Phil Hill

1927 - 2008

Hill is known to enthusiasts as the first,and only, American-born driver to win the Formula 1 World Championship (Mario Andretti won the title in 1978 but was born in Italy, even though he was and is an American citizen). Hill won the title in 1961, driving a Ferrari 156 “Sharknose” mid-engined racer for the factory. That year Hill battled the entire year with his teammate, Wolfgang von Trips, but captured the crown during the second to last race of the season when von Trips was fatally injured in a crash at Monza; one that also took the lives of 14 race fans. With the manufacturers’ and drivers’ titles wrapped up after that awful day, Ferrari opted out of the last race of the season (at Hill’s “home” track of Watkins Glen), leaving Tifosi to believe the Scuderia sat out the last race out of respect for their fallen driver and the lost spectators, while Hill and others wondered if Ferrari simply wanted to save money having already captured the title. Like most Ferrari lore, perhaps not knowing the real story is the best story of all. What is known is that Phil Hill was one of the best racing drivers the world has ever seen. In addition to his landmark F1 championship, he was the first American to take an overall win at the 24 Hours of Le Mans (1958, driving Ferrari’s 250 Testa Rossa with Olivier Gendebien), the first driver to record a sub-9-minute lap at the Nürburgring, and one of only a handful of drivers who have won the 12 Hours of Sebring three times overall. Hill was successful, if not a winner, in nearly everything he drove. And he drove the sorts of cars that most of us have on our bookshelves in 1:12 scale form. Cars like the aforementioned Ferrari 250 TR, Ferrari 156, Ford GT 40, various Chaparrals, Cobras, Cooper-Climax T73s, Cooper T70s, and the McLaren M1.

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Chuck Daigh

1923 - 2008

Chuck broke into Grand Prix racing through the Reventlow Scarab team, by  virtue of being one of the resident engineers. Starting out working for Bill Stoppe and codriving in the Mexican Road Race Lincolns, Chuck went on to run stock car teams, raced in numerous southern California events and participated in six World Championship races,and one non-Championship Formula One race. Following the 1960 season, Chuck went on to contest races in the International Formula league, driving the previous year's front-engined Scarab. He finished eighth at Goodwood contesting the Lavant Cup, and finished seventh in an attempt at the International trophy . He had a successful career in sportscars, winning the Times Grand Prix in 1958, Sebring, Nassau and attempted to qualify three times for the Indy 500.

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Skip Hudson

1930 - 1998

Skip, a high school friend of Dan Gurney‘s from Riverside, began his racing career as a hotrodder and ran a '29 roadster at Bonneville as the S.Hudson and D.Gurney C Modified Roadster. He then got into sportscar racing with a Porsche 356, then a Corvette, John Edgar’s Alfa Romeo Guilietta Spyder and first went to Sebring 1958 driving the Marshall Motors' Porsche 550 RS.  He also drove Ferrari at Pomona, Riverside, Laguna Seca, Nassau and Daytona. He won the U2 class at Sebring in 1961. At Daytona in 1963, he. along with Gurney and MacDonald, drove Cobra's for Carroll Shelby. Chuck Jones signed him as a driver; first in the Maserati 151 coupe, then in the Chaparral. Other memorable rides included Daytona in a Corvette, a Lola T70 in the USRRC and Can Am. He also drove NASCAR stockers at Riverside on 4 occasions.

Sports car legend Carroll Shelby called him "the fastest American to ever go over and race a Grand Prix car;" He scored a podium finish in his very first Formula One World Championship Grand Prix start (a first by an American) and was also a winner of the world famous Le Mans 24 Hour endurance race; Formula One legend and two-time World Champion Jim Clark considered him to be his hero. Other racing successes included a start at the Indy 500, wins in sportscars at the Nurburgring, Monza and in a variety of SCCA events.

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Richie Ginther

1930 - 1989

Riding with Phil Hill in the Mexican Road race, winning in southern California in an Austin Healey and later in the Von Neumann Ferrari's, Richie combined racing with a full time job as a mechanic. Ferrari gave him a chance in Formula One where he performed well, moving to BRM in 1962 as teammate to Graham Hill' then to Honda and AAR. After attempting to qualify at Indy in 1967, he retired.

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Ronnie Bucknum

1936 - 1992

Ronnie campaigned his own Porsche Speedster with enough success to gain the attention, among others, of Chic Vandagriff, then head of a growing sports car dealership, Hollywood Sports Cars. Ronnie just dominated West Coast racing, first in an Austin Healey 3000 in 1962 followed by the newly introduced MGB in 1963. In those two years Ronnie won 52 of 56 events. Honda then selected him for their newly formed Formula One team. From there he went to Ford, driving GT40's at LeMans, then to Indianapolis three times plus wins at Sebring and in the Trans Am series.

Revson began racing while at Cornell University, first in a Morgan, then in a Formula Jr. In 1968 he was part of the new Javelin racing program established by American Motors. At the first Trans-Am Series attempt, the 12 Hours of Sebring, Revson and Skip Scott drove to a 12th overall and took 5th in their class. In 1970 he teamed with Steve McQueen to place second in the 12 Hours of Sebring. Also in 1970, Revson was teammates with Mark Donohue in the Penske Racing AMC factory-team Javelins in the SCCA Trans Am. Revson joined McLaren in 1971 and became the first American to win the Can-Am Championship. That same season he finished second in the Indianapolis 500 after posting the fastest qualifying time. He competed in the Indy 500 each year from 1969 - 1973. In 1972, Revson was named to the McLaren Formula One team. He remained with the team for two years, winning the British Grand Prix and Canadian Grand Prix in 1973, before moving to Shadow in 1974. He is the last American born driver to win a Formula One race (Mario Andretti, who won in later years, is a naturalized American). During practice for the 1974 South African Grand Prix in Kyalami, he was killed as a result of suspension failure on his Shadow DN3.

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Ken Miles

1918 - 1966

Moving from England, where Ken had raced Bugatti's, Alfa's and Alvis', to southern California, he then won 14 straight races in a row with his MG Special. He became a key member of the Shelby operation, helping to develop the Cobra and winning at Daytona and Sebring in a GT40. He was unfortunately killed while testing the Ford J car at Riverside. Ken was inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame in 2001.

Jerry drove a Sunbeam Alpine at Sebring in 1963 and then went to develop and race the Cheetah with Bill Thomas. He then hooked up with Ford and had a great career in the Trans Am, winning the Trans Am Championship in 1967. Later he moved into Pontiacs in the Trans Am and was unfortunately killed at the Elkhart Lake Tran Am in 1970. 

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