MANITOU SPRINGS • In the 100th running of The Broadmoor Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, Levi Shirley may have pulled off a race first.

Shirley flipped his 2014 Campbell Ent. Single Seat IFS two or three times yet finished the race.

“When you’re rolling, you’re thinking of the weeks and hours to be here down the drain,” said Shirley, a race rookie from Dodge City, Kan. “And the money.”

But that frustration immediately turned to elation when the final roll left Shirley in the ditch but on all four tires.

“I was thinking, ‘ Please land on its wheels. Please land on its wheels’,” Shirley said. “Alright, let’s go.”

The incident made Shirley the talk of the race at the summit, with everyone asking for details. Many informed him how fortunate he was to have benefited from changes to the course that changed that particular portion and made the ditch less pronounced.

Here was his description of the brief crash that occurred in heavy fog at low speed (he estimated 15 miler per hour) in the Engineers Corner section of the course in the trees about two miles beyond the start line.

“We were driving by Braille,” Shirley said. “We could probably see about 15 foot in front of the car. Came to a switchback, didn’t realize it was a switchback, locked up the brake of the car, understeered really bad, pushed the car and ended up pitching the car sideways and actually rolling the car end over end twice and ending up on my wheels.”

Shirley finished his run in 13 minutes, 44.532 seconds, a time better than four drivers who remained upright throughout their runs.

“I make my living in off-road racing,” Shirley said. “Rolling is just part of it. It’s not a wild thing to get a car upside down at all.”