Rhys Millen drove into history, but not as emphatically as he wanted.

The New Zealander took an electric car to an overall title at The Broadmoor Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, which marked the first time not only in this 99-year-old race but any major event globally that an electric car bettered a field that included traditional internal-combustion engines. He also set a category record.

Good day, right?

“I guess I should put a smile on my face, but we were still 30 seconds off our target,” said Millen, whose Drive eO car lost a rear motor pack halfway through the race and had to finish at 50 percent of its power. “It’s a new record, but not one I’m happy with.”

Millen’s disappointment was shared by much of the Hill Climb field. Mechanical issues among the frontrunners and slick conditions caused by the heat led to a slower-than-hoped-for-times. Nobody broke the nine-minute barrier. Millen’s time of 9 minutes, 7.222 seconds was the day’s fastest to the summit of America’s Mountain.

“If it had just been an 8:59, I would have been happier,” Millen said. “It’s one more year we have to wait.”

Millen sped to the fastest times throughout the week and his time was 6 percent faster than his closest pursuer in the first two sections. But that advantage dipped to 3 percent over the final two sections after the mechanical issues. He improved the record in the electrical category by 1 second.

He still beat runner-up Nobuhiro “Monster” Tajima – also driving an electric car – by more than 25 seconds.

Tajima fought far more frightening issues, as his brakes failed near the top of the course.

“It was very dangerous for me,” said the Japanese past champion, who finished second at 9:32.401. “Too fast and no brakes.”

Asked why he didn’t just kill the run at that point, he said simply, “I don’t know.”

Even those who didn’t experience mechanical difficulties still felt they finished with something less than their best times because the slick road conditions.

Colorado Springs driver David Donner set a Time Attack 2 record at 10:26.896 and Woodland Park’s Codie Vahsholtz established a new standard for lightweight motorcycles at 10:50.421, but both of the local record-setters were less than enthused with their times.

“I was expecting to go a little bit quicker,” Vahsholtz said. “But with the road conditions it was a little bit slick so I just played it safe and made it to the top.”

The slick conditions were the product of warm temperatures that caused the pavement to radiate heat while also drying the surrounding gravel to allow sand to blow onto the road.

Sunday’s slick road is in no way related to Thursday’s accident that killed motorcycle driver Carl Sorensen in a practice run. The road was gripping much better at that point and only surprised competitors with its slickness on race day.

English driver David Roe said the slick surface caused him to nearly go into a ditch when two of his tires left the pavement.

“I put two wheels in and I lost my underpants,” Roe said. “I haven’t found them yet.”

Millen kept his underpants, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that his day could have brought something much bigger.

“We have made history. We have won Pikes Peak in an electric vehicle,” said Millen, whose car was built by a father-son team from Latvia. “But it was 30 seconds off the time we estimated based on our practice times. The team has been on point all week long and there had not been one issue with this car in every run. I’m just disappointed for them because they’re so good, so talented, that they deserve the time easily 30 seconds faster than that.

“It’s a record, but it’s frustrating.”