Phil Hill facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Phil Hill

Hill at the 1991 United States Grand Prix in Phoenix
Born	Philip Toll Hill Jr. (1927-04-20)April 20, 1927 Miami, Florida, U.S.
Died	August 28, 2008(2008-08-28) (aged 81) Monterey, 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, McLaren, Eagle
Entries	52 (49 starts)
Championships	1 (1961)
Wins	3
Podiums	16
Career points	94 (98)
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 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 racing driver. He was one of two American drivers to win the Formula One World Drivers' Championship, and the only one who was born in the United States (the other, Mario Andretti, was born in Italy and later became an American citizen). 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."

Career

Born April 20, 1927, 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. 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 with Hill driving most of the night in horrific rainy conditions. He and Gendebien would go on to win the 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 (except the Indianapolis 500, once part of Grand Prix World Championship series), 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."

Hill driving for Ferrari at the 1962 German Grand Prix

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. During the 1966 Formula One season, Hill often participated in race weekends behind the wheel of a Ford GT40 prototype, accompanied by a remote-control Panasonic camera in order to produce images for the movie Grand Prix. In that same season, he entered his last Formula One race, the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, racing for Dan Gurney's All American Racers, but he failed to qualify. Hill retired from racing altogether in 1967.

Hill has the distinction of having won the first (a three-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 a 91-cubic-inch (1.5 L) supercharged MGA twin cam engine, using 86% methanol with nitrobenzene, acetone, and diethyl ether, for an output of 290 HP. In 1959 Hill attained 257 mph in this car, breaking the previous record of Stirling Moss in the same car, 246 mph.

Hill appeared as himself on the December 11, 1961, episode of the game show To Tell the Truth. He received none of four possible votes.

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. Hill remained with Gargour at Hill & Vaughn until the sale of the business again in 1995. Hill also worked as a television commentator for ABC's Wide World of Sports.

Hill had a long 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 1960s 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.

Hill was married to Alma, and had three children: Derek, Vanessa and Jennifer. Derek raced in International Formula 3000 in 2001, 2002 and 2003, but was forced to retire when Phil 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. Inside Track, a three-volume book set came out at the tail end of 2017 covering the life and career of Phil Hill. It's a work that had started before his death.

Turn 9 of the CW13 configuration of Buttonwillow Raceway Park is named after Hill.

Racing record

Complete Formula One World Championship results

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

¹The M3A, fitted with a cine camera, was allowed to enter the race to capture the start for the film Grand Prix

Non-championship Formula One results

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Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year	Team	Co-drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class pos.
1953	Rees T. Makins	Fred Wacker Jr.	O.S.C.A. MT-4	S1.5	80	DNF (Clutch)
1955	Scuderia Ferrari	Umberto Maglioli	Ferrari 735 LM	S5.0	76	DNF (Transmission)
1956	Scuderia Ferrari	André Simon	Ferrari 625 LM	S3.0	107	DNF (Transmission)
1957	Scuderia Ferrari	Peter Collins	Ferrari 335 S	S5.0	2	DNF (Piston)
1958	Scuderia Ferrari	Olivier Gendebien	Ferrari 250 TR 58	S3.0	305	1st	1st
1959	Scuderia Ferrari	Olivier Gendebien	Ferrari 250 TR 59	S3.0	263	DNF (Overheating)
1960	Scuderia Ferrari	Wolfgang von Trips	Ferrari 250 TR 59/60	S3.0	22	DNF (Out of fuel)
1961	Scuderia Ferrari	Olivier Gendebien	Ferrari 250 TRI/61	S3.0	333	1st	1st
1962	SpA Ferrari SEFAC	Olivier Gendebien	Ferrari 330 TRI/LM Spyder	E+3.0	331	1st	1st
1963	David Brown/Aston Martin Lagonda	Lucien Bianchi	Aston Martin DP215	P+3.0	29	DNF (Gearbox)
1964	Ford Motor Company	Bruce McLaren	Ford GT Mk.I	P5.0	192	DNF (Gearbox)
1965	Shelby-American Inc.	Chris Amon	Ford GT40X	P5.0	89	DNF (Clutch)
1966	Chaparral Cars Inc.	Jo Bonnier	Chaparral 2D	P+5.0	111	DNF (Electrics)
1967	Chaparral Cars Inc.	Mike Spence	Chaparral 2F	P+5.0	225	DNF (Transmission)
Source:

Complete 12 Hours of Sebring results

Year	Team	Co-drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class pos.
1953	William Spear	Bill Spear	Ferrari 225 S	S3.0	56	DNF (Differential)
1954	William Spear	Bill Spear	Ferrari 375 MM	S5.0	60	DNF (Rear end)
1955	Allen Guiberson	Carroll Shelby	Ferrari 750 Monza Spyder	S3.0	182	2nd	1st
1956	George Tilp	Masten Gregory	Ferrari 857 S	S5.0	61	DNF (Bearings)
1957	Ferrari Factory	Wolfgang von Trips	Ferrari 290 MM	S5.0	106	DNF (Electrics)
1958	Scuderia Ferrari	Peter Collins	Ferrari 250 TR 58	S3.0	200	1st	1st
1959	Scuderia Ferrari	Dan Gurney Chuck Daigh Olivier Gendebien	Ferrari 250 TR 59	S3.0	188	1st	1st
1961	Sefac Automobile Ferrari	Olivier Gendebien	Ferrari 250 TRI/61	S3.0	210	1st	1st
1962	North American Racing Team	Olivier Gendebien	Ferrari 250 GTO	GT3.0	196	2nd	1st
1963	Ed Hugus	Ken Miles Lew Spencer	Shelby Cobra	GT+4.0	192	11th	1st
	Shelby American, Inc.	Dan Gurney	Shelby Cobra	GT+4.0	163	29th	5th
1964	Ford of France	Jo Schlesser	Shelby Cobra	GT5.0	203	6th	3rd
1965	Shelby American, Inc.	Lew Spencer Jim Adams	Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe	GT5.0	173	21st	5th
	Ken Miles	Richie Ginther	Ford GT40	P+4.0	37	DNF (Rear suspension)
1966	Chaparral Cars Inc.	Jo Bonnier	Chaparral 2D	P+5.0	27	DNF (Oil leak)

Complete 24 Hours of Daytona results

Year	Team	Co-drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class pos.
1962	North American Racing Team	Ricardo Rodríguez	Ferrari 246 SP	S2.5	82	2nd	2nd
1964	North American Racing Team	Pedro Rodríguez	Ferrari 250 GTO	GT+2.0	327	1st	1st
1966	Chaparral Cars Inc.	Jo Bonnier	Chaparral 2D	P+2.0	318	DNF (Wheel)
1967	Chaparral Cars Inc.	Mike Spence	Chaparral 2F	P+2.0	93	DNF (Accident suspension damage)

Complete Tasman Series results

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Awards

• He was inducted in the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America as the sole sports cars driver in the inaugural 1989 class.
• In 1991, he was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame.
• He was inducted in the West Coast Stock Car Hall of Fame in 2022.

Primary career victories :

• 24 Hours of Le Mans (3) : 1958, 1961, 1962
• 12 Hours of Sebring (4) : 1955 (3.0 class), 1958, 1959, 1961
• 1000 km Buenos Aires (3) : 1956 (S+3.0 class), 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) (1) : 1967
• Targa Florio (1) : 1960 (3.0 class)
• Road America 500 (2) : 1955, 1957
• Continental Tire Monterey Grand Prix (3) : 1950, 1953, 1955
• Los Angeles Times Grand Prix (1) : 1959
• Swedish Grand Prix (1) : 1956
• 2000 km Daytona (1) : 1964

See also

In Spanish: Phil Hill para niños