This may unfortunately be the wake-up call the hillclimb needed, as well as for some competitors. They've been playing Russian Roulette for quite some time with the lack of requiring any safety equipment (besides a helmet!). A number of people had warned the organizers that this would happen, if entrants are free to run whatever they want.
This was an open top viper with no safety equipment (i.e. harnesses, racing seats, etc.) or cage of any kind, as is the case with most of the cars running there (only about 5 or 6 cars have proper cages - pretty scary considering these are Vipers, Corvettes, 993 Turbo's, etc.). A friend had ridden up with the driver earlier and said he was turning in too early and getting way too wide out of the corners. There's no runoff area or shoulder on these roads so you're either hitting a hillside or going over the edge. In comparison to the rally roads we run, these roads are just as dangerous in certain sections, though where this driver went off, if they were in a caged closed-top car, they could have survived.
Last year one of the Beddor's Yellow RUF Porsche Turbo's (same cars that run at Pikes Peak) went over the edge and destroyed the car, but the car was fully caged and the driver walked away (can't remember if it was David or Steve).
The year before that, the same thing happened to another caged 993 Turbo which rolled harder, but again the driver and passenger walked away with some bumps and bruises.
It would be a shame to lose an event like this, and there's no reason to, if proper safety requirements are set in place.
-mark nelson