http://www.classiccarshow.com/elegance/med_hill.htm (Internet on a CD, 07/1998)
Phil Hill, FIRST AMERICAN WORLD DRIVERS' CHAMP
Accepts Honorary Title as Chairman of Amelia Island Concours
Phil Hill, one of only two Americans
to win the World Driving Championship, is completely fascinated with automobiles.
When you see him strolling about in the Second Ritz-Carlton Amelia Island
Concours March 8, 1997, you are viewing not only a competition legend but
also a man who has owned and appreciated a panoply of marques ranging from
his first car, a Model T Ford, to Pierce-Arrows, Peugeots, Packards, and
Mercedes- Benz.
He is a veritable walking encyclopedia of automotive knowledge gathered
over more than a half century of making and preserving the mystique of
the motor car. His world championship, three victories each at the 12
Hours of Sebring and the 24 Hours of LeMans and other races came in Ferraris
but he also raced for Cooper, Aston-Martin, Ford Cobra and Chaparral, Alfa
Romeo, OSCA and Maserati and Jaguar.
His connection with the exhibition of vintage and other notable automobiles at a concours d'elegance also is legendary. In 1955 his Pierce-Arrow won best of show at Pebble Beach, California. In addition to the makes already mentioned, he has owned at one time or other Bentley, Rolls Royce, Mercedes-Benz, Lincoln, Cadillac, Locomobile, Mercer, Chrysler, Chevrolet, Rambler and Fiat.
Born in Miami, he and his wife, Alma, reside in Santa Monica, California, where he grew up. The Hills travel extensively throughout the year. As honorary chairman, Hill will be part of the judges panel awarding trophies.
Hill had great success in endurance racing, particularly in the Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa. In 1958 he won the 12 Hours of Sebring with Peter Collins as co-driver and followed this with a victory in the 24 Hours of LeMans with Belgian, Olivier Gendebien. The next year he repeated Sebring but with Gendebien. Hill won the two enduros for the third time in 1961, each time with Gendebien as the main co-driver. Also, in 1961 at Monza, Italy, Hill's Ferrari 156 crossed the finish line first to win the Grand Prix of Italy and clinch the Formula One World Driving Championship.
His final notable victory in a Ferrari was at Daytona in 1964 where, with Pedro Rodriguez, he won the 2,000 kilometer race in a 330 GT. After that, Phil's best rides came with Chaparral, for whom he drove the Can-Am series. Ironically, Hill's final international success came at age 40 at Brands Hatch, England's Six Hour edging the Jackie Stewart-Chris Amon Ferrari.
The Ritz-Carlton Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance is a charity event for Hospice Northeast, Inc., a local organization serving the needs of terminally ill children and adults. To visit the event on the World Wide Web, take the info super highway to: http://www.classiccarshow.com.
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