Philip Toll Hill Jr. , (born April 20 , 1927 in Miami, Florida ) is the only American -born driver to win the Formula One driving championship.
Raised in Santa Monica, California , where he still lives at the time of writing this, Phil Hill began racing cars at an early age, going to England as a Jaguar trainee in 1949 and signing with Enzo Ferrari 's team in 1956
He made his debut in the French Grand Prix at Reims France in 1958 driving a Maserati . That same year, he won the 24 hours of Le Mans with Belgian team mate Olivier Gendebien (1924-1998), driving for most of the night in horrific rainy conditions. He and Gendebien would go on to win the famous endurance race two more times
In 1961 , Phil Hill won the 24 hours of Le Mans again and the Formula One driving championship for the Ferrari team, although somewhat due to the death of his teammate and main championship contender Wolfgang Von Trips . After leaving Ferrari at the end of 1962, he continued in Formula One for a few more years until he switched to sports car racing with Ford and Jim Hall 's Chaparral racing cars.
Phil Hill has the distinction of having won the first and last races of his driving career, the final victory driving for Chaparral in the "BOAC 500" at Brands Hatch in England in 1967.
In 1991 , he was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame .
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