Yes, the road is paved all the way to the summit. They have been paving 5 mile segments for the last few years, so up until now the race was actually on a combination of dirt and asphalt.

Since annoucing completion of the paving, registrations have been pouring in. The Hillclimb commitee anounced in October of last year that they had exceeded all previous early registrations and they were continuing to come in. If the registrations continue at this pace, there is talk of it becoming a two-three day race with qualifiers on Fri-Sat and the race on Sunday.

Is the change in racing surface going to change the race, yes. It is not what it was before, that is for sure. However, it may actually become more technically challenging because the paved surface is narrower than the dirt surface. Dropping a tire in the dirt on one turn in a car wth an asphalt set up could become the difference between winning and loosing. Speeds will be higher too, so judgement of distance will become critical to hitting braking and apex points.

Despite all that, there are still several other all dirt hillclimbs in Colorado if that's your thing. Granted, none are Pikes Peak, but this is how things have changed.