For decades, those who love The Broadmoor Pikes Peak International Hill Climb wondered if pavement would pollute and maybe even doom the race.

On Sunday, we witnessed the wonder of the pavement. The race is not as distinctive as it was in the Wild West dirt days of yesteryear, but it remains full of life and full of possibility. Limits are being defied and stretched, and that stretching always is exciting.

Romain Dumas sizzled to a 7:57.148 time, smashing his friend Sebastien Loeb’s record 8:13.878 set in 2014. I’ve talked with a couple dozen drivers and fans who believed Loeb’s record would last for a decade. It lasted a mere four years.

I was standing a couple dozen yards from the start line when Dumas zoomed past in his space-age electric car that hummed instead of roared. It was there, and then it wasn’t. And it was so quiet – so peaceful, really – as it embarked on its trip up our big mountain.

Over 25 races, from 1987 to 2011, the overall record for The Hill Climb dropped only 56 seconds. In 1987, Walter Rohri drove his Audi Quattro to the first sub-11 minute time, and in 2011, Nobuhiro “The Monster” Tajima finally busted the 10-minute barrier in his Suzuki SX4. When “The Monster” reached the summit and learned of his new record, he howled with delight.

Tajima was standing at the edge of one era that was ending and one that was beginning. In 2012, the course was fully paved. The dirt days were over. And the barriers to smashing records were fading.

In the seven races since Tajima’s emotional victory, the overall record for The Hill Climb has dropped 114 seconds, more than twice as much as it dropped over the previous 25 years. Brace yourself: Still faster times are ahead.

In years ahead, carmakers will be willing to spend a mountain of cash in pursuit of the record, the one currently held by Dumas and Volkswagen. At the start line on Sunday, visitors from across the globe were examining cars, taking photos with their phones and staring at Pikes Peak.

They were considering what everyone considers when they attend the race: The sheer outrageousness of it all.

Paul Dallenbach, who won the overall title in 1993 and 2003, comes back to race year after year. He competed Sunday in the Open Wheel division.

“This race is one of the biggest races in the world,” he said while surrounded by fans. “You may not see that so much here in Colorado, but around the world people know Pikes Peak.”

Those people include elite drivers. The mountain and the race lured Loeb and Dumas from France and Tajima from Japan, and the luring isn’t going anywhere. As we speak, some big-shot driver from far, far away is plotting to smash that fresh record set by Dumas.

Layne Schranz grew up with the race, and we’re talking literally. He saw his first Hill Climb when he was less than a year old, and he’s been back nearly every year since.

“The way I look at it,” Schranz said, “who doesn’t want to be on a great road in a super-fast car with no traffic and no speed limit? To me, that’s heaven.”

To others, that’s heaven, too.

Schranz, who competed in the Open division, talked while sitting in a folding chair not far from the start line. He was smiling and relaxed as he soaked up the sun with crew and family.

Not far away, another driver was in solitude.

Dumas arrived in Colorado Springs with a posse of 30-plus, but in the minutes before he climbed into his powerful Volkswagen he retreated to a quiet place.

He sat, alone, wearing a blue hooded jacket, rubbing his chin, sipping a cup of coffee and staring to the east.

Behind him, to the west, Pikes Peak beckoned.