Paul Richard "Richie" Ginther (
Hollywood,
[''Richie Ginther Enters Times Grand Prix'', ]Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the ...
, September 13, 1960, Page C1 California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
, August 5, 1930 – September 20, 1989 in France) was a
racecar driver
Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition.
Auto racing has existed since the invention of the automobile. Races of various sorts were organis ...
from the United States. During a varied career, the
1965 Mexican Grand Prix saw Ginther take
Honda
is a Japanese public multinational conglomerate manufacturer of automobiles, motorcycles, and power equipment, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan.
Honda has been the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer since 1959, reaching a producti ...
's first Grand Prix victory, a victory which would also prove to be Ginther's only win in
Formula One
Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...
. Ginther competed in 54 World Championship Formula One Grand Prix races and numerous other non-Championship F1 events.
Early career
Richie Ginther was born in
Hollywood but his family moved to Ohio for his father's work before moving back to California and to
Santa Monica, the same Californian town as future Formula One World Champion
Phil Hill
Philip Toll Hill Jr. (April 20, 1927 – August 28, 2008) was an American automobile racing driver. He was one of two American drivers to win the Formula One World Drivers' Championship, and the only one who was born in the United States ( ...
, and it was through Hill, a friend of Ginther's older brother, George, that he first began to race.
[Roebuck, N. 1998. ''Legends: Richie Ginther''. Motor Sport. LXXV/3 (March 1999), 16–17] After finishing school in 1948, Ginther followed in his father's footsteps and went to work for
Douglas Aircraft, initially in the tool and die shop. In his spare time he helped Hill to repair, maintain and race his collection of old cars and
hot rods,
[Sloniger, J. 1961. ''Tester to the Prancing Horse''. In: Eves, E. (ed.) ''Autocourse: Review of International Motor Sport. 1960, Part One.'' Trafalgar Press, London. 80pp] as Hill's racing career began to gather pace. Ginther made his race debut at
Pebble Beach in 1951,
driving a
Ford-engined
MG T-type
The MG T-Type is a series of body-on-frame open two-seater sports cars that were produced by MG from 1936 to 1955. The series included the MG TA, MG TB, MG TC, MG TD, and MG TF Midget models. The last of these models, the TF, was replaced by t ...
sports car.
However, Ginther's career was put on hold shortly after, when he was
drafted for two years of
national service
National service is the system of voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act 1939.
The ...
during the
Korean War
{{Infobox military conflict
, conflict = Korean War
, partof = the Cold War and the Korean conflict
, image = Korean War Montage 2.png
, image_size = 300px
, caption = Clockwise from top:{ ...
. During this time he received training and experience working in aircraft and engine mechanics,
skills which he would later put to good use during his driving career. On emergence from the military, Hill requested that Ginther join him, principally as a riding mechanic, in driving a privately entered 4.1-liter
Ferrari
Ferrari S.p.A. (; ) is an Italian luxury sports car manufacturer based in Maranello, Italy. Founded by Enzo Ferrari (1898–1988) in 1939 from the Alfa Romeo racing division as ''Auto Avio Costruzioni'', the company built its first car in ...
in the 1953
Carrera Panamericana
The Carrera Panamericana was a border-to-border sedan ( stock and touring and sports car) rally racing event on open roads in Mexico similar to the Mille Miglia and Targa Florio in Italy. Running for five consecutive years from 1950 to 1954, ...
. The pair ran high in the rankings until Hill lost control, crashed, and wrote off the car. Both Ginther and Hill were unharmed and returned in 1954 to take second place,
beaten only by the works Ferrari of
Umberto Maglioli.
Nineteen fifty-four was also the year that Ginther returned to race driving himself, mostly in a self-prepared
Austin-Healey.
His results were impressive enough that the following year
VW and
Porsche
Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, usually shortened to Porsche (; see below), is a German automobile manufacturer specializing in high-performance sports cars, SUVs and sedans, headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The company ...
dealer John von Neumann hired him to drive a Porsche in domestic competitions. When von Neumann started dealing in Ferrari cars in 1956, Ginther also got the chance to drive these.
In between working in von Neumann's Ferrari dealership — including trips to the Ferrari factory in Italy to sort customer problems
— Ginther began to build an impressive racing reputation on the West Coast. This, and his choice of Ferrari mounts, brought him to the attention of the East Coast Ferrari franchise-holder, three-time
24 Hours of Le Mans
The 24 Hours of Le Mans (french: link=no, 24 Heures du Mans) is an endurance-focused sports car race held annually near the town of Le Mans, France. It is the world's oldest active endurance racing event. Unlike fixed-distance races whose ...
-winner,
Luigi Chinetti. Aside from importing Ferrari road cars, Chinetti also operated a successful race team, soon to metamorphose into Ferrari's official motorsport presence in North America:
NART
The Nart sagas ( Abkhaz: Нарҭаа ражәабжьқәа; ''Nartaa raƶuabƶkua''; ady, Нарт тхыдэжъхэр, translit=Nart txıdəĵxər; os, Нарты кадджытæ; ''Narty kaddžytæ''; ''Nartı kadjıtæ'') are a series of ...
. Ginther first raced for Chinetti in 1957 and with him made his first appearances in international-level events, first in the
12 Hours of Sebring
The 12 Hours of Sebring is an annual motorsport endurance race for sports cars held at Sebring International Raceway, on the site of the former Hendricks Army Airfield World War II air base in Sebring, Florida, US. The event is the second rou ...
and then driving a two-liter
Ferrari 500 TR
The Ferrari Monza is one of a series of cars built by Ferrari. In the early 1950s, Ferrari shifted from using the compact Gioacchino Colombo-designed V12 engine in its smallest class of sports racers to a line of four-cylinder engines designed b ...
in the Le Mans race.
Also in 1957, Ginther was signed to drive the
Aston Martin
Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings PLC is an English manufacturer of luxury sports cars and grand tourers. Its predecessor was founded in 1913 by Lionel Martin and Robert Bamford. Steered from 1947 by David Brown, it became associated wi ...
of Joe Lubin and over the next three years would continue to compete in many
sports car racing events in both Aston and Ferrari machinery, with great success. That June, he won a 15-lap
GT race at the new
Lime Rock Park, and won the opening race of the national championship in his
Ferrari
Ferrari S.p.A. (; ) is an Italian luxury sports car manufacturer based in Maranello, Italy. Founded by Enzo Ferrari (1898–1988) in 1939 from the Alfa Romeo racing division as ''Auto Avio Costruzioni'', the company built its first car in ...
. In early-1958, he piloted a two-liter Ferrari to victory at the County Fairgrounds in
Pomona, California
Pomona is a city in Los Angeles County, California. Pomona is located in the Pomona Valley, between the Inland Empire and the San Gabriel Valley. At the 2020 census, the city's population was 151,713. The main campus of California State Polyt ...
, averaging , and won in a three-liter GT in a five-lap qualifying preliminary for the
SCCA Pacific Coast Championship. By the end of the year Ginther had captured the Pacific Coast Sports Car Championship outright.
[ He triumphed by a wide margin at Pomona at the opening sports car race of 1959, in a von Neumann 4.1-liter Ferrari, and in June 1959, won in a three-liter Ferrari TR in the first Hourglass road races in ]San Diego, California
San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United Stat ...
. Throughout this period he continued to mix his race driving with a steady job at von Neumann's dealership, and by late 1959 the strain was beginning to show.
Formula One
Ferrari
Ginther made his F1 debut at the 1960 Monaco Grand Prix
The 1960 Monaco Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Monaco on 29 May 1960. It was race 2 of 10 in the 1960 World Championship of Drivers and race 2 of 9 in the 1960 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers.
The race was won ...
driving for Ferrari, which he stayed with through . In the September 1960 Italian Grand Prix
The 1960 Italian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Monza on 4 September 1960. It was race 9 of 10 in the 1960 World Championship of Drivers and race 8 of 9 in the 1960 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers. The race was wo ...
in Monza, he placed second to Hill.[ Ginther led from the start until the 25th lap when Hill passed him and led until the finish.
Following the season the Ferrari team gave up 1000 cc in engine size. The 2500 cc engine,
permitted the previous year, was replaced by a 1.5-liter rear-engine model, with 110 less horsepower. However, the newer engine was superior in both "profiling" and handling. The conservative Enzo Ferrari was the last major Formula 1 race car manufacturer to make the transition to cars with engines in the rear.
In 1961, Ginther was the No. 3 Ferrari driver, behind No. 1 Wolfgang Von Trips and No. 2 Hill. ]Giancarlo Baghetti
Giancarlo Baghetti (25 December 1934 – 27 November 1995) was a Formula One driver who raced for the Ferrari, Automobili Turismo e Sport, BRM, Brabham and Lotus teams.
Baghetti is one of only three drivers to have won his first World Champio ...
occasionally piloted a fourth car. The team manager was Romulo Tavoni.
On May 14, 1961, Ginther finished second to Stirling Moss
Sir Stirling Craufurd Moss (17 September 1929 – 12 April 2020) was a British Formula One racing driver. An inductee into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame, he won 212 of the 529 races he entered across several categories of com ...
at the 1961 Monaco Grand Prix, 3.6 seconds behind, a few hundred feet. He was driving a new rear-engine Ferrari with a 120-degree V-6 which had a lower center of gravity. Ginther had qualified second, just ahead of Hill, with an average speed of , and a qualifying time of 1:39.3. He eclipsed the previous course record of 1:39.6, before Moss took pole position the day after.
In August 1961, Ginther and Baghetti were teammates at the Pescara Grand Prix, a world auto manufacturers' championship event. Their Ferrari was leading on the 10th lap when it stopped on a straight stretch with a flat tire. Ginther averaged more than on the Autodromo Nazionale Monza
The Monza Circuit ( it, Autodromo Nazionale di Monza, , National Automobile Racetrack of Monza) is a race track near the city of Monza, north of Milan, in Italy. Built in 1922, it was the world's third purpose-built motor racing circuit afte ...
in September 1961, to lead the first day of qualifying for the 1961 Italian Grand Prix
The 1961 Italian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 10 September 1961 at Monza. It was race 7 of 8 in both the 1961 World Championship of Drivers and the 1961 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers.
The race was marked b ...
. Von Trips qualified first with Ginther taking the third starting position after Ricardo Rodriguez. Ginther retired in the race. Von Trips died in a spectacular crash on the second lap, which also killed eleven spectators, when his Ferrari climbed a earth embankment.
It brushed a wire fence employed to restrain a portion of the crowd and struck the spectators. Some who were injured eventually succumbed and brought the total to 15 deaths. The Ferrari team ceased competition until January 1, 1962, as a mark of respect to Von Trips.
BRM and Honda
In , Ginther switched to the British-based BRM team to race alongside Graham Hill
Norman Graham Hill (15 February 1929 – 29 November 1975) was a British racing driver and team owner, who was the Formula One World Champion twice, winning in and as well as being runner up on three occasions (1963, 1964 and 1965). Despite ...
. The highlight of his time at BRM was finishing equal-second (with Hill) in the 1963 World Championship. Ginther scored more points than his British teammate over the whole season, but only a driver's six best scores were counted towards the championship.
His reputation as a solid "team player" and excellent test and development driver earned him an invitation to join the works Honda F1 team for 1965, for whom he scored his one and only GP win, at the 1965 Mexican Grand Prix. The win was also Honda's first in Formula 1. Ginther averaged over the curving track in the 65 lap Mexico City event. His speed eclipsed the previous course record of established by Dan Gurney in 1964. It was the first time Honda had entered the Mexican Grand Prix. Honda reentered international competition in the 1966 Italian Grand Prix. The team was three years old and had encountered difficulty in the preparation of a larger engine. Ginther led in Italy before his car crashed into a retaining wall and he broke his collarbone. He signed with the Eagle
Eagle is the common name for many large birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of genera, some of which are closely related. Most of the 68 species of eagle are from Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, j ...
F1 team in 1967 and raced in the Race of Champions. His last race entered was the Monaco Grand Prix
The Monaco Grand Prix (french: Grand Prix de Monaco) is a Formula One motor racing event held annually on the Circuit de Monaco, in late May or early June. Run since 1929, it is widely considered to be one of the most important and prestigio ...
, but he failed to qualify.
Ginther won one race, achieved 14 podiums, and scored a total of 107 championship points.
He appeared in an uncredited role in the 1966 film ''Grand Prix
Grand Prix ( , meaning ''Grand Prize''; plural Grands Prix), is a name sometimes used for competitions or sport events, alluding to the winner receiving a prize, trophy or honour
Grand Prix or grand prix may refer to:
Arts and entertainment ...
'' as John Hogarth, a driver in the Japanese funded "Yamura" team. He also acted as one of the technical racing advisors for the movie.
While making an attempt to qualify for the 1967 Indianapolis 500, Ginther broke a fuel line in his American Eagle Indy Car. A mix of ethanol and gasoline, was sprayed down his back. This experience, along with the recent fiery death of close friend Lorenzo Bandini, along with other factors, led to his sudden retirement.
He participated in a rally with sixty-five other competitors, including actor James Garner, in June 1969. The California Sports Car Club event was three hours cross country from Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...
to Huntington Beach
Huntington Beach is a seaside city in Orange County in Southern California, located southeast of Downtown Los Angeles. The city is named after American businessman Henry E. Huntington. The population was 198,711 during the 2020 census, maki ...
. It benefited students from the Braille Institute.
Ginther managed a Porsche 911
The Porsche 911 (pronounced ''Nine Eleven'' or in german: Neunelfer) is a two-door 2+2 high performance rear-engined sports car introduced in September 1964 by Porsche AG of Stuttgart, Germany. It has a rear-mounted flat-six engine and ori ...
S with two American drivers during the 39th 24 hours of Le Mans
The 24 Hours of Le Mans (french: link=no, 24 Heures du Mans) is an endurance-focused sports car race held annually near the town of Le Mans, France. It is the world's oldest active endurance racing event. Unlike fixed-distance races whose ...
, in June 1971.
Death
Ginther died of a heart attack while on vacation with his family in France, in Touzac, near Bordeaux, on September 20, 1989.
Awards
He was inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America
The Motorsports Hall of Fame of America (MSHFA) is hall of fame that honors motorsports competitors and contributors from the United States from all disciplines, with categories for Open Wheel, Stock Cars, Powerboats, Drag Racing, Motorcycle ...
in 2008.[Richie Ginther]
at the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America
The Motorsports Hall of Fame of America (MSHFA) is hall of fame that honors motorsports competitors and contributors from the United States from all disciplines, with categories for Open Wheel, Stock Cars, Powerboats, Drag Racing, Motorcycle ...
Biography
In 2020, to mark what would have been Ginther's 90th birthday, a biography was released about Richie's life and career by Richard Jenkins, published by Performance Publishing. "Richie Ginther: Motor Racing's Free Thinker" won the RAC Motoring Book of the Year Award for its depth of research and previously unpublished information [Archived a]
Ghostarchive
and th
Wayback Machine
Racing record
Formula One World Championship results
( key) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)
Non-Championship Formula One results
( key)
Complete British Saloon Car Championship results
( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap.)
† Events with 2 races staged for the different classes.
Footnotes
References
External links
Biographical article and video on The Speed Blog
Richie Ginther , #18 of top-20 non-WDC F1 drivers
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ginther, Richie
American racing drivers
American Formula One drivers
Ferrari Formula One drivers
Scarab Formula One drivers
BRM Formula One drivers
Honda Formula One drivers
Cooper Formula One drivers
Anglo American Racers Formula One drivers
Formula One race winners
24 Hours of Le Mans drivers
12 Hours of Reims drivers
World Sportscar Championship drivers
Racing drivers from California
People from Granada Hills, Los Angeles
1930 births
1989 deaths
Carrera Panamericana drivers