Bill Pollack (July 7, 1925 – July 16, 2017) was an American racing driver.
Racing career
Bill Pollack was a competitor in the early days of the post World War II California sports car culture and racing. Bill started his racing career in 1950. He would go on to win at the
Pebble Beach Road Races in an
Allard J2
The Allard J2 is a sports roadster that was made by Allard. The J2 was mainly intended for the American market. Since 1981, replicas of the later J2X have been manufactured by a succession of companies in Canada, whilst a continuation of the o ...
. The Allard was owned by Tom Carstens'. Bill also won at other California venues of that time:
Pebble Beach
Pebble Beach is an unincorporated community on the Monterey Peninsula in Monterey County, California, United States. The small coastal residential community of mostly single-family homes is also notable as a resort destination, and the home of ...
,
Golden Gate Park
Golden Gate Park is an urban park between the Richmond District, San Francisco, Richmond and Sunset District, San Francisco, Sunset districts on the West Side (San Francisco), West Side of San Francisco, California, United States. It is the Lis ...
,
Reno
Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada–California border. It is the county seat and most populous city of Washoe County, Nevada, Washoe County. Sitting in the High Eastern Sierra foothills, ...
,
Torrey Pines,
Stockton, Madera,
Willow Springs,
Palm Springs
Palm Springs (Cahuilla language, Cahuilla: ''Séc-he'') is a desert resort city in Riverside County, California, United States, within the Colorado Desert's Coachella Valley. The city covers approximately , making it the largest city in Rivers ...
, and the
Santa Barbara road races. Bill who was a contemporary of
Phil Hill
Philip Toll Hill Jr. (April 20, 1927 – August 28, 2008) was an American racing driver, who competed in Formula One from to . Hill won the Formula One World Drivers' Championship in with Ferrari, and won three Grands Prix across eight seas ...
,
Carroll Shelby
Carroll Hall Shelby (January 11, 1923 – May 10, 2012) was an American automotive designer, racing driver, and entrepreneur.
Shelby was involved with the AC Cobra and Ford Mustang, Mustang for Ford Motor Company. With driver Ken Miles, he dev ...
,
Ken Miles
Kenneth Henry Jarvis Miles (1 November 1918 – 17 August 1966) was an English sports car racing engineer and driver best known for his motorsport career in the U.S. and with American teams on the international scene. He is an inductee to ...
,
Jack McAfee and the other names of that era. Phil Hill, of course, went on to become the first and only U.S. born world grand prix champion.
Bill is also credited with designing the
race course
A race track (racetrack, racing track or racing circuit) is a facility built for racing of vehicles, athletes, or animals (e.g. horse racing or greyhound racing). A race track also may feature grandstands or concourses. Race tracks are also us ...
at
Willow Springs, California, which has been used for racing events, testing and movie shoots, including
FORD vs FERRARI.
World War II years
Bill Pollack served in World War II as a B-26 Bomber pilot.
Published works
*''Red Wheels and White Sidewalls: Confessions of an Allard Racer'' (Brown Fox Books, 2004)
References
1925 births
2017 deaths
American racing drivers
{{US-autoracing-bio-stub