The Old Smokey F1 truck is pretty well known for being a badass, and was supposed to be making its final runs at the mountain during the 2023 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, but this was not how they planned to retire the truck. A massive brake failure caused this bad boy to go flying off the edge of the cliff and taking a serious tumble down the mountain. Scott is okay, thanks to lots of great safety gear, but the truck will never be raced again that is for sure. Again, it was supposed to retire anyway, but this isn’t how it was supposed to go down. Watch, cause it is nuts.

Video Description: 

Scott Birdsall’s final run in Old Smokey F1 at the Pikes Peak International Hillclimb. Smokey had a brake failure coming into Lightning corner, and flew/rolled 714 feet down the cliff. This was planned to be Old Smokey’s retirement from the race. Not the retirement that was planned, but that’s racing. Scott will be campaigning his CG Superlite LMP1 Prototype in 2024

Play by Play: Personal best times in sections 1,2 and 3 despite the fact that the truck was only running an emergency replacement single turbo, and making less than 600hp. I was in a great flow until the brake failure.

Coming into lightning corner, I lifted to neutral throttle, went to set into the corner with the brakes, and the pedal instantly went to the floor with zero effort. I frantically pumped the brakes, and you can hear the throttle change slightly as I do this because the brake pedal was so far down on the floor, my boot cut suit leg was catching the throttle. I knew there was way too much momentum (you can see this in the first clip) to make the corner, so I tried to hook the ditch, and that was too aggressive as it just shot the truck in the air and went off. Probably a good thing, as the farther you get around the corner, the steeper and rockier it gets. Really an no-win situation all the way around, and my worst nightmare as a Pikes Peak racer has always been this exact scenario. My cage, Still FIA helmet, and Sabelt seat and belts were the reason I was able to walk away completely unhurt. Huge thank you to the Pikes Peak safety crew for being on the scene so quickly, and for being total pros.

First impact was 175 feet down the embankment, and the truck and I came to rest 714 feet down on the side. The truck is too far gone to fix for racing again, but I may attempt to resurrect it to a street truck.

For now, Rest In Peace Old Smokey F1.