Jim Sitz Remembers Phil Hill

Sixty years ago this week, Phil Hill won the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, and the World Championship. Photo by Jim Sitz

Hill in thought at the Times Grand Prix, October 16, 1960. I have no idea what he was thinking, but probably the poor performance of the von Neumann Ferrari was foremost in his mind. It was not improved or quick enough to deal with the new Maserati Birdcage and a pair of Lotus 19s driven by Moss and Gurney.

Hill and Harold. There seems to be a little disagreement between the tense driver and patient mechanic, Mr. Harold Broughton. The mechanic got his start tuning Ferraris by repairing body work for damaged VWs arriving at von Neumann’s dealership in 1957. Eleanor von Neumann had just gotten the new Testa Rossa, fresh from the Goodwood Tourist Trophy, but Hill was having some trouble getting it up to speed and asked Harold to pump up the tires even more. So the sweet natured man (another life time friend till his death) got the portable compressor and fiddled around with the gauge, pretending to do just that. Phil went out and came back faster and satisfied!

With Cooper, Riverside GP, November 20, 1960. Hill had to drive a Cooper since Ferrari did not send any factory cars. He found a ride in a Cooper entered by Yeoman Credit Racing, teamed with Tony Brooks, Oliver Gendebien and Henry Taylor. Phil was not happy with the seat, and had the mechanics fabricate a new one before the race. Tony Robinson, chief mechanic, was not amused. That evening, I happened to be at the Yeoman garage, and heard Robinson refer to “…the new throne for his Majesty.” Phil finished 6th. Photo by Jim Sitz

Phil has trouble getting off the line at Torrey Pines in the four cylinder Ferrari Mondial, s/n 0438 M, January 14, 1956. Manny (or Manning) Post, a friend of von Neumann, was listed at the entrant for Hill’s Ferrari Mondial at Torrey Pines. For some reason, von Neumann let him ‘enter’ the car in his name. Not sure why. Porfirio Rubirosa brought that Ferrari out west and ran the September 4th event at Santa Barbara in 1954. He got beat by Ernie McAfee in a Siata 208, and sold it to von Neumann. I was there for the Santa Barbara race and walked into pit area. There was the Mondial in dark blue and next to it was the gorgeous Zsa Zsa Gabor. It was all just stunning and did not know what to look at first. Well, I had just turned 16 at the time.

In his early days Phil was better known as a Jaguar driver, using his own car and those of importer Charles Hornburg. But he ran his own Ferrari at Golden Gate and Torrey Pines in the summer of 1952. After that, he was determined to become and remain a Ferrari man, even in 1954 when John Wyer offered him a works Aston for Sebring. By the next year Hill had Ferrari owners all over America asking him to drive. He was real Hired Gun and drove for Allen Guiberson, George Tilp, and John von Neumann. Here he is out on the course with the von Neumann Mondial 0438MD at Torrey Pines January 14, 1956

The weekend of January 14-15 was a busy but overall unsuccessful one for Hill and von Neumann. And confusing for Ferrari historians. On Saturday Phil drove the Pinin Farina Mondial 0438 M, number 82, but failed to finish. On Sunday he drove the von Neumann 750 Monza, s/n 0582 M, which is seen here harassing the TR2 of Mary Bishop. I recall Hill being a bit testy that day, and again he DNF’d. Thankfully our friends the late Mr. Lynch and David Seielstad wrote a three part history of the von Neumann Ferraris for Cavallino numbers 124, 125, and 126.

Pebble Beach SCCA National April 20-22, 1956. Hill in the ex Fangio Ferrari 860 (0604 M) which won at Sebring a month earlier and now owned by von Neumann. Hill had trailered the 860 from Florida to California right after the win at Sebring, parking it overnight in Texas; times were quite different then, and he left it on the highway on the trailer behind the station wagon. No big deal, as Hill told me of that journey. Phil took second to Shelby in a Monza, but it was the last event at Pebble after death of Ernie McAfee.

January 14, 1956. Phil and Paul Richard Ginther prepare the von Neumann Ferrari Mondial 0438MD for the six hour endurance run at Torrey Pines, located just outside of San Diego. Phil had won there in the summer of 1952 driving his own Ferrari 212. At left, note the new loaner Mercedes 220 provided to Hill by Max Hoffman, who was trying to create interest in the brand.

At Torrey Pines, Henry Pickett and friend David Sykes give a hand tuning the Mondial 500. Looks like Phil has lost something. The car had been owned by Porfirio Rubirosa, who ran it at Santa Barbara in 1954. It was then acquired by John von Neumann, who painted the original dark blue car Ferrari red and drove it to the next event.

Despite having a contract for the 1956 season with the Ferrari factory, Hill chose to run this Sebring with friend George Tilp of New Jersey. He began the season in Argentina with a works car finishing a fine 2nd to Stirling Moss and went on to win the Swedish round in August. His place in the Ferrari squad in Florida was taken by another American, Jim Kimberly, who partnered with de Portago in the works 857 Monza. I think that he chose to wave the U.S. flag in this round, much the way Cunningham had done when his cars won the 12 hour grind in past 3 years with U.S. drivers Phil Walters and John Fitch. The idea was that Phil and Tilp would then travel to Europe in their own car, doing very well in non-championship events and making other privateers jealous, thinking the American team was getting special attention from Modena.

“So, Sitz…You made it!”
Just a month before Sebring in 1956, I saw Phil at our local SCCA event at Palm Springs. It was cold and windy, and we shared a coffee behind the von Neumann transporter. He suddenly asked, “Are you going to Sebring?” I hesitated, but had to say that would be one expensive trip and my first one out of California. He gave me that rather annoyed look and said, “Sitz, you seriously wanna be a journalist or not?” Phil went on to inform me it would be the first time all the big teams would would enter, whereas before just Aston Martin or Lancia had done so. It was the best advice I ever received. I was just 17, finished with school and Phil’s urging gave me the confidence to take a plane to Florida. It paid off in promotion for myself, as I sent photos to several different magazines like Motor Italia, Motor Revue and a Swedish magazine.
I arrived in Sebring some days before the 12-hour grind, and found my way to the top of the pits to get an overall look of the action. I spotted Phil and shouted his name. He looked up at me and I snapped his smile with my new wonderful Hasselblad. “So, Sitz…you made it!” yelled Phil.
It seems to me that afterwards Phil decided I was no longer just a crazy teen age kid and my arrival in Europe the next season did not come as surprise, and my work became known to organizers of the Grand Prix events. Thanks Phil…

October 15, 1950 Don Parkinson ahead of Hill at Carrell Speedway, located 10 miles southwest of Los Angeles. Parkinson was Hill’s brother-in-law. “Parkinson worked for his famous family of architects in Los Angeles. His dad had the best cars prewar: Alfas, BMW, Mercedes SSK. Don Parkinson got his own Jag XK120 late in 1949; it was silver grey and provided the car (and himself) for a Road & Track road test, doing the speed runs. I watched him win at Palm Springs in 1951, beating his brother-in-law Phil, who had a factory car built for Le Mans that year.” My friend Strother MacMinn was the photographer, courtesy of Bob Ames and Dale LaFollette.

A rare shot of Phil in Basil Panzer’s Allard at Pikes Peak, September, 1950, taken by Strother MacMinn. It was a tough car to drive. Many years later, Phil was writing a series of articles for Road & Track on historic racing cars. I suggested something more light hearted, like maybe driving the Allard at Pikes Peak. He snapped back, ignoring the attempt at humor, and said, “So, Sitz, you think that was fun?”

After Sebring 1954 where Phil drove a Ferrari 4.5 with Bill Spears, Phil decided to retire from racing. He was living on baby food and told me he had an ulcer at the time, or maybe it was just nerves. But he couldn’t resist the lure of racing, and on July 4th showed up at Torrey Pines with Dorothy Deen’s Triumph TR 2. I caught this photo of Phil, and when I look at it today I am amazed at how frail he appears. He drove anyway. Sitz photo, courtesy IMRRC.

Forty years later I asked him why he drove a lowly TR 2 at Torrey. He told me he did not want to make a big splash with a Ferrari, after a four month layoff since Sebring, just wanting to put a toe back in the waters before going to Mexico with a Ferrari 4.5. I also asked him if car owner and motor tycoon Dorothy Deen (whom I later married) insisted he drive. “Well Jim, you know how she is, she twisted my arm.” This photo was taken by Bob Rolofson.

By the end of the year Phil was looking much better. This photo came to me by way of Stephen Payne, whose father Phillip was a mechanic who worked at Roger Barlow’s dealership along with Phil. The Lacoste Crocodile was a favorite of Phil’s but always reminded me of the cartoon in theNew Yorker where a crododile walks into a men’s clothing store and asks the salesman for a shirt with a tiny man on it.

At the end of 1955, I was working at Drewry Color Photo lab in Glendale California, on West Colorado St, right next door to the offices at Road & Track. On Saturday, November 12, I could hear the cars practicing for the SCCA event at the Glendale Grand Central Airport, about a mile away. My boss, Duane Sterling, was a great guy and when he saw how enthused I was about the race, he said, “Take off!” I quickly found my way to the paddock area where I found Phil and mechanic Henry Pickett, working on the Ferrari 750 Monza, 0492M, driven by owner John von Neumann. He looked so much happier now that he was driving Ferraris again, in this case, those two Monzas owned by Johnny von Neumann, who was now the West Coast Ferrari distributor. As Michael Lynch and David Seielstad reported in Cavallino # 125, von Neumann brought two Monzas to that event. He drove 0492 M to sixth overall, while the other similar Monza 750, serial number 0582 M, was driven by Phil to first overall. Sitz photo, courtesy IMRRC.