[Book Review] Phil Hill: A Driving Life

Phil Hill: A Driving Life

I could use many words here to relate one simple fact: You need this book. For the skeptics among you, however, hereโ€™s a few of those words: One could easily say this is simply a collection of the salon articles Phil wrote for Road & Track, but itโ€™s much more than that. They are here, of course, tales of the many memorable cars he profiled for the magazine, but thatโ€™s only the core.

They are accompanied by photography from his long-time collaborator John Lamm, one of Americaโ€™s top photojournalists, grand images of both Phil and the cars, embellished further with select pictures from back in the day. While Philโ€™s analyses of the cars are the heart of this exercise,ย  he also addresses a number of his contemporaries who โ€œdidnโ€™t make it,โ€ then caps those reflections with singular tributes to two of his favorites, Olivier Gendebien and Dan Gurney.

I could go on, but all you really need to know is that this book is available for $75 (ยฃ49.99) at enthusiast bookstores or ย  direct from publisher David Bull at www.bullpublishing.com. There are also 300 copies of a numbered Publisherโ€™s Edition signed by a handful of Philโ€™s favorites, his wife Alma, Gurney, Mario Andretti, and Jim Hall. If you want one, youโ€™d better order quickly.