phil hill’s last laps

phil hill sits in the passenger seat of a maserati mc12 stradle

throughout last winter and spring, i was instrumental in the organization of an event for the western automotive journalists, the organization of which ron is president, called: waj media days.

it’s a conclave where waj members have the opportunity to drive the newest and best the world’s auto manufacturers have to offer.

for the last few years those events have been taking place here on the monterey peninsula.

not only do the members get to drive the vehicles – this year ranging from fords to chevys and kias to a bentley continental gt speed (only $220,000+) – on a designated route on public roadways, they also get to drive many of them (not the bentley) on mazda raceway laguna seca.

in addition to securing many of the vehicles the various manufacturers made available for the event, i was also instrumental in bringing several aftermarket companies so they can show off what they have to present.

besides pitching manufacturers to bring their products we were also working with many of them to sponsor lunches, dinners and cocktail parties.

one of the companies that we pitched to sponsor one of the cocktail parties was maserati, which was very eager to be a sponsor of the wednesday night cocktail party.

our contact with maserati, deb pollack, became very involved in organizing their party.

within a few days of all-but-inking the deal, deb asked if it would be ok if they could bring with them america’s only formula one champion: phil hill (yes. you’re right: mario andretti was a f-1 champion. but, mario was born in montona d'istria, italy! phil was born in miami, florida.).

phil’s first grand prix season was in 1958 and in that year he was driving for, you guessed it: maserati.

how could we refuse?

but, who in their right mind would want to refuse the opportunity to have a legend the likes of phil hill attend their soiree?

while researching phil for the party and trying to help deb and jeff ehoodin, also of maserati, find pictures of the great legend, i discovered that phil’s 81st birthday was going to be on the sunday, (april 20, 1927) before the wednesday (april 23, 2008) maserati cocktail party.

what could be better?

how about maserati convincing doug magnon, the head of the california chapter of “the maserati club” and owner of the riverside international automotive museum, to bring his maserati mc12 stradale (one of only 3 ever made) and having phil’s son, derek hill (an accomplished racer in his own right) drive it with his legendary father “riding shotgun” around the track (laguna seca) he helped to make famous?

this, my first media days, was surely set to be the best media days event waj, or any other automotive journalistic organization, ever staged!

even up to a couple of days prior to the party itself, we were not sure if phil would be able to attend because he was in an advanced state of parkinson’s disease.

because of phil’s ill health we did not even announce that he would be the guest of honor for what was shaping into the most memorable media days in waj history.

certainly, phil’s health was of the utmost importance. but you can imagine how apprehensive ron and i were in the days leading up to affair.

that anxiousness was dashed, however, on tuesday afternoon when i got a call from deb asking me to find a birthday cake.

phil was going to make it!

not that the news afforded me the time to worry about whether he was coming or not: i had a luncheon to organize, including a hyundai video presentation and sound system to arrange and set up. i did, however, have the luxury of taking a couple of drives across laureles grade, a wonderfully curvy road between california scenic highway 68 and carmel valley, with my new friend, alan galbraith, in a 2009 – very fast – (don’t ask me what model) corvette and a new dodge challenger.

why, with all my driving experiences and ability, was i not behind the wheel?

despite that fact that i write everything that ron issues as president of waj and performing more work than any other person – including ron – to make media days a success, i do not qualify to be a member of waj. so, as a non-member, i am not “qualified” to drive any of the cars.

not qualified!?!?

irony can be so ironic.

after catching a few rides with alan and breaking down the a/v equipment, i headed into monterey to retrieve phil’s birthday cake and get our ballroom at the embassy suites prepped for the maserati party.

maserati reception invitation

before long our hosts, deb and jeff, and our guests began to arrive.

soon thereafter, our guest of honor joined us.

phil hill, guest of honor

i’ve been fortunate to have met many racing legends in my life. not only have i shaken the hands of every person who has set land speed records over 500 mph (no. stan barrett was not one of them since the budweiser rocket car was a stunt conducted without official sanctioning, timed with inaccurate radar guns and was “timed” at a terminal velocity instead of over a timed mile!) and have met several other racing legends including: mickey thompson, dan gurney, al unser, don garlits and befriended several others who are renowned institutions at bonneville.

but, phil hill’s accomplishments and reputation of being “the gentleman racer” felt to me like a very special occasion.

after jeff made welcoming announcement and gave a special presentation to phil on the 50th anniversary of his first formula one season, i had an opportunity to briefly speak with our guest of honor.

l-r: deb pollack and jeff ehoodin of maserati

despite his poor health phil, still the gentleman racer he was always known to be, graciously spoke with several of us in attendance. he even indulged me in signing his picture in a 2005 bonneville nationals program.

in 1959 phil drove the mg ex181 streamliner powered by a 1506cc, 300 horsepower engine fueled with 86% methanol laced with nitrobenzene, acetone and sulfuric ether to a speed of 254.91 mph, which qualified phil as a member of the bonneville 200 mph club.

l-r: mg ex181 streamliner (phil's ride into the 2-club); socal speed shop lakester; the redhead streamliner (my ride into the 2-club) at 2007 goodwood festival

phil’s picture in the 200 mph club roster appears on page 50 of the program, top row, second from the left.

2005 bonneville nationals program, page 50

conversely: my picture in the roster appears on the facing page – 51 – bottom row second from the right: directly opposite of phil’s picture.

2005 bonneville nationals program, page 51

i love symmetry!

phil’s widow, alma, said if he can sign a check he can sign an autograph.

but, since he spent 30- to 45-seconds just signing ‘phil’ i said, “mr. hill that works for me. thank you very much for this honor!”

phil hill signs my 2005 bonneville nationals program

the following morning we all convened at laguna seca for track day.

except for a few very minor duties, i was able to just enjoy the day!

i may not have qualified to drive any of the cars on the track, but stuart langager of page one automotive – the company that provided most of the vehicles for media days and many of the test vehicles that ron gets on a weekly basis – allowed me to drive one of the mini coopers on the autocross course. i have to tell you: i was very impressed with my 6 laps on the short track and would seriously consider owning a mini despite its diminutive dimensions.

the first laps i was able to take in a passenger seat (with one of the “hooked on driving” instructors behind the wheel) on the track itself was in the audi r8.

wow!

what a ride!

the first time we dropped down the world famous “corkscrew” turn was like taking a ride in a rollercoaster, while the following turn – turn 9, one of the fastest turns on the track – was flat and fast because of the all-wheel-drive and general stability of the car.

i took a few more laps in an audi s5, a bmw m class and even took a docile 3 lap stint with ron in a lexus hybrid.

before the day was over i took an exciting few laps in a griggs racing mustang and 3 really fast laps in a roush 427r trak pak mustang with the owner of “hooked on driving”, david ray. these laps would prove to be the fastest of all the laps i took on that day as david really put the mustang through its paces.

after lunch, doug magnon brought his maserati mc12 into the paddock and phil took his place in the right hand seat.

as derek took his place in the driver’s seat and warmed up the engine, i quickly walked out to the flagstand at the start/finish line to get pictures of the duo on track, which in and of itself was a thrill.

phil hill, with son, derek, behind the wheel of the maserati mc12 stradle leaving pit row at laguna seca

three short, fast laps later, according to deb pollack, phil took his last checkered flag and he and derek returned to the paddock.

little did i know at the time just how historic the moment would be.

a couple of hours later, i was lucky enough to sit in the same seat phil was in earlier while doug drove me around the track in his mc12.

a few minutes later the track was closed and waj media days came to an end.

# # # # #

for the waj party during the pebble beach concours d’elegance, ron commissioned a friend of his, academy award nominated art director (raging bull) kirk axtell, to draw a commemorative poster for media days to be used as a means to collect donations for the group’s scholarship fund.

“captain” kirk did the artwork and i added the text, including the title, all of the logos for each of the manufacturers involved in media days and an acknowledgment that we “saluted” phil hill.

waj 2008 media days commemorative poster

in just a few days following concours (august 28, 2008) phil lost his battle with parkinson’s disease in a hospital here on the monterey peninsula, adjacent to pebble beach, where he won the pebble beach road races in 1950, 1951 and 1953.

he is survived by wife his alma, son derek, daughter vanessa, stepdaughter jennifer and four grandchildren.

phil hill’s memory, however, will live on for many of us as being the gentleman racer and one of the greatest drivers in history!

phil hill's final checkered flag

rick comes to town

(l-r) me, unnamed mazdaspeed girl and rick
photo courtesy of mazda

my friend, rick, was here a couple of weeks ago (yeah, i know: it’s about damn time!).

how great it was to hang with him for a few days!

rick (rrinnv to you geocachers) was my primary inspiration and driving-force (or driver) in building the final two rallies that i put together in nevada. rick and i spent untold hours in the deserts and mountains of northwestern nevada plotting, designing and refining the courses that we used in 2006 and 2007; the two best rallies that i have ever put together. not that the 2004 and 2005 were not good rallies. but, by the time he and i started working on the last two rallies i had refined them to the point that the concept was just about perfect. of course, there is always room for improvement. and i now know how to make the rally even better and more effective.

if it were not for rick there, most likely, would not have been rallies in 2006 and 2007! not only did rick invests hundreds of hours in crafting the courses, he also spent well over $1000 of his own money to make those rallies realities, only to have the gbes board of directors stick their collective middle finger at him!

gbes is now just (barely) a social group and, by the look of its website, out of the rally business. i’d be out of the rally business too if i put together a rally with fewer than a dozen entries, as witnessed by last june’s disastrous attempt at feminizing and taking all the competition out of what i spent years perfecting.

you get what you deserve!

but, enough of that crap!

lmp1 audi

rick came for the american le mans series finale races at mazda raceway laguna seca and there we did, indeed, spend most of the weekend courtesy of the good folks at mazdaspeed. thanks dean!

that's me kneeling down in front of a group of playboy bunnies and
spca mascots on pit row below the mazda vip suite
photo courtesy or rick

during the races, and a few days before rick arrived during a western automotive journalists event in san francisco, i was able to conduct interviews and gather sound effects for a story for ron’s radio show: wheel talk coast to coast.

hear it here.

as per usual, the racing was exciting at “mazda raceway laguna seca” (as a responsible journalist i am supposed to tell you that it is “mazda raceway laguna seca” and not just “laguna seca”) despite all the yellow (caution) flags due to crashes. but, if you’ve ever been to laguna, as most of the racers call it, you know that it is almost always exciting racing at the famous track. as far as road courses go, it is a fairly short track at just under 2 ¼ miles in length. but, with the track’s trademark corkscrew turn and hilly-terrain, it is quite a track on which to drive and compete!

in addition to the racing we got in some obligatory sightseeing around the cypress coast’s formidable scenery, rang the bell a few times and even got in a brief exploration, albeit a paved adventure, up robinson canyon that heads south, toward big sur, out of carmel valley’s mid-valley region. what a great road this is! the first half of the road winds through dense redwoods and up into rolling hills where, i am told, one can see wild boars.

View Larger Map

it was not as adventuresome as some or our previous journeys. but, it was fun nonetheless!

we were even able to find a quick geocache on one or our trips over “the grade” (laureles grade) between the valley and the track, which is just north of california scenic highway 68, between monterey and salinas. rick also logged my cache here at the pad: “when you’re a jet you’re a jet all the way!”

all too soon, rick headed back to his home in carson city and the wonderful state of nevada.

with “the silver state” being my second favorite state in the country, behind the beehive state (utah), you never know. i may end up back there some day and rick and i, and/or mark/ivan, and/or willy, and/or kathryn can continue our adventures.

my new, soon to be, short lived ultra-short hairstyle
photo courtesy of rick

kathryn comes to town

my friend, kathryn of reno, came to visit me for a few days last weekend.

very nice to see her again after so long.

actually, i did see her briefly back in march or april on a quick trip up to nevada. prior to that trip, the last time i saw kathryn was a couple of days before i moved to the coast. she, rick and helen and i sat above virginia city watching the 4th of july fireworks. that’s right: above virginia city! about 1000 feet above virginia city. interesting to see fireworks coming up at you instead of over your head.

i picked up kathryn at the san jose airport friday at a couple of minutes after 2. from there we headed over to giorgio’s on foxworthy for a great pizza before driving over to los gatos and then saratoga for a cup of coffee (tea for kathryn) at the big basin cafe then up hwy. 9 into the redwoods and big basin state park.

before long we were in santa cruz and heading south on rt. 1 on our way to the peninsula. by the time we reached monterey it was dark, giving kathryn an opportunity to see cannery row at night. we also grabbed the doc rickett’s crossing cache before heading east to carmel valley.

the next morning, after kathryn had the courage to try one of my cups of coffee (i started her off with 1-shot of espresso and 1-shot of water to about 10 ounces of 2%) and hanging out on the bench with the hummingbirds, we were off to big sur for waterfalls, more redwoods and a few more caches for kathryn.

on the way back we stopped off in carmel for a drink at the hog’s breath and a cruise through town to grab a cup of coffee at ron’s favorite coffee house before hitting the grocery store for dinner. i made some kind of stir fried beef dish with noodles and cookies for desert.

on sunday we were off to the monterey bay aquarium. but, not before coffee and hummingbirds, this time with a blacktail deer for good measure.
although we had passes for the aquarium (thanks phil and linda!), we walked in like we owned the place. hey, if you look like you know what you’re doing nobody questions you. i wish i would have remembered to grab the tripod from the car before we got there as it was just too dark and i had to use a really slow shutter speed, which made the shots a little blurry. i had a ray swim directly up to where i was standing. that should have been a great shot but. . .

on the way back to the car we stopped to grab a cache across from the american tin cannery then drove over to seaside for mexican food. after taqueria-style tacos we headed over to del rey oaks for a geocache hidden in an industrial park near one of the secluded break areas. after finding the cache and enjoying a dessert of cookies we were back on the caching/sightseeing tour.

back to monterey and asilomar.

kathryn is actually enjoying lattes.

we left the coastal road and came up lighthouse to frank’s coffee house, pacific grove juice and java. this time kathryn had them step up the coffee content to two shots; i had a triple.

then we headed over to pebble beach for a cache or two and gawking at houses then back home. i don’t remember what, if anything, we had for dinner on sunday.

after coffee (another double for kathryn) and communing with the hummingbirds we were all too soon off to san jose with a quick stop at mazda raceway laguna seca and a quite drive to the airport.

friday afternoon a package came for me from kathryn. it was a hummingbird feeder. it’s only been up for two days and i already have a war going on with several hummers who want to take control of the feeder. i never realized how territorial they are. that must be why they need all the energy: to fend-of the other hummers.

it seems i have more visitors coming soon: willy just told me he’ll be in town this coming weekend and rick is coming in october for the alms race at mazda raceway laguna seca.