Phil Remington (January 22, 1921 – February 9, 2013) was an American motorsports engineer.

Early life

Remington was born in

Santa Monica, California Santa Monica (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast (California), South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 United Sta ...

and was a pre-engineering student at Santa Monica Junior College. He initially was a component inspector at

Northrop Aircraft Northrop Corporation was an American aircraft manufacturer from its formation in 1939 until its 1994 merger with Grumman to form Northrop Grumman. The company is known for its development of the flying wing design, most successfully the B-2 Spiri ...

. He joined the

United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

by lying about his age because he was too young and by memorizing the vision charts because he was color blind. He served as a

flight engineer A flight engineer (FE), also sometimes called an air engineer, is a member of an aircraft's flight crew who is responsible for monitoring and operating its complex aircraft systems. In the early era of aviation, the position was sometimes referr ...

on B-24 Liberators.

Motorsports

After serving in the Army, he began working with friends who raced by building race cars, developing hydroplane parts and engine swap kits. In the late 1950s he became chief engineer to Lance Reventlow, building the Scarab sports racing car on Princeton Drive in what is now

Marina del Rey, California Marina del Rey ( Spanish for "Marina of the King") is an unincorporated seaside community in Los Angeles County, California, United States. The eponymous harbor is a major boating and water recreation destination of the Greater Los Angeles ar ...

. When Reventlow was closing his shop,

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 ...

hired Remington as his chief engineer in Shelby's new shop on the same street. Shelby said his competition success was due to Remington. When

Shelby American Shelby American, Inc. is an American high performance vehicle, high performance automobile company founded by driver Carroll Shelby. The Shelby American name has been used by several legally distinct corporations founded by Shelby since his ori ...

was split up, Remington remained with the Shelby Racing Components company in Torrance. Remington moved to North Carolina in 1968 to run the Talladega Grand National stock car program at Holman and Moody. The team won the

Daytona 500 The Daytona 500 is a NASCAR Cup Series motor race held annually at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. It is the first of two Cup races held every year at Daytona, the second being the Coke Zero Sugar 400, and one of three ...

that year. He moved back to California and worked at

Dan Gurney Daniel Sexton Gurney (April 13, 1931 – January 14, 2018) was an American racing driver, engineer and motorsport executive, who competed in Formula One from to . Widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of motorspo ...

All American Racers All American Racers is an American-licensed auto racing team and constructor based in Santa Ana, California. Founded by Dan Gurney and Carroll Shelby in 1964, All American Racers initially participated in American sports car and Champ Car races ...

(AAR). There Remington worked on Can-Am, Formula 1, Formula 5000, Indy 500, Trans-Am, GTP and IMSA cars. He also worked on Alligator Motorcycles and did contract work for aerospace while there. In 2012 he built the oil and water coolers and engineered the suspension on the

DeltaWing The DeltaWing is a racing car designed by British race car designer and engineer Ben Bowlby and debuted at the 2012 24 Hours of Le Mans. The entry was run under the Project 56 name, composed of Ben Bowlby (design), Dan Gurney's All American ...

race car. Health concerns caused him to discontinue working full-time at AAR in 2012.

Awards

He was inducted into the

Motorsports Hall of Fame of America The Motorsports Hall of Fame of America (MSHFA) is a 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, Motorcycles ...

in 2019.Phil Remington
at the

In popular culture

Remington is portrayed by Ray McKinnon in ''

Ford v Ferrari ''Ford v Ferrari'' (titled ''Le Mans '66'' in some European countries) is a 2019 American biographical sports drama film directed by James Mangold and written by Jez Butterworth, John-Henry Butterworth, and Jason Keller. It stars Matt Da ...

'', a 2019 film about the rivalry between Ford and Ferrari at the 1966 Le Mans auto race.

References

External links

Obituary at All American Racers' websiteObituary in Car and Driver
{{DEFAULTSORT:Remington, Phil 1921 births 2013 deaths People from Santa Monica, California United States Army Air Forces personnel of World War II United States Army Air Forces soldiers