Eddie Hill
Hill talking to fans and signing autographs in 1986
Nationality	United States
Date of Birth	March 6, 1936 (1936-03-06) (age 72)
Retired	1999
NHRA Top Fuel
Years active	1963 - 1966, 1985-1999
Teams	self-owned
Best finish	1st in 1993
Championship titles
	12 national titles
Awards
	ranked 14th on NHRA's Top 50 drivers (2001) inducted in the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America (2002) Drag Racing Hall of Fame (1978) Texas Motor Sports Hall of Fame (2007)

Eddie Hill (born March 6, 1936) is a retired American racer. Events 1079 - Omar Khayyám completes the Iranian calendar. 1454 - Thirteen Years' War: Delegates of Year 1936 ( MCMXXXVI) was a Leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. "NHRA" redirects here For other uses see NHRA (disambiguation. Top-Fuel Racing is a class of Drag racing in which the cars are run on a maximum of 90% Nitromethane and about 10% Methanol (also known as racing alcohol The Motorsports Hall of Fame of America is a Hall of Fame and museum in Novi Michigan for American motorsports legends Events 1079 - Omar Khayyám completes the Iranian calendar. 1454 - Thirteen Years' War: Delegates of Year 1936 ( MCMXXXVI) was a Leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. He has raced motorcycles and drag boats, but he is best known for his land drag racing career. As the name suggests drag boat racing is a form of Drag racing which takes place on water rather than land Drag racing is a competition in which objects compete to be the first to cross a set finish mark usually from a dead stop and in a straight line ^[1] His racing career began as a land drag racer in 1955 in a home-built dragster in Texas. Drag racing is a competition in which objects compete to be the first to cross a set finish mark usually from a dead stop and in a straight line After racing on the local and regional levels for several years, he became a full-time drag racer in 1960. He raced at national open competition and Top Fuel events, until he retired after a fire in 1966. Top-Fuel Racing is a class of Drag racing in which the cars are run on a maximum of 90% Nitromethane and about 10% Methanol (also known as racing alcohol After taking some time off from racing and opening a motorcycle shop, he began racing motorcycles in many genres of motorsports. After attending a boat drag racing event in 1974, he decided to start drag racing on water. He quickly starting winning and setting records. When Hill set the lowest wet elapsed time (e. t. ) record with a 5. 16 second run in 1982, his time was lower than the land drag racing record of 5. 39 seconds. Hill won championships in all of the major national sanctioning bodies. In October 1984, he quit water drag racing after he suffered broken bones at a crash in Arizona. He returned to land drag racing in 1985 in the Top Fuel division. The team was initially underfunded and unsuccessful, but it became more competitive and successful by the end of the 1986 season. When he set the speed record at a National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) event in 1987, he became the first person to hold both the land and water speed records simultaneously. "NHRA" redirects here For other uses see NHRA (disambiguation. He won NHRA's 1993 Top Fuel championship, becoming the division's oldest champion. After winning several more events, he retired in 1999. He had won twelve national season point championships on land or water. ^[2] He won over 100 trophies in motorcycles, and 86 drag events between his land and water pursuits. ^[2]

In 1960, he became the first driver to heat his rear tires with a burnout, and he was the first driver to use smaller front tires on a dragster in 1958. ^[3] Hill introduced the aerodynamic front wing to dragsters and charcoal masks for driver safety. WING "ESPN 1410" is a commercial AM radio station in Dayton Ohio operating with 5000 watts at 1410 kHz with studios offices and transmitter located on David Charcoal' is the blackish residue consisting of impure Carbon obtained by removing water and other volatile constituents from Animal and Vegetation ^[4] He holds the NHRA record for the largest improvement in the elapsed time (e. t. ) record when his 1960 run of 8. 84 seconds beat the previous 9. 40 second record. ^[5] Hill had the first run in the four second range (4. 990 seconds), which earned him the nickname "Four Father of Drag Racing. "^[6] His other nicknames include "The Thrill",^[1] and "Fast Eddie".

Racing career

At age 11 in 1947, Hill won the Tri-State Motor Scooter Flat Track championship in Shreveport, Louisiana. Shreveport is the third-largest city and the principal city of the third largest Metropolitan area in the U ^[3] After graduating from Longview High School, he graduated from college in 1957 with an industrial technology degree from Texas A&M University. Texas A&M University, often called A&M or TAMU, is a Coeducational public Research University located in College Station ^[3]

Land drag racing

Hill in his Top Fuel dragster in 1966

Hill's first drag race occurred at the Flying Fish Lodge in Karnack, Texas in 1955. Karnack is a rural unincorporated community in northeastern Harrison County near Caddo Lake in the eastern region of the U Hill drove his home-built dragster to the track and won the event. Drag racing is a competition in which objects compete to be the first to cross a set finish mark usually from a dead stop and in a straight line His dragster had a Model T frame and an Oldsmobile V8 engine. The Ford Model T (colloquially known as the Tin Lizzie and also the Flivver) was an Automobile produced by Henry Ford 's Ford A chassis (plural "chassis" (ˈʃæːsiː ˈtʃæːsiː consists of a framework that supports an inanimate object analogous to an Animal 's Oldsmobile was a brand of Automobile produced for most of its existence by General Motors. A V8 engine is a V engine with eight cylinders mounted on the Crankcase in two banks of four cylinders in most cases set at a right angle to each other ^[2] In 1958 he built his second dragster using parts that his employer allowed him to scavenge while working as a sales engineer at a foundry in Wichita Falls, Texas. Wichita Falls is a city in the state of Texas and the County seat of Wichita County Texas, United States. He used the dragster to set the Texas state low elapsed time (e. t. ) that year with a 9. 93 second run. ^[2] The following year Hill won the state championship with a 9. 25 second run at 161 miles per hour (259 km/h). ^[2] Hill won his first national event in 1959 in a Hot Gas race at a American Hot Rod Association (AHRA) national championship event in Great Bend, Kansas. The American Hot Rod Association, also known as AHRA, was until the emergence of the IHRA, America's second largest Drag racing sanctioning body Great Bend is a City situated along the Arkansas River in the southwestern part of Barton County, located in central Kansas, in the Central ^[2] Hill earned $500 for an appearance at Inyokern, California to race Jack Chrisman and his Sidewinder dragster. Inyokern is a Census-designated place (CDP in Kern County, California, United States. Jack Chrisman (1928 &mdash August 17 1989) was an American drag racer. One of his four runs in the 1960 event set the B/Gas dragster record at 163. 04 mph (262. 39 kph), so Hill quit his job to become a full-time drag racer. Later that season he set the a new A/Gas low e. t. at 8. 84 seconds and set the speed record in the class at 161. 29 mph (259. 57 kph).

Hill spent four months designing and seven months building another home-built dragster (as was common at the time) called the Double Dragon. The machine had two engines, which each engine having its own ring gear and pinion, clutch, and driveshaft. He used four rear racing slick tires in open competitions for faster runs, and two rear slicks in match competitions to produce smokier runs. ^[1] The machine ripped up the starting line at the 1961 NHRA Nationals at Indianapolis. ^[2] In 1962 Hill ran 202. 70 mph (326. 21 km/h) two years after Chris Karamesines had the first 200 mph (320 km/h) run and two years before Don Garlits had the first official 200 mph (320 km/h) run. Donald Glenn Garlits (born January 14, 1932, Tampa Florida) is considered the father of Drag racing. ^[2] A speed or e. t. record is first certified official after it is backed up by a different run within one percent. ^[7] Hill built his first Top Fuel dragster in 1963 using a Pontiac engine. Top-Fuel Racing is a class of Drag racing in which the cars are run on a maximum of 90% Nitromethane and about 10% Methanol (also known as racing alcohol Pontiac is a Brand of Automobiles produced by General Motors that has been sold in the United States, Canada and Mexico He built two more Top Fuel Hemi-powered dragsters before he had an engine fire at Green Valley Race City in 1966. A Hemi engine (from hemisphere) is an Internal-combustion engine in which the Combustion chambers are of hemispherical form "It was one of those fireballs that you couldn't see through," Hill said. "I locked up the brakes, and it felt like I needed to turn the wheel to the left, but for some reason, I didn't. I had to do something that was counterintuitive, and it spooked me. "^[2] Hill had managed to steer straight down a course that was lined with trees. Hill had been using the Double Dragon to win matches, which were used to finance his Top Fuel dragster. The Double Dragon had been destroyed in a wreck two months before this fire. The fire tapped his finances and his resolve to drag race. ^[2]

Motorcycle racing

Hill racing a motorcycle in 1973

He stopped racing and opened a motorcycle dealership in Wichita Falls in 1966. The dealership is still open (as of 2008), and it is now the oldest Honda and Kawasaki dealership in Texas. () is a Multinational corporation, engine Manufacturer and engineering corporation headquartered in Japan. ( is an international corporation based in Japan. It has headquarters in both Chūō-ku, Kobe and Minato Tokyo. ^[3] He soon wanted to race again, so he built his own motorcycle and began racing as a 30 year old. He raced in numerous types of motorcycle racing: cross country, drag racing, hare scramble, motocross, road racing, and short track. Motocross is a form of Motorcycle sport or All-terrain vehicle racing held on enclosed Off road circuits Road racing can be a term involving Road running, road bicycle races, or Automobile races When Hill participated in a Daytona race in 1971, he had an opening lap at 151 mph (243 km/h), which was faster than factory rider Gary Nixon. Daytona International Speedway is a Superspeedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. Gary Nixon (Born on January 25, 1941, in Anadarko Oklahoma) is an American Motorcycle racer who most notably won the AMA Grand National ^[2] Hill continued to race motorcycles, and in 1972 and won the Texas state road racing championship. ^[2] Hill won over 100 trophies in his motorcycle career. ^[8]

Boat drag racing

Hill attended his first boat drag racing event in 1974 at Austin, Texas. Hill thought the drivers were crazy after he saw a driver being thrown from his boat during a crash. ^[3] Less than a month later Hill had stopped motorcycle racing in favor of boat drag racing despite not being able to swim. ^[3] "Once I hit the water with the boat, I never went back to motorcycles," Hill recalled. "The power, speed, and acceleration were all things that I had missed since I quit drag racing. "^[2] He began racing in a non-blown hydroplane, winning in his first event. A supercharger is an air compressor used for Forced induction of an Internal combustion engine. A hydroplane (or hydro, or thunderboat) is a type of Motorboat used exclusively for racing ^[2] In his third race he set the class top speed. ^[2] In 1975 he set the Southern Drag Boat Association (SDBA) speed record at 137. 46 mph (221. 22 km/h). In 1976 he switched to nitromethane fuel and set the SDBA record with a 171. Nitromethane is an Organic compound with the chemical formula CH3NO2 81 mph (276. 50 km/h) run. ^[2] He was the SDBA top pointgetter and won the National Drag Boat Association (NDBA) World Fuel & Gas championship. ^[2] He repeated as champion in both series in 1977, setting the NDBA record with a 170. 45 mph (274. 31 km/h) run. ^[2]

Hill raced an all white blown-fuel hydroplane from 1978 to 1984. A supercharger is an air compressor used for Forced induction of an Internal combustion engine. He won 55 of 103 races during that time. ^[2] Hill captured four American Drag Boat Association (ADBA) championships and was the SDBA top points earner in five consecutive years. ^[2] In 1982 his Top Fuel hydroplane went 229. 00 mph (368. 54 km/h) at an NDBA event to set the world's record for a quarter mile water drag at Chowchilla, California. Chowchilla is a city in Madera County, California, United States. ^[1] It was recorded in the Guinness Book of World Records, and it was not broken for 10 years. Guinness World Records, known until 2000 as The Guinness Book of Records (and in previous U ^[2] Hill also set speed records that year in the SDBA (220. 76 mph), ADBA (215. 82 mph), and International Hot Boat Association (IHBA) (212. 78 mph). He became the only racer to hold records in all four associations simulanteously. ^[2] He won the NDBA Nationals four times including three straight from 1982 until 1984. In 1983 and 1984 Hill won the World Series of Drag Boat Racing championship. The series features two races in each of the four major drag boat racing sanctioning bodies. He won 17 races between 1983 and 1984, and made 29 of 34 final rounds. ^[2] Before he quit boat drag racing, he had an elapsed time of 5. 16 seconds in the wet quarter mile at Firebird Lake in Chandler, Arizona. Chandler is a city in Maricopa County, Arizona, and is a prominent suburb of the Phoenix Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA The e. t. was quicker than Gary Beck's 5. Gary Beck ( January 21, 1941 in Seattle Washington) is a two-time World champion Drag racing driver 39 second NHRA Top Fuel dragster record, the first time that the water record was lower than the land record. ^[2][4] Hill quit boat racing in October 1984 after a crash at 217 miles per hour. ^[2] "It was a perfect run," Hill recalled. "I started to settle the boat back into the water, and then it took off. "^[9] He broke seven bones, suffered eye injuries, and had a concusion. ^[9] His Texas A&M ring was torn off of his hand. ^[9] He spent five days in the hospital and wasn't fully recovered for a year. ^[2]

Return to land drag racing

Dragster, circa 1996

Hill decided to come back into land drag racing for 1985. He purchased Dan Pastorini's dragster and salvaged the drag boat engine from the bottom of the lake. Dante "Dan" Anthony Pastorini (born May 26, 1949 in Sonora California) was an American football Quarterback who played ^[9] He returned to drag racing in one of the most underfunded and least competitive Top Fuel teams. ^[2] Hill would have quit early in the 1986 season had he not gotten some tuning advice from a competitor that helped make his car more competitive. ^[2] Fifteen races after returning to land drag racing he made a second round of NHRA competition at the 1986 Mile High Nationals. ^[2] Hill made it to the final round of competition, losing to Larry Minor when his reverser failed after his burnout. Hill set the NHRA speed record of 285. 98 mph (460. 24 km/h) at the 1987 Chief Auto Parts Nationals, where he finished second. ^[2] When Hill set that record, he became the first person to hold both the land and water quarter mile drag racing speed records simultaneously. ^[2][3]

Hill won the first of his thirteen NHRA national events when he beat Joe Amato in finals of the 1988 Mac Tools Gatornationals. Joe Amato (born June 13, 1944 in Exeter, Pennsylvania) is an American Dragster driver who won the NHRA Top Fuel The Gatornationals is an annual National Hot Rod Association (NHRA national Drag racing event held each March at Gainesville Raceway in Gainesville Amato and Hill met in four finals that season, with Hill winning three of them. On April 9, 1988 he set the first elapsed time in the four second range (4. Events 193 - Septimius Severus is proclaimed Roman Emperor by the army in Illyricum (in the Balkans) Year 1988 ( MCMLXXXVIII) was a Leap year starting on Friday (link displays 1988 Gregorian calendar) 990 seconds) at a Texas International Hot Rod Association (IHRA) event. The International Hot Rod Association also known as IHRA is the 2nd largest Drag racing sanctioning body after the NHRA. ^[9] Amazingly, Eddie made the run on only 7 cylinders, the post-run computer readout showing that #7 cylinder of his engine failed upon launch. Six months later he had a 4. 936 second e. t. at the NHRA SuperNationals at Houston on October 9, 1988. Events 768 - Carloman I and Charlemagne are crowned Kings of The Franks. Year 1988 ( MCMLXXXVIII) was a Leap year starting on Friday (link displays 1988 Gregorian calendar) ^[2] 1993 was the pinacle of Hill's career. ^[2] Hill set the record as the oldest Top Fuel champion at age 57. ^[4] It was his twelfth championship. Hill won a record tying six of seven national events and 15 events overall. ^[1][2] Hill finished in the Top 10 in Top Fuel points every year but one between 1987 and 1995. ^[2] Between 1994 and 1999, Hill won his final two events in seven finals. When Hill won the 1996 Mile High Nationals, he set the record for the oldest Top Fuel event winner at age 60. Top-Fuel Racing is a class of Drag racing in which the cars are run on a maximum of 90% Nitromethane and about 10% Methanol (also known as racing alcohol ^[1] He retired in 1999.

"Eddie Hill Rule"

Hill was qualifying for a 1997 event at Sonoma when his car suffered severe vibration as he crossed the finish line. Infineon Raceway, formerly Sears Point Raceway, is a road course and drag strip located on the landform known as Sears Point in the southern Sonoma Mountains The car was completely destroyed. It had run fast enough to make Hill the fastest qualifier. Hill didn't have any serious injuries with two broken toes and a shoulder contusion. He wanted to race his legal backup car in the first round on the day after the accident. The NHRA had a steadfast rule that the car used for qualifying had to be used in the event, so it did not allow him to compete. The rule was modified to allow cars to race on Race Day even if they do not make a qualifying run. ^[10]

Personal life

Eddie Hill waves to fans as his wife Ercie steers their dragster

Hill is married to Ercie Hill. They met at a boat drag racing event and were married on Valentine's Day in 1984. Valentine's Day or Saint Valentine's Day is a Holiday celebrated on February 14 ^[3] She had several roles during his career, including team co-owner, starting line nagivator, record taker, pit crew member, business manager, marketing, and public relations. In motorsports a pit stop is where a racing Vehicle stops in the pits during a race for refuelling new Tires repairs mechanical adjustments ^[3] She has written about drag racing in National Dragster, AutoWeek, and Christian Motorsports magazines. AutoWeek is a weekly automotive enthusiast consumer magazine based in Detroit, Michigan ^[3] Eddie has a daughter named Sabrina and a son named Dustin. ^[4]

Awards

NHRA ranked him 14th on their Top 50 drivers in 2001. ^[2] He was inducted in the NHRA Drag Racing Hall of Fame in 1978,^[3] and the Texas Motor Sports Hall of Fame in 2007. In 2000, he was inducted in the Don Garlits' International Drag Racing Hall of Fame. Donald Glenn Garlits (born January 14, 1932, Tampa Florida) is considered the father of Drag racing.

Hill was inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 2002. The Motorsports Hall of Fame of America is a Hall of Fame and museum in Novi Michigan for American motorsports legends After he was notified of his nomination, he said

"It's so much more satisfying to get this award now than posthumously. This way I'll be able to enjoy it. Honestly, it was a sobering moment when they called and told me I was being inducted along with some of the people I admired most growing up. It gives you reason to pause for a moment and reflect that maybe some good was accomplished along the way. "^[11]

References

External links

• Eddie Hill's Fun Cycles