2 days ago
Johnson City driver speeds off to Pikes Peak Hill Climb
JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (WJHL) – One of America's oldest motorsports traditions is coming up this month, and a Johnson City driver will have the rare opportunity to race.
The 103rd Pikes Peak International Hill Climb is happening June 22 in Colorado, and Tracy Gaudu of Johnson City will be there with her heavily modified Corvette.
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The iconic race against the clock runs up the winding 12-mile road on the Rocky Mountain peak, with a total of 156 turns and a 5,000-foot elevation gain.
It's a course that requires a unique combination of car, skill and outright mettle to be successful.
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Gaudu, who runs her one-woman operation Team Tracy Motorsport, has what it takes, but the anticipation ahead of raceday is building.
'I'm super excited,' Gaudu said. 'I can't even really describe it. It's the biggest thing I've ever done with my racing [career] this far.'
Making it to the race is an accomplishment in itself.
Just 74 drivers from across the world will run this year's hill climb, and only five, Gaudu included, are women.
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As her racing career developed to include hill climbs, Pikes Peak was on her radar, but it was a challenge she did not initially think she was ready for.
'I would watch it online and think, 'Man, one day I think I could see myself there,'' Gaudu said. 'In reality, I thought, 'You're not ready for that.''
On a whim, Gaudu decided to apply for the 2025 race.
'All they can say is no, but they didn't,' Gaudu said. 'So here we are.'
Since learning she made the cut, Gaudu has spent much of 2025 preparing both herself and the car for the big race.
Gaudu lives life at full speed off the track as well.
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She is an Air Force veteran, but she works her day job at the Johnson City Medical Center as a vascular surgery and trauma physician assistant.
She moved to Johnson City from Texas in 2012, starting in neurosurgery.
'I'm not one that just likes to sit around,' Gaudu said. 'I get tired at times, believe me. Since I get older, especially.'
Her high-intensity workload is part of what drove her to racing and applying for Pikes Peak.
Now, the biggest challenge of Gaudu's racing career is ahead of her.
Pikes Peak is a dangerous race. Many of the dozens of curves have no guardrail, surrounded by either trees or a steep drop down the mountain.
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Her car is loaded with safety features, similar to what a NASCAR driver has onboard, like a safety harness, fire suit, roll cage and more.
'If you go off, you're going off a significant amount,' Gaudu said. 'It's a big drop. If you're rolling and spinning in the car, you want as much safety around you as you can have.'
Because of the course's length, practice time is very limited.
There will be some practice for the race weekend, but the majority of the preparation is done through simulators, watching videotape and an early practice session last weekend.
'I feel ready,' Gaudu said. 'The simulator has helped me tremendously, but a simulator is just that. It's not real life, but it will hopefully help me at least know where I'm going as far as what the next turn is, and not be completely lost.'
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She will not be battling up the mountain against other cars, but rather her elapsed time to cover the 12-mile course.
Gaudu will be taking Team Tracy Motorsport against some of the giants of motorsport, many teams running with manufacturer support.
She'll have some pit crew members making the trek with her, but the bulk of the foundation was built solely by Gaudu.
'I've been a one-woman race team the whole time,' Gaudu said. 'Rarely do you find someone that's doing it all by themselves. Pikes Peak can be intimidating with that, but then you can watch what they're doing and learn from those teams too.'
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Her years of motorsports experience, much of it in this same Corvette, have prepared her for the moment.
She started out in auto-cross, learning how to drive the car at track days.
Then, Gaudu graduated to time trials on closed courses through the National Auto Sport Association (NASA).
She got her competition license with NASA a couple of years ago to go racing wheel-to-wheel in the Super Unlimited class.
It was then that Gaudu first started running hill climbs.
Gaudu has plenty of experience in hill climbs, but she has used the Appalachian mountains to hone her skills at courses in Norton, Va., Pineville, Ky., and in North Carolina.
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'I really love hill climbing,' Gaudu said. 'It's me and the car and the course. There's no other people around. When things happen, it's really on you.'
For the big race, Gaudu is going all out.
Over her racing career, she has made several modifications to her burnt orange 2007 Chevrolet Corvette C6-Z.
Through bumps and scrapes, the car has always come back stronger, but the car is at its peak performance ahead of the hill climb.
Not much of the car is still stock from when she bought it.
Glass has been replaced with Lexan, accessories that provide driver comfort have been stripped out — all in the name of weight reduction.
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For this race, Gaudu also added an oxygen tank because the race starts at around 9,000 feet in elevation. It finishes well over 14,000 feet.
Plus, she's added downforce with a massive rear wing and front splitter.
She will be the first woman in the hill climb's history to run in a Corvette.
Driving the biggest race of her career in this car clearly means a lot to Gaudu.
'It sounds so terrible, but I love this car more than anything I own,' Gaudu said. 'I wouldn't want to do this race in any other car. I've had the car since late 2007. I learned how to drive manual on this car. We've been through a lot together.'
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As for her goals for the race, there is only one thing in mind.
'You're really not successful there unless you can make it to the top,' Gaudu said. 'If you make it halfway, no one's going to remember that. You spend too much time and money trying to get there, you need to make it there.'
Gaudu will make her run in the 103rd Pikes Peak International Hill Climb on June 22.
You can read more about her racing career and see where she's racing next on her website.
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