenged drivers for over a century. From the days of the gravel course, to the fully-paved surface. From early carburetors to electric-power. From summit celebrations to race day disappointment. The mountain has seen it all.
In 2025, Colorado’s Jack Penley, entered the Pikes Peak Open division in a 2004 Volkswagen R32 with the unparalleled enthusiasm of car owner and builder, Sterling Chase.
VW FROM THE BEGINNING
Believe it or not, the first time Jack Penley actually drove up Pikes Peak was in 2006, when he entered a raffle and won tickets to the race. It wouldn’t be the last time.
With a racing background in SVRA at Circuit of the America’s, the NASA Air Cooled Sprint, and Rally Sport, along with his SCORE Baja 1000 experience, and Rocky Mountain Vintage Racing Association participation, Penley knew it was a matter of time until the right opportunity came along to race on America’s Mountain.
That chance came in 2011 when he was navigator in a 1991 VW Jetta for Roger Matthews in the Time Attack 2WD division. Penley recalled, “It was the last year there was still a section of the course that wasn’t paved.”
Despite a DNF, Penley knew he’d be back. He even inked the sentiment, “Pikes Peak or Bust” shortly afterward, as a reminder.
TEAMING UP
“I’d always had an affinity for Volkswagen in my SCCA Rallycross days in a friend’s VW Rabbit in 2006. That started me down the VW path,” explained Penley. “I bought a 1985 Golf because the Germans make good cars that keep you engaged in the driving experience. That’s how I met Sterling in the first place, through VWs. My buddy had an ’83 Rabbit and he lived about a block from Sterling. One day Sterling showed up at the door, and said, ‘I see you have this Volkswagen. I have one, too!’
“At that time, we were all on a path to get into stage rally. Sterling was crewing for a lot of teams and I was co-driving, so I’d see him at events here in Colorado. We tended to run in the same circle of friends.
“In 2021, Sterling asked if he built a car, would I drive it. Now, Sterling gets fired up about a lot of things, but Pikes Peak is definitely at the top of the list. I couldn’t pass this up.”
CHALLENGES ARE PART OF THE GAME
Penley talked about some of the challenges the team faced in their lead up to last year’s race, “Most of it was getting there. It felt like the time between getting the acceptance letter and our first testing day was so short. It seemed like we only had weeks to get the car ready. We had to budget our time and money to see what we could accomplish.”
He continued, “There’s always something that goes wrong, and that stuff just chews up time, like our fire system. We asked Dan Skokan [PPIHC Director of Competition] to do a pre-tech inspection and he gave us a bunch of little pointers. We had to move the cable for the fire system, but the cable was too short to move it where we needed it to be, and it was tough to find a new one. There were so many things like that.”
PENLEY CHRONICLES 2025
Reflecting on his race day experience, Penley shared, “Our start time was pretty late since I was slower in qualifying. There had been a lot of red flags throughout the day. We finally took our green flag about 2:00pm and I thought my time on the lower section was pretty good. But we got a red flag at Glen Cove since the car ahead of me had blown a motor. I had to park, but the car was getting hot, so I finally shut it off.”
“Before testing days we took the car to La Junta where we had the track to ourselves, and we pushed it. It was about 95 degrees at the track, and I thought we’d be fine on the mountain. But, you can’t replicate how altitude affects cooling. You can’t account for the fact that there’s no air up there to do that cooling. At the track, it never got close to hot. But, on the mountain, it was boiling by the time I got to Glen Cove.”
“On practice days on the mountain, we didn’t have the same conditions, so there weren’t any cooling problems.”
“Back to race day, I finally got turned around for the restart and tried my best to hustle downhill to keep some airflow going to help with cooling. By the time I got back to the start, the temps still weren’t coming down. We spent our 20 allotted minutes in the pits trying to cool the car. Ted, from Short Stop, even came running out of his little trailer with a 5-gallon bucket of water to try to assist!
“We’re still not sure of all the causes, but I know now that one of the cooling lines to the turbo failed, and I think we had a big air pocket in the cooling system that just never burped out.”
“Race officials gave us the option to start last to let the other competitors run, but we eventually decided to preserve the car and didn’t make our restart.
“When the guy leaned in the window and gave me the ‘we’re done’ sign, I knew that was it.”
EFFORT RECOGNIZED
Jack Penley, accompanied by car owner Sterling Chase, at the 2024 PPIHC Awards Ceremony was the recipient of the “Be All You Can Be” Award, presented by the 10th Special Forces Group (Airborne) based at Ft. Carson, Colorado. The award was given to a Colorado-based competitor who continued to persevere in the face of adversity.
“Remember, you’re racing the mountain first. That’s a hard thing to keep in mind. You start looking at qualifying times, and thinking about your driving line and your brake markers, and you can kind of forget that the mountain is your number one competitor.”
Jack Penley
FOCUSED ON 2025
Describing what’s new for the 103rd Running, Penley shared, “We’ve added to the crew. There were three of us last year, Sterling, myself, and Lindsey, who did ECU tuning and ordered parts. This year we’ve brought in Adam to do motorsports management and head up the effort.”
Penley is eager to get back behind the wheel in June and seeing those checkered flags wave at the 14,115′ summit. “I’m looking so forward to those donuts at the top,” he said, “Sterling’s made me promise to bring a dozen back down the mountain.”
GET TO KNOW JACK PENLEY
Instagram: @penleyracingstable / @sterling_autowerks
Fun Facts:
“My parents trained quarterhorses, and dad was a jockey when he was younger. They kind of pushed for me to be a jockey…but I was quickly way too large for that.”
“I had a pet calf named Ellen when I was kid. My grandpa gave her to me when I was 10.”
“I’m a member of the Flying Elephant Scooter Club (Worldwide!)”
“I have three taco-themed tattoos!”
Pikes Peak Hero:
“Sébastien Loeb. I was at Picnic Grounds in 2013 when he flew by me, not 12 feet away, at 140mph. He demolished the record! When I close my eyes, I can still smell the fuel he was burning!”
Daily Driver: “A 2009 Hyundai Accent that just rolled over 100,000 miles! If you’d told me I’d fall in love with this car in the beginning, we would have had words, but I absolutely love my little car. It’s very similar to a cross between a VW Mk1 and Mk2, a 2-door hatchback with a manual transmission and crank windows. That’s my jam, right there. I don’t know what I’m gonna to do when that car dies.”
Three ‘Must-Have’ Items in the Race Trailer: “Coffee is mandatory – from Ted at Short Shop! Warm clothes…like half your wardrobe since you have no idea what the mountain’s going to do. Plus, a giant bucket of Red Vines.”
Advice for getting started in motorsports: “Just get started now. Go to races and hang out in the pits. Talk to drivers and crews. It’s really easy to put things off, whether it’s due to procrastination, or insecurity, or a sense of perfectionism, don’t let it stop you. You’re not guaranteed tomorrow.”
JACK PENLEY AND TEAM EXPERIENCE HIGHS AND LOWS OF 2024 PPIHC
Photos by: Larry Chen Photo; Larry Chen, Luis Garcia; Scott Paine Photography, Jack Penley, Boki Evans
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Contact:
Lisa Haight
Communications Manager / Historian
lisa@ppihc.org
(719) 685-4400
www.ppihc.org
