Air Academy High School alum Dan Novembre — class of 1998 — will be among the 65 or so drivers who will race up Pikes Peak Highway on June 27 for a shot at winning the coveted King of the Mountain title.

It will be the 99th running of The Broadmoor Pikes Peak International Hill Climb brought to you by Gran Turismo. This is the 106th year of the event. The race did not take place during World War I and World War II.

Novembre will be racing in the Open Wheel division. He finished seventh overall last year, eclipsing the famed 10-minute mark with a time of 9 minutes, 45.360 seconds.

He was second place in his class from 2016-18, and finished eighth overall in 2017.

Novembre first got into racing in 2009 when he bought a Wells Coyote racecar for $7,000 off Craigslist. He had become a big fan of the Hill Climb and was a mechanical engineer with Harris Corp. at the time.

He had no experience working on cars, but learned the craft and made it to the summit in his first attempt in 2009. This year will be his 13th run up the mountain.

Among other area drivers who will be competing in this year’s race are Monument’s Tommy Boileau — a 2012 graduate of Lewis-Palmer High School — in the Pikes Peak Open division, Falcon’s Steve Goeglein (Unlimited) and Woodland Park’s Codie Vahsholtz.

Boileau will try to top his fourth-place finish in the 2019 Pikes Peak Open division. This year, he will drive a 1967 Chevrolet Camaro.

Two former King of the Mountain winners, Paul Dallenbach and Robin Shute, will also compete this year. Dallenbach, of Basalt, holds three King of the Mountain trophies and has seven additional division wins. He will run in the Open Wheel division.

Shute, a resident of Norfolk, United Kingdom, was the 2019 King of the Mountain. He is back in the No. 49 Wolf GB08 TSC as part of the Unlimited division.

Not competing this year is Woodland Park native Clint Vahsholtz, last year’s King of the Mountain. It was his first overall championship in his storied career that dates back to 1992.

Vahsholtz, who has a record 24 class wins, has decided to take this year off — he plans to race again in 2022 during the 100th running — to help his son, Codie, compete in the automobile class for the first time.

The Hill Climb was first staged in 1916 by founder Spencer Penrose to help promote his Pikes Peak Highway. The Hill Climb is the second oldest auto race in America behind the Indianapolis 500 (1911).

The Hill Climb is an invitation-only event and is often referred to as The Race to the Clouds. The famous 12.42-mile course — through there is some dispute over the length — consists of 156 perilous turns and has an elevation gain of 4,725 feet. Competitors reach the finish line at 14,115 feet .

Novembre will be racing in the Open Wheel division. He finished seventh overall last year, eclipsing the famed 10-minute mark with a time of 9 minutes, 45.360 seconds. He was second place in his class from 2016-18, and finished eighth overall in 2017.