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In keeping with the race theme for 2026, The World’s Race America’s Mountain – a Colorado Legacy, it is fitting to take a look back at the first international competitors to enter the Pikes Peak Hill Climb.
Lord “Hughie” Hughes was the first known international driver, invited to compete by Spencer Penrose in 1916. Then, as now, all entries were by invitation.
Born in the late 1870s, in London, England, Hughes moved to the US in his twenties. He lived in the US for more than a decade, competing in the early 1900s in AAA Championship races to include Massachusetts, New York, Illinois, Washington and Pennsylvania. In 1911 and 1912, Hughes raced in the Indy 500, finishing third in his second year, behind the wheel of a Mercer. His prize money for the podium finish was $5,000.
PPIHC archival results show Hughes competed in two of the three inaugural Hill Climb ‘events’ in 1916. The event was held over three days in August, with a race taking place each of the first two days, leading up to the final day of competition. Hughes raced the #12 Duesenberg, but no time is listed for either event.
Sadly, just four months after Pikes Peak, Hughes was killed while trackside at the Uniontown Speedway in Pennsylvania. He had wrecked his own car, and was talking to his car owner, J.C. Hoskins, near the press box when another race car, traveling at about 100 mph, crashed into the press box and Hughes was one of those hit.
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