Overshadowed by his fellow Americans Mario Andretti and AJ Foyt it was Phil Hill who became America’s first World Champion after the death of the popular German driver Wolfgang von Trips.
Born in Florida his family would soon move to Santa Monica, California. Hill soon immersed himself in things automotive and became quite adept at the mechanical side of cars. He was soon assisting local racers and when one of them was injured he was chosen to replace the driver. He continued to race cars some of which he had built himself. His first major win came at the inaugural Pebble Beach road race in 1950, Winning the race despite losing his clutch and the majority of his brakes. Having come to the attention of the long-time U.S. Ferrari distributor Luigi Chinetti he began racing Ferrari including the one sold to him at half price by the distributor. For the next four years he continued to race sports cars, sometimes teamed with Carroll Shelby. In 1956 after racing private Ferraris he was promoted to the works team.
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