The first, and to this day the only American-born world champion, Phil Hill, was a winner in the first-ever race he entered as well as his final race. In between, there were three victories each at Le Mans and Sebring. And the first American Formula 1 success at Parco Monza.
The Early Days. Hill was born in Miami, Florida, but moved to Southern California with his family as a young boy, where his father had accepted the position of Postmaster General. As a young boy growing up in Santa Monica, he developed what he called a “super attraction” to cars. A passion he would enjoy far beyond his racing days ith Ferrari.
Before he was a teenager, he would sneak out in his family’s Ford Model T, leading to a regular knock on the door from a local motorcycle police officer who would chase him as he sped back to his residence.
It was his passion for cars, not racing, that led him to work at International Motors, dealing mostly in British sports cars. Some of the greats of the silver screen and potential customers who were given thrilling demo rides by Hill included Clark Gable and Gary Cooper. Hill would recall years later, “They either bought the car or never showed up again.”
Hill won the very first race he entered in 1949 at the Carrell Speedway in Gardena, near Los Angeles, driving an MG TC.
He was sent to England by International Motors to be trained as a first-class mechanic on British cars. His time at Jaguar allowed him to purchase a Jaguar XK120; both the car and its new proud owner sailed on Queen Mary to New York, the return journey paid for by Rolls Royce as he served an apprenticeship with them also.
Fast times would soon roll for Hill. He drove his new possession all the way from New York to Santa Monica. With some modifications, he arrived in Pebble Beach for his first proper road race, the inaugural Pebble Beach Cup, on November 5, 1950. His racing career had started on a winning note after taking victory in the 25-lap main event.
Moving to Modena
It was his success in sports car racing that led to signing with Ferrari and moving to Modena. In 1952, Hill bought a Ferrari from their US importer, Luigi Chinetti. This car was involved in a fatal accident at Le Mans the previous year in which French driver Jean Lariviere was decapitated.
Hill and co-driver Richie Ginther themselves survived a serious accident in the 1953 Carrera Panamericana. The pair would return the following year and finish second.
In 1955, Hill and Carroll Shelby drove a Ferrari 750 LM to a second-place finish in the Sebring 12 Hours. Hill, through the efforts of Chinetti, was invited to Le Mans by Enzo but retired early in the race.
Hill and Belgian Olivier Gendebien started the 1956 season with a second-place finish in January’s Buenos Aires 1000 km. Highlight of the season was victory in the Swedish Grand Prix at Kristianstad, piloting a Ferrari 290MM with Maurice Trintignant.
Hill retired from Le Mans 24 Hours but picked up a podium finish in third at the Nürburgring 1000 kms, partnered by Gendebien and Alfonso de Portago. Hill and Peter Collins won the Venezuelan Grand Prix in 1957.
The American-English pairing would start the 1958 season on a high note, winning both the Buenos Aires 1000 km and the Sebring 12 Hours. But the big story of the season was written at the Sarthe circuit. Hill, co-driving with Gendebien, won the French classic 24-hour race. This made Hill the first American-born winner at Le Mans.
Chinetti won the race three times, twice as an Italian citizen. His third and final Le Mans victory in 1949 came as an American citizen.
Formula 1 Foray
While the great man in Maranello was mulling over promoting his American Le Mans winner to the top echelon of motor racing, Hill worked out a deal with Jo Bonnier to race his Maserati 250F in the French Grand Prix.
At the fast Reims street circuit located in the Champagne region, Hill finished an impressive seventh in his F1 debut. His fellow American Shelby also made his F1 debut in this race but was DNF. Following the death of Luigi Musso in this race, Enzo entered a Formula 2 Dino for Hill in the German Grand Prix, and he finished ninth.
Tragedy struck again as another Ferrari driver, Peter Collins, crashed to his death. The unfortunate back-to-back fatalities forced Ferrari to promote Hill as a full-time driver; there was a battle to be won in the world championship.
The final two races of the season were at Monza and Morocco. Hill was third at the Temple of Speed. In the street race at Ain Diab, near Casablanca, he was ahead of his teammate Hawthorn by 20s late in the race.
This race was to produce the first English world champion. Stirling Moss had to win to take the crown and was on his way to take the chequered flag first. His rival Hawthorn had to finish no lower than second.
Hill was a frontrunner for most of his time in F1
So, it all came down to Hill being the deciding factor in the 1958 World Championship. He played the perfect wingman, and when the signal came from the pits, he allowed Hawthorn to sail by to take second in the race and first in the championship.
In the 1959 season, Hill took three podium finishes: France, Germany, and Italy. He was fourth in the championship.
He finished third in the second race of the 1960 season, the Monaco Grand Prix. His next podium finish would not come till the penultimate round in Parco Monza. On September 4, 1960, Hill entered the history books in more than one way.
His victory was the first American success in Grand Prix racing since Jimmy Murphy’s triumph in the 1921 French Grand Prix at Le Mans driving a Duesenberg.
It was also the last ever win in Formula 1 for a front-engine car. Hill was fifth in the championship.
Triumph and Tragedy
The 1961 season was a banner year for the mild-mannered Californian. He took part in seven of the eight rounds of the championship. The French Grand Prix, where Hill finished ninth, was the only race he did not score a podium finish.
He started the season in Monaco with a third-place finish; he stepped up to second place in the next round at Zandvoort. His first victory came in Round 3 at the daunting Spa-Francorchamps.
The British Grand Prix was the next race after the French Grand Prix. Hill was second in a Ferrari-dominated event behind von Trips and ahead of his fellow Californian Ginther.
Third place in Germany at the Nürburgring was followed by his second and final victory of the season in tragic circumstances at Monza. The race, in which a teenager from Mexico, Ricardo Rodriguez, qualified second on his Grand Prix debut for Enzo, was going to decide the 1961 World Championship between a pair of Commendatore’s pilots, von Trips and Hill.
Championship leader von Trips took pole, while Hill qualified fourth next to Ginther. On the opening lap, it was a Ferrari one-two-three, with Hill leading from Ginther, Rodriguez, Clark, and Brabham. Polesitter von Trips had dropped all the way back to sixth.
Mayhem at Monza
On the following lap, he was fighting back and approaching Parabolica while attempting to pass Clark. He made contact with his Lotus, and von Trips' 'Sharknose' Ferrari 156 was launched into the embankment with deadly consequences, killing not only the driver who was thrown back onto the track but also over a dozen spectators.
Hill would go on to win the race and, with it, become the first American world champion. Incredibly, Enzo did not enter his cars in the final race of the season, which was the home Grand Prix of his new world champion. Hill did manage to take a championship victory lap at Watkins Glen in a Ford!
He started the 1962 season with three straight podium finishes in the Netherlands, Monaco, and Belgium. He would not win a Formula 1 race again, and he left Ferrari before the season was over.
Before Hill’s departure from the Scuderia, the technical director Carlo Chiti had led a palace coup, which led to several Ferrari employees joining him at ATS. Hill joined the group, but the project never went anywhere.
His final victory came in his final race at Brands Hatch, the 1967 BOAC International 500, with Mike Spence at the wheel of Jim Hall’s Chaparral.
High Point for Hill
The man who won Le Mans, Sebring, and Formula 1 considered his best race as the 1965 Australian Grand at Longford in Tasmania, an event he did not even win.
His own words: “I was in a 2.5-litre Cooper belonging to Bruce McLaren and had a race-long battle with Jim Clark. Afterwards he complained—and I took it as a compliment—that he couldn’t get past, but he did, several times. We had a tremendous dice all race.”
In life after racing, Hill enjoyed a long association with his Santa Monica-based vintage car restoration business Hill & Vaughn. He was battling Parkinson’s disease in his final years and passed away on August 28, 2008. He was 81 years old.
Note: Mario Andretti is the USA's other F1 World Champion, but the motorsport great was born in Italy. As a child, he emigrated with his family to America and became citizens.
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