Randy Pobst is one of the most chill pro racers I’ve ever met. He’s as friendly and as chatty as he seems to be in person, he’s got a great resume as a wheelman, and as it goes with any job, sometimes you have great days and sometimes, you don’t. Unfortunately, Pobst didn’t have a great day during the 2020 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb. As one of two drivers for Unplugged Performance, Pobst was wheeling a Tesla Model 3 up the mountain as part of the Exhibition class, when there was an incident at the Bottomless Pit corner, which sits at an altitude of 12,760 and has a drop-off that would make Wile E. Coyote lose bowel control at first sight. There is a wall at Bottomless Pit corner, and Pobst met it with force after losing control of the Model 3. Teammate Blake Fuller could carry the torch for Unplugged Performance, but a used Model 3 was purchased for parts and the race car was rebuilt and set up the mountain, winding up only two seconds behind Fuller.

After an event like PPIHC, it’s always good to sit back, review the things that happened, figure out what worked and go over what didn’t. In Pobst’s case, what happened that caused the Model 3 to get loose and out of shape? Pobst has ideas, which include the condition of the road (which changes due to the freeze/thaw cycles each year, making the roads unpredictable) partially contributing to the crash. A correction in the steering might have been too much, putting the car into an unrecoverable state. Listen in to Randy’s thoughts, check out the footage, and see what you think.