Jacksonville's Brumos Racing tackles the historic Race to the Clouds in return to competition

When David Donohue tackles the 100th running of the Broadmoor Pikes Peak International Hill Climb on Sunday, he will have navigated 156 turns ascending more than 4,700 feet into the clouds over Colorado.

He will be doing it in a red, white and blue Brumos Racing Porsche GT2 RS Clubsport. And it will be the first time a car carrying Jacksonville's iconic team colors has competed in professional motorsports since Brumos retired from racing in 2013 before owner Dano Davis sold his dealerships to the Fields Automotive Group.

It's not Donohue's first time up the peak, having competed many times previously in the second-oldest race in America. But this time, the iconic color scheme on Donohue's race car matches many in Davis' Brumos Collection museum at 5959 S. San Pablo Road that won multiple other championships.

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“Racing for Brumos has been a highlight of my career that I look back on with pride,” Donohue said when the new car was announced in March. “I feel humbled to play a role in bringing back the No. 59 to such a special race and its milestone running.”

To see a new Brumos race car they sponsored competing again will be exciting, Davis said.

"For many years people have asked me when is Brumos going to go back racing, and I'd say I don't know that we will," Davis said. "Now I guess I can say we went back."

Accomplishments and racing glory

The team started in 1953 with Hubert Brundage, moving his dealership on Main Street in Springfield, selling Volkswagens, then Porsches as he raced them and even having a hand in creating the Formula Vee racing series.

It became Brumos in 1959, the name coming from the company’s Telex address (BRUndage MOtorS). Navy veteran Peter Gregg took over in 1966 and began racing in Porsches, with Hurley Haywood on board as co-driver in the 1970s. Gregg added a Mercedes-Benz dealership, then began racing in the Trans-Am Series.

Gregg won the Trans-Am Series in 1973 and 1974 in a Brumos Porsche, plus two IMSA GTO championships and the 24 Hours of Daytona in 1973 in a Porsche Carrera co-driven by Haywood. He would win the 24 Hours of Daytona three more times, plus the IMSA GTO championships in 1974, 1975, 1978 and 1979.

With Gregg's death by suicide in 1980, his widow took over, then Davis bought the dealerships and team in 1990 and put Bob Snodgrass in charge of the racing program. Haywood ultimately won five overall Rolex 24 at Daytona victories, plus three more at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and two at the 12 Hours of Sebring. He also won the 1988 Trans-Am title, two IMSA GT Championship titles and multiple more wins with Brumos Racing and others.

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Donohue is the son of famed race car driver and 1972 Indy 500 champion Mark Donohue, and Pikes Peak will be his 120th race driving for Brumos. He was part of the team that brought Brumos its fourth overall win at the 24 hours of Daytona in 2009.

One heck of a ride

Also known as The Race to the Clouds, the competition is an invitational automobile hill climb to the summit of Pikes Peak. Almost 80 vehicles, from stock-looking Fords, Porsches and Teslas to radical winged rally cars and prototypes will tackle the course one by one from dawn to dusk.

There are six divisions, including a Time Attack class filled with 20 cars, eight of those Porsches, including Donohue's. There is also a stand-alone class with six Porsche GT4 Clubsport race cars.

Brumos retired from racing in 2013, and its dealerships were sold in 2016 to the Fields Auto Group. Now Donohue will take on the daunting mountain course after asking Davis if it could be revived for competition again.

"When he first presented it, I said I will have to think about this," Davis said. "Then I said OK, I will acquire a car and the rest is up to you. ... I think it is good for both of us."

BBI Autosport prepared the Porsche GT2 RS Clubsport for Donohue. He has already taken on the twisting and often guard rail-less 12.42-mile course many times in practice the past two weeks.

"Being back in Brumos colors is just unbelievably exciting for me, beyond words," Donohue said in March.

Davis said he doesn't think Brumos has any more plans to resume racing, adding that this seemed like the right opportunity.

"We thought it would be kind of fun and different, and maybe some people would enjoy seeing the Brumos colors again," Davis said. "We have had people come into the museum talking about it, and we are hoping we do well enough that we get a bit of a bounce afterward."

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After Pikes Peak, Brumos Racing GT2 RS Clubsport will be shown at team sponsor Porsche of Colorado Springs and elsewhere before it comes to The Brumos Collection later this year. The museum opened in 2020 with a wing containing past Brumos Racing cars, plus historic Indianapolis racers and classics.

For more information go to thebrumoscollection.com.

dscanlan@jacksonville.com, (904) 359-4549 

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Jacksonville's Brumos Racing returns to The Race to the Clouds