|
Phil Toll Hill Jr. was obsessed with racing at a very early age,
fascinated by the glamourous descriptions of Grand Prix
run in foreign lands, being won by men named Carraciolla, Nuvolari, and Varzi. His family, who had relocated to
Santa Monica, California from his birthplace of Miami, encouraged him to go to university to study business, but his
passion for motor vehicles drove him to work as a mechanic. By 1946 he was one of the first dozen of members in
the California Sportscar Club, and over the next few years would hone his driving skill by competing in local events.
By 1955 Phil had achieved great success in minor international sports car events, and was signed by
Enzo Ferrari to
drive with the sports car works team the following year.
Over the next two seasons he won major events with the team and wanted to be included in the team's Formula 1 program,
which he had not been part of previously. So for the 1958 season he drove one of
Joakim Bonnier's private
Maserati's
to a 7th place finish at the French GP. That race was not only significant because it was his first in Formula 1, but
also because his Ferrari
team-mate
Luigi Musso suffered a fatal crash, resulting in Phil being bumped into Ferrari's
F1 team as junior driver. His first race in a Ferrari saw another blow to the proud Italian team, as English driver
Peter Collins was involved in a terrible crash not unlike Musso's a month earlier, to which his injuries proved fatal.
This meant Hill was again bumped up the Ferrari F1 driver ladder, this time to the main works team due, to the unfortunate
driver attrition.
His first race in the top Ferrari cars would be the Italian GP at the infamous
Monza circuit. Hill drove brilliantly to what could have been a 2nd place finish, had he not been forced to slow and not
overtake team-mate Mike Hawthorn, in order for him to stay in the championship lead. The next race saw Hill in a secure
second position towards the end of the race, yet due to the championship battle that was going on, Hill had to slow down
dramatically to allow for Hawthorn, who was 40 seconds behind, to take Hill's second position and with it the championship.
1959 was Hill's first full year of F1, yet he was unable to match the team's star,
Tony Brooks, who won two races that year.
Brooks moved on for 1960, so hill took the reins as the teams lead driver. He managed his first win at Monza, which would
prove to be his most successful circuit throughout his career.
In 1961 a rule change played into the hands of Hill's Ferrari team, and by mid season he and teammate
Wolfgang von Trips
were in a battle for the lead in the championship. Von Trip's was leading the championship by 4 points going into Hill's favorite race, the Italian GP. With Hill leading, von Trip came into contact with
Jim Clark's
Lotus and was launched off the
circuit into a spectator filled area. Von Trips lost his life in the accident, as did 14 spectators, while Hill won the race
and clinched the championship due to his competitors fatality. That was basically the end of Hill's success in Formula 1. He
left Ferrari after the 1962 season due to uncompetitive ness to join the Ferrari-separatist team ATS with decorated engineer Carlo
Chiti. This proved to be a disastrous decision, as the project was enormously unsuccessful. The following year proved almost
as unsuccessful for Hill, which prompted him to quit the sport. He came back to racing for two races in 1966, but didn't start
either and left F1, never to return.
In addition to his noted accomplishment of clinching an F1 title, and being the first American to do so, Phil Hill is equally remembered
for his more-than-impressive sport car career. He was the first American to win at Le Mans, and won 6 other major sports car races during his
Ferrari years, including three Sebring 12-hour events. Currently Phil touches the motorsport world with regular visits to historic racing
events and sporadically as a TV commentator for racing events.
|