it happened here
Photo:
Julian
P.
Graham/Loon
Hill
Studios
Historic Pebble Beach Concours
56 C A R M E L M A G A Z I N E • S U M M E R / F A L L 2 0 1 4
P
hilip Toll Hill, at age 23, had his first major
racing victory in 1950 when he won the
Pebble Beach Cup, driving the latest Jaguar
XK120 spor ts car that he shipped from
England. Driving an Alfa Romeo in 1951, Hill
won the Del Monte Cup, and he won the event
again driving a Ferrari in 1953 and 1955. After
par ticipating in the Road Races at Pebble Beach,
Hill's career boomed: three times he won the
24-hour race at Le Mans, France, and he also
won the 12-hour endurance race at Sebring, FL.
His crowning victor y was being the first
American driver to win the Formula One
World Championship in 1961. He was a com-
mentator for ABC "Wide World of Spor ts,"
wrote for Road and Track magazine and had a
classic car restoration business. Hill cherished
cars and won Best of Show at the Pebble Beach
Concours d'Elegance in 1955 and 1977. For
close to 40 years, he was a judge at the
Concours, until his death in 2008 at the age of
81. To honor Hill's memory, The Pebble Beach
Company Foundation has created scholarships
and "The Phil Hill Cup."
—Barbara Briggs-Anderson, curator of the "Julian
P. Graham Historical Photographic Collection"
Who: Phil Hill
Where: Pebble Beach
When: 1955
