Phil Hill

Phil Hill

Hill (left) and Jackie Stewart at the 1991 United States Grand Prix
Born	Philip Toll Hill, Jr. (1927-04-20)April 20, 1927 Miami, Florida, U.S.
Died	August 28, 2008(2008-08-28) (aged 81) Salinas, California, U.S.
Formula One World Championship career
Nationality	American
Active years	1958–1964, 1966
Teams	Maserati, Ferrari, Cooper, Porsche, Automobili Turismo e Sport, Lotus, Eagle
Entries	51 (48 starts)
Championships	1 (1961)
Wins	3
Podiums	16
Career points	94 (98)[1]
Pole positions	6
Fastest laps	6
First entry	1958 French Grand Prix
First win	1960 Italian Grand Prix
Last win	1961 Italian Grand Prix
Last entry	1966 Italian Grand Prix
24 Hours of Le Mans career Participating years 1953, 1955–1967 Teams Rees T. Makins Scuderia Ferrari Aston Martin Ford Motor Company Shelby-American Inc. Chaparral Cars Inc. Best finish 1st (1958, 1961, 1962) Class wins 3 (1958, 1961, 1962)

Philip Toll Hill, Jr. (April 20, 1927 – August 28, 2008) was an American automobile racer and the only American-born driver to win the Formula One World Drivers' Championship (Mario Andretti, an American driver, won the World Drivers' Championship in 1978, but was not born in the United States). He also scored three wins at each of the 24 Hours of Le Mans and 12 Hours of Sebring sports car races.

Hill was described as a "thoughtful, gentle man" and once said, "I'm in the wrong business. I don't want to beat anybody, I don't want to be the big hero. I'm a peace-loving man, basically."^[2]

Career

Born in Miami, Florida, Hill was raised in Santa Monica, California, where he lived until his death. He studied business administration at the University of Southern California from 1945 to 1947, where he was a member of the Kappa Sigma fraternity. Hill left early to pursue auto racing, working as a mechanic on other drivers' cars.^[3] Hill began racing cars at an early age, going to England as a Jaguar trainee in 1949 and signing with Enzo Ferrari's team in 1956. He made his debut in the French Grand Prix at Reims France in 1958 driving a Maserati. That same year, paired with Belgian teammate Olivier Gendebien, Hill became the first American-born winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans ^[4] with Hill driving most of the night in horrific rainy conditions. He and Gendebien would go on to win the famous endurance race again in 1961 and 1962.

Hill driving a Ferrari 250 TR at the 12 hours of Sebring (1958).

Hill began driving full-time for the Ferrari Formula One team in 1959, earning three podium finishes and fourth place in the Drivers' Championship. In 1960 he won the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, the first Grand Prix win for an American driver in nearly forty years, since Jimmy Murphy won the 1921 French Grand Prix. This also turned out to be the last win for a front-engined car in Formula 1. The following season, Hill won the Belgian Grand Prix and with two races left trailed only his Ferrari teammate Wolfgang von Trips in the season standings. A crash during the Italian Grand Prix killed von Trips and fifteen spectators. Hill won the race and clinched the championship but the triumph was bittersweet. Ferrari's decision not to travel to America for the season's final round deprived Hill of the opportunity to participate in his home race at Watkins Glen as the newly crowned World Champion. When he returned for the following season, his last with Ferrari, Hill said, "I no longer have as much need to race, to win. I don't have as much hunger anymore. I am no longer willing to risk killing myself."^[2]

After leaving Ferrari at the end of 1962, he and fellow driver Giancarlo Baghetti started for the new team ATS created by ex-Ferrari engineers in the great walkout of 1961. In 1964 Hill continued in Formula One, driving for the Cooper Formula One Team before retiring from single seaters at the end of the season and limiting his future driving to sports car racing with Ford Motor Company and the Chaparral Cars of Jim Hall before retiring from racing altogether in 1967.

Phil Hill has the distinction of having won the first (a 3 lap event at Carrell Speedway in a MG TC on July 24, 1949) and last races of his driving career, the final victory driving for Chaparral in the BOAC 500 at Brands Hatch in England in 1967.

Hill also drove an experimental MG, EX-181, at Bonneville Salt Flats. The "Roaring Raindrop", had an 91 cu. in. (1.5L) supercharged MGA Twin Cam engine, using 86% methanol with nitrobenzene, acetone, and sulphuric ether, for an output of 290 HP. In 1959 Phil Hill attained 257 MPH in this car, breaking the previous record of Stirling Moss in same car, Moss registering 246 MPH.

Hill driving for Ferrari at the 1962 German Grand Prix.

After racing

Following his retirement, Hill built up an award winning classic car restoration business in the 1970s called Hill & Vaughn with business partner Ken Vaughn, until they sold the partnership to Jordanian Raja Gargour and Vaughn went on to run a separate business on his own in 1984. Phil remained with Gargour at Hill & Vaughn until the sale of the business again in 1995.^[5] Hill also worked as a television commentator for ABC's Wide World of Sports.^[6]

Hill had a long and distinguished association with Road & Track magazine. He wrote several articles for them, including road tests and retrospective articles on historic cars and races. He shared his "grand old man" status at R&T with '60s racing rival Paul Frère, who also died in 2008.

Hill, in his last years, devoted his time to his vintage car collection and judged at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance more often than any other individual; 2007 was the 40th time he had judged the event.^[7]

Hill was married to Alma, and had three children: Derek, Vanessa and Jennifer.^[8] Derek raced in International Formula 3000 in 2001, 2002 and 2003, but was forced to retire when Hill became ill with Parkinson's Disease.

After traveling to the Monterey Historic Automobile Races in August 2008, Hill was taken to Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula, where he died after a short illness from complications of Parkinson's Disease in Monterey, California on August 28.^[9]

Racing record

Formula One World Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Non-Championship Formula One results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete Tasman Series results

Awards

• In 1991, he was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame.
• He was inducted in the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America as the sole sports cars driver in the inaugural 1989 class.

Primary career victories :

• 24 Hours of Le Mans (3) : 1958, 1961, 1962
• 12 Hours of Sebring (3) : 1958, 1959, 1961
• 1000 km Buenos Aires (2) : 1958, 1960
• 1000 km Nürburgring (2) : 1962, 1966
• F1 Italian Grand Prix (2) : 1960, 1961
• F1 Belgian Grand Prix (1) : 1961
• BOAC 500 (Brands Hatch) : 1967

Notes

References

• Daley, Robert. The Cruel Sport. Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1963.

External links

• The Official Web Site of Phil Hill
• Phil Hill's World Championship Season, Race-by-race
• Phill Hill statistics
• Death of Phil Hill
• Formula One tribute to Phil Hill
• Sports Illustrated cover, March 16, 1959: Sports Car Driver of the Year
• Phil Hill at the 24h of Le Mans

Scuderia Ferrari
Founder Enzo Ferrari President Sergio Marchionne Team Principal Maurizio Arrivabene Current key personnel Loïc Bigois Mattia Binotto Jock Clear Simone Resta Massimo Rivola Lorenzo Sassi 2016 Race drivers 5. Sebastian Vettel 7. Kimi Räikkönen 2016 Test and reserve drivers Marc Gené Davide Rigon Jean-Éric Vergne Charles Leclerc (Development) Ferrari Driver Academy Giuliano Alesi Antonio Fuoco Charles Leclerc Guanyu Zhou World Champions   Alberto Ascari   Juan Manuel Fangio   Mike Hawthorn   Phil Hill   Niki Lauda   Kimi Räikkönen   Jody Scheckter   Michael Schumacher   John Surtees Former drivers See category Drivers' titles: 1952 1953 1956 1958 1961 1964 1975 1977 1979 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2007 Constructors' titles: 1961 1964 1975 1976 1977 1979 1982 1983 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2007 2008 Former personnel James Allison Mario Almondo Luca Badoer Luca Baldisserri John Barnard Ross Brawn Gustav Brunner Rory Byrne Carlo Chiti Gioacchino Colombo Aldo Costa Stefano Domenicali Chris Dyer Alfredo Ferrari Cesare Fiorio Mauro Forghieri Pat Fry Hirohide Hamashima Vittorio Jano Aurelio Lampredi Claudio Lombardi Luca Marmorini Neil Martin Paolo Martinelli Marco Mattiacci Luca Cordero di Montezemolo Marco Piccinini Harvey Postlethwaite Enrique Scalabroni Michael Schumacher Gilles Simon Rob Smedley Nigel Stepney Jean Todt Nicholas Tombazis Formula One cars 125 212 166 275 340 375 500 553 625 555 D50 801 246 246P 156 158 1512 246 F1-66 312 312B 312T 126C 156/85 F1/86 F1/87 640 641 642 643 F92A F93A 412 T1 412 T2 F310 F300 F399 F1-2000 F2001 F2002 F2003-GA F2004 F2005 248 F1 F2007 F2008 F60 F10 150° Italia F2012 F138 F14 T SF15-T SF16-H IndyCar/CART cars 375 Indy 637 Sports racing cars 166 MM 166 MM Le Mans 195 S 340 America 212 Export 225 S & 250 S 250 MM 340 MM 375 MM 250 Monza 750 Monza 860 Monza 118 LM & 121 LM 410 S 500 TR 625 LM 500 TRC 290 MM 315 S 335 S 250 Testa Rossa Ferrari 250 TR 61 250 GT SWB Sperimentale 250 GTO 330 TRI/LM 330 LMB 250 P, 275 P & 330 P 275 P2, 330 P2 & 365 P2 250 LM 330 P2 330 P3 330 P3/4 & P4 212 E 312 P 512 S & 512 M 312 PB