Limit, The (35 page)

A number of motor sport historians were kind enough to field my unschooled questions. I benefited enormously from discussions with Doug Nye, Tim Considine, Michael T. Lynch, and Wallace A. Wyss. David Aronson read the manuscript in a late stage and offered valuable suggestions and corrections. I would like to make special mention of Thomas O'Keefe, who helped in more ways than I can mention here. His insights and explanations enriched every chapter. Robert Daley, who reported on many of the critical races for the
New York Times
, generously shared his thoughts and memories. Denise Mccluggage, a correspondent for
Competition Press
and the
New York Herald Tribune
, helped me better understand the story's ironies and contradictions. I stood on their shoulders, or tried to, anyway.

Mark Patrick of the Revs Institute in Naples, Florida, greatly enhanced my research by steering me to dozens of books and publications I would not have otherwise found. It was a great pleasure to walk among those stacks.

I would like to acknowledge the help and friendship of Bruce Kessler, one of the few drivers to get out alive, who recalled his racing years with honesty and humor over the course of two long and enjoyable lunches.

My interest in Phil Hill and Wolfgang von Trips began with a book of photographs given to me in the
New York Times
newsroom. Fittingly, this project ended with a selection of photographs that hopefully tell the story visually. Sincerest thanks go to Jennifer Eckstein, a trusted photo editor (and now art consultant) who searched, sifted, and evaluated the images.

Lastly, I would like to thank my parents, Peter and Ann Cannell, for their support and encouragement over my many years as a reporter and editor.

XII
“This was a duel in the sun
”: “World Title for P. Hill,”
Times
(London), September 11, 1961.

XIV
“an age of anxiety
”: “A Champion's Secret Thoughts,”
Sports Illustrated
, November 6, 1961.

2
“It was the first time I ever struck my father
”: Pat Jordan,
The Best Sports Writing of Pat Jordan
(New York: Persea, 2008), 201.

2
“I was awful
”: “Phil Hill, a Portrait in Speed,”
Sports Car Journal
, August 1957.

3
“Jerry and I hated to let the other kids see us
”: William Nolan,
Phil Hill: Yankee Champion
(New York: G. P. Putnam, 1962), 19.

4
“Be a good little soldier
”: Ibid.

4
“I remember going down one of those hills
”: Tim Considine,
American Grand Prix Racing
(St. Paul, MN: Motorbooks International, 1997), 87.

4
“I was born a car nut”: Flat Out: Formula One in the Sixties
, DVD, 2006.

5
“It was as if I was trying to divorce myself
”: Phil Hill interviewed by Bill Pollack for the Petersen Automotive Museum, November 19, 2001.

5
“Phil was in awe of that car
”: George Hearst Jr., interview with author, January 29, 2009.

5
“It had only 8,000 miles on it
”: “A Champion's Secret Thoughts,”
Sports Illustrated
, November 6, 1961.

6
“I peeled back the curtains
”: Nolan,
Phil Hill: Yankee Champion
, 22.

6
“I learned a hell of a lot
”: “Phil Hill and the Coast Crowd,”
Sports Illustrated
, March 16, 1959.

6
“I was enthralled with cars
”: “A Champion's Secret Thoughts,”
Sports Illustrated
, November 6, 1961.

7
“I've always expressed myself
”: Ibid.

8
“There was no problem
”: Ibid.

10
“a bust
”: “Phil Hill and the Coast Crowd,”
Sports Illustrated
, March 16, 1959.

10
“From the time I was a little boy
”: “Too Slow, You Lose—Too Fast . . . ,”
Newsweek
, July 17, 1961.

11
“My parents were apprehensive
”: “A Champion's Secret Thoughts,”
Sports Illustrated
, November 6, 1961.

12
“I was just a mechanic's helper
”: Nolan,
Phil Hill: Yankee Champion
, 27.

12
“I could see so much classic beauty
”: Ibid., 29.

12
“the typical American car of the day
”: “A Champion's Secret Thoughts,”
Sports Illustrated
, November 6, 1961.

13
“I'd stop to talk at length
”: Nolan,
Phil Hill: Yankee Champion
, 29.

13
“Attendance was heavy for a while
”: “A Champion's Secret Thoughts,”
Sports Illustrated
, November 6, 1961.

14
“Certain guys had the touch
”: John Lamm, interview with author, November 14, 2008.

15
“I loved those days
”: “A Champion's Secret Thoughts,”
Sports Illustrated
, November 6, 1961.

15
“even though they told me
”: “High Speed, High Brow,”
Esquire
, June 1961.

17
“He found himself
”: Doug Nye, interview with author, October 31, 2008.

17
“Every day was this ritual
”: Phil Hill interviewed by Bill Pollack for the Petersen Automotive Museum, November 19, 2001.

17
“During that final month
”: Nolan,
Phil Hill: Yankee Champion
, 33.

20
“The limit of my ambition
”: “Obituaries: Phil Hill,”
Telegraph
(UK), September 4, 2008.

21
“I drove with a thrusting kind of fever
”: “Long Lead at Pebble Beach,”
Jaguar World
, November/December 1996.

22
“The first Jags had notoriously bad brakes
”: Phil Hill interviewed by Bill Pollack for the Petersen Automotive Museum, November 19, 2001.

22
“He was driving the wheels off that car
”: Bill Pollack, interview with author, January 26, 2010.

22
“That was my breakthrough race
”: Considine,
American Grand Prix Racing
, 85.

23
“Those aren't my mother's lips
”: “The Winner Who Walked Away,”
Sports Illustrated
, March 22, 1976.

25
“I look for the fighter
”: William Nolan,
Phil Hill: Yankee Champion
(New York: G. P. Putnam, 1962), 39.

26
“The place seemed like a musty tomb
”: Brock Yates,
Enzo Ferrari: The Man, the Cars, the Races, the Machine
(New York: Doubleday, 1991), 150.

28
“a promising failure
”: Richard Williams,
Enzo Ferrari
(London: Yellow Jersey Press, 2001), 134.

28
“small, red and ugly
”: Dennis Adler and Luigi Chinetti Jr.,
Ferrari: The Road from Maranello
(New York: Random House, 2006), 3.

28
“an ambitious dream
”: Williams,
Enzo Ferrari
, 126.

28
“the song of the twelve cylinders
”: Enzo Ferrari,
My Terrible Joys
(London: H. Hamilton, 1963) 41.

28
“I build an engine
”: “Count Crash,”
Der Spiegel
, May 18, 1960.

30
“He used his position as purveyor
”: Mike Covello,
Standard Catalog of Ferrari 1947–2003
(Cincinnati: Krause, 2003), 31.

34
“It's smooth, but a big sound
”: Tim Considine, interview with author, January 25, 2010.

34
“The 12-inch finned aluminum brakes
”: William Nolan,
Phil Hill: Yankee Champion
(New York: G. P. Putnam, 1962), 40–41.

34
“With Ferrari you not have to worry
”: “A New World Champion,”
Automobile Quarterly
, 1962.

36
“One day we were chasing
”: Phil Hill interviewed by Bill Pollack for the Petersen Automotive Museum, November 19, 2001.

37
“This race will kill us all
”: “The New King of the Mountains,”
Sports Illustrated
, December 6, 1954.

39
“It came home to me
”: “Sundown of a Champion,”
Saturday Evening Post
, May 8, 1965.

39
“Most of this stemmed from my basic uncertainty about life
”: Nolan,
Phil Hill: Yankee Champion
, 45.

40
“How do you factor in a burro
”: Gregg Leary, “Reviewed:
La Carrera Panamericana: The World's Greatest Road Race!
”
http://automotive.speedtv.com/article/reviewed-la-carrera-panamericana-the-worlds-greatest-road-race-by-johnny-ti/P2
. Accessed February 9, 2009.

40
“We saw Ascari's mechanic rushing toward us
”: Nolan,
Phil Hill: Yankee Champion
, 46.

42
“They were a band of brothers
”: Doug Nye, interview with author, October 31, 2008.

44
“We were so fast on some of the stages
”: “50 Years Ago: Mercedes Celebrates a Sensational One-Two Victory in the Carrera Panamericana Rally,”
http://www.schwab-kolb.com/dc000072.htm
.

45
“If ever there was a racing event
”: Leary, “Reviewed:
La Carrera Panamericana: The World's Greatest Road Race!
”

46
“That might be
”: “Le Mans As It Was,”
Road & Track
, October 1978.

46
“I began to brood
”: Nolan,
Phil Hill: Yankee Champion
, 52.

47
“It looked like a toy tumbling in front of me
”: Phil Hill interviewed by Bill Pollack for the Petersen Automotive Museum, November 19, 2001.

48
“Richie comes staggering in
”: “Phil Hill: A Portrait in Speed,”
Sports Car Journal
, August 1957.

49
“He'd yell ‘LEFT!' or ‘RIGHT!'
”: Ibid.

50
“I was mentally considering
”: Nolan,
Phil Hill: Yankee Champion
, 56.

50
“We knew how deadly this spot was
”: Ibid.

50
“be driving until I die
”: “Racers Challenge Death in Mexico,”
Life
, December 7, 1953.

52
“As I got towards the car
”: Nigel Roebuck,
Chasing the Title: Fifty Years of Formula 1
(Sparkford, UK: Haynes, 2000), 57.

53
“It was hopeless of course
”: Ibid.

57
“the strain of inactivity
”: William Nolan,
Phil Hill: Yankee Champion
(New York: G. P. Putnam, 1962), 61.

57
“So despite my qualms
”: Phil Hill,
Ferrari: A Champion's View
(Deerfield, IL: Dalton Watson, 2004), 57.

57
“It was so dangerous back then
”: “Phil Hill: Formula One Racing Driver Who Won the 1961 World Title,”
Independent
(UK), August 30, 2008.

58
“He is not wild
”: “The New King of the Mountains,”
Sports Illustrated
, December 6, 1954.

58
“A car which goes off the road
”: “Unscathed Auto Winner Mashes Hand in a Taxi,”
New York Times
, November 24, 1954.

58
“Rubirosa wouldn't even sit
”: “Phil Hill: Formula 1 Racing Driver Who Won the 1961 World Title,”
Independent
(UK), August 30, 2008.

59
“No blood
”: “The New King of the Mountains,”
Sports Illustrated
, December 6, 1954.

60
“I'll settle for second place
”: “Adventure in Mexico,”
Autocar
, December 3, 1954.

60
“Road racers are like roulette players
”: “The New King of the Mountains,”
Sports Illustrated
, December 6, 1954.

61
“I was finally able to come to terms
”: “Too Slow, You Lose—Too Fast . . . ,”
Newsweek
, July 17, 1961.

61
“I don't want them to get too fond of me
”: Enzo Ferrari,
My Terrible Joys
(London: H. Hamilton, 1963), 71.

62
“Whoever falters here
”: Denis Jenkinson,
Fangio
(London: Michael Joseph, 1973), 77.

63
“Be calm
”: Cesare De Agostini,
Castellotti: A Stolen Heart
(Milan: Giorgio Nada Editore, 2002), 29.

63
“You
have to get straight back
”: Xavier Chimits et al,
Grand Prix Racers: Portraits of Speed
(St. Paul, MN: Motorbooks International, 2008), 18.

63
“His eyes seemed to stare at me
”: De Agostini,
Castellotti: A Stolen Heart
, 38.