Richie Ginther

Richie Ginther

Born	August 5, 1930
Died	September 20, 1989 (aged 59)
Formula One World Championship career
Nationality	American
Active years	1960 – 1967
Teams	Ferrari, Scarab, BRM, Honda, Cooper, Eagle
Entries	54 (52 starts)
Championships	0
Wins	1
Podiums	14
Career points	102 (107)[notes 1]
Pole positions	0
Fastest laps	3
First entry	1960 Monaco Grand Prix
First win	1965 Mexican Grand Prix
Last win	1965 Mexican Grand Prix
Last entry	1967 Monaco Grand Prix

24 Hours of Le Mans career
Participating years	1957, 1960 – 1964, 1966
Teams	Luigi Chinetti Scuderia Ferrari Aston Martin BRM Ford Motor Company NART
Best finish	DNF

Paul Richard "Richie" Ginther (Granada Hills,^[1] California, August 5, 1930 – September 20, 1989 in France) was a racecar driver from the United States. During a varied career, the 1965 Mexican Grand Prix saw Ginther take Honda's first Grand Prix victory, a victory which would also prove to be Ginther's only win in Formula One. Ginther competed in 54 World Championship Formula One Grand Prix races, and numerous other non-Championship F1 events.

Early career

Richie Ginther was raised in the same Californian town as future Formula One World Champion Phil Hill, and it was through Hill, a friend of Ginther's older brother, that Richie Ginther first began to race.^[2] After finishing school, in 1948 Richie 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 Phill Hill to repair, maintain and race his collection of old cars and hot rods,^[3] as Hill's race career began to gather pace. Ginther made his own race debut at Pebble Beach in 1951,^[3] driving a Ford-engined MG T-type sports car.^[4]

However, Ginther's own career was put on hold shortly after when he was drafted for two years national service during the Korean War. During this time he received training and experience working in aircraft and engine mechanics,^[3] skills which he would later put to good use during his driving career. On emergence from the military Phil Hill requested that Ginther join him, principally as a riding mechanic, in driving a privately entered 4.1-liter Ferrari in the 1953 Carrera Panamericana. 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,^[2] beaten only by the works Ferrari of Umberto Maglioli.

1954 was also the year that Richie Ginther returned to race driving himself, mostly in a self-prepared Austin-Healey.^[3] His results were impressive enough that the following year VW and Porsche 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.^[2] In between working in von Neumann's Ferrari dealership — including trips to the Ferrari factory in Italy to sort customer problems^[3] — Richie 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-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. 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 and then driving a 2-liter Ferrari 500 TR in the 1957 Le Mans race.

Also in 1957, Ginther signed to drive the Aston Martin of Joe Lubin^[5] 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.^[6] In early 1958 he piloted a 2-liter Ferrari to victory at the County Fairgrounds in Pomona, California, averaging 83.8 mph (134.9 km/h),^[7] and won in a 3-liter GT in a 5 lap qualifying preliminary for the SCCA Pacific Coast Championship.^[8] By the end of the year Ginther had captured the Pacific Coast Sports Car Championship outright.^[1] He triumphed by a wide margin at Pomona at the opening sports car race of 1959, in a John von Neumann 4.1-liter Ferrari,^[9] and in June 1959 won in a 3-liter Ferrari TR in the first Hourglass road races in San Diego, California.^[10] 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.^[11]

Formula One

Ferrari

Ginther made his F1 debut at the 1960 Monaco Grand Prix driving for Ferrari who he stayed with through 1961. In the September 1960 Italian Grand Prix in Monza he placed second to Phil Hill.^[1] Ginther led from the start until the 25th lap when Hill passed him and led until the finish.^[12]

Following the 1960 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.^[13] In 1961 Ginther was in the #3 Ferrari driver, behind #1 Wolfgang Von Trips and #2 Hill. Giancarlo Baghetti occasionally piloted a fourth car. The team manager was Romulo Tavoni.^[14]

On May 14, 1961, Ginther finished 2nd to Stirling Moss at the 1961 Monaco Grand Prix, only 3.6 seconds behind, a few hundred feet. He was driving a new rear-engine Ferrari, a 120-degree V-6 which had a lower center of gravity.^[15] Ginther had qualified first, just ahead of Hill, with an average speed of 70.7 mph (113.8 km/h), and a qualifying time of 1:39.3. He eclipsed the previous course record of 1:39.6.^[16]

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.^[17] Ginther averaged more than 133 mph (214 km/h) on the 6.2-mile (10.0 km) Autodromo Nazionale Monza in September 1961, to lead the first day of qualifying for the 1961 Italian Grand Prix.^[18] Von Trips qualified first with Ginther taking the third starting position after Ricardo Rodriguez.^[19] Ginther retired in the race. Von Trips died in a spectacular crash on the 2nd lap, which also killed eleven spectators, when his Ferrari climbed a 5-foot-high (1.5 m) earth embankment. It brushed a wire fence employed to restrain a portion of the crowd and struck the spectators.^[20] Some who were injured eventually succumbed to number a total of fifteen deaths. The Ferrari team ceased competition until January 1, 1962, as a mark of respect to Von Trips.^[21]

BRM and Honda

In the 1962 he switched to the British-based BRM team to race alongside Graham Hill the highlight of which was a third place in the 1963 World Championship behind Hill. He scored more points than his British team mate 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 151.7 kilometres per hour (94.3 mph) over the curving 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) track in the 65 lap Mexico City event. His speed eclipsed the previous course record of 150.185 km/h (93.321 mph) established by Dan Gurney in 1964. It was also the first time Honda had entered the Mexican Grand Prix.^[22] Honda reentered international competition in the 1966 Italian Grand Prix. The team was but 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.^[23] He signed for the Eagle F1 team in 1967 and raced in the Race of Champions. At Monaco after practice, his place on the grid was given to a F2 car weighted to bring it up to minimum F1 specifications, and Ginther left F1 in disgust.

Ginther won 1 race, achieved 14 podiums, and scored a total of 107 championship points.

He appeared in an uncredited role in the 1966 film Grand Prix 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 Indy 500, Ginther broke a fuel line in his American Eagle Indy Car. Fuel, a mix of ethanol and gasoline, was sprayed down his back. This experience, along with the memory of being burned earlier, led to his sudden retirement.^[24]

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 to Huntington Beach. It benefited students from the Braille Institute.^[25] Ginther managed a Porsche 911S with two American drivers during the 39th 24 hours of Le Mans, in June 1971.^[26]

Death

Ginther died of a heart attack while on vacation with his family in France on September 20, 1989.

Formula One World Championship results

(key) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	WDC	Pts.[notes 1]
1960	Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari 246P	Ferrari	ARG	MON 6	500									9th	8
		Ferrari Dino 246					NED 6	BEL				ITA 2	USA
	Reventlow Automobiles Inc	Scarab F1	Offenhauser Straight-4						FRA DNS	GBR	POR
1961	Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari 156	Ferrari	MON 2	NED 5	BEL 3	FRA Ret	GBR 3	GER 8	ITA Ret	USA DNA				5th	16
1962	Owen Racing Organisation	BRM P48/57	BRM	NED Ret	MON Ret										8th	10
		BRM P57	BRM			BEL 13	FRA 3	GBR 13	GER 8	ITA 2	USA Ret	RSA 7
1963	Owen Racing Organisation	BRM P57	BRM	MON 2	BEL 4	NED 5	FRA Ret	GBR 4	GER 3	ITA 2	USA 2	MEX 3	RSA Ret		3rd	29 (34)
1964	Owen Racing Organisation	BRM P261	BRM	MON 2	NED 11	BEL 4	FRA 5	GBR 8	GER 7	AUT 2	ITA 4	USA 4	MEX 8		5th	23
1965	Honda R&D Co	Honda RA272	Honda	RSA	MON Ret	BEL 6	FRA Ret	GBR Ret	NED 6	GER	ITA Ret	USA 7	MEX 1		7th	11
1966	Cooper Car Company	Cooper T81	Maserati	MON Ret	BEL 5	FRA	GBR	NED	GER						11th	5
	Honda R&D Co	Honda RA273	Honda							ITA Ret	USA NC	MEX 4
1967	Anglo American Racers	Eagle Mk1	Weslake	RSA	MON DNQ										NC	0
	Advance Muffler/Bruce Bromme					NED DNA	BEL	FRA	GBR	GER	CAN	ITA	USA	MEX

Non-Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21
1960	Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari 246	Ferrari V6	GLV	INT	SIL 9	LOM	OUL
1961	Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari 156	Ferrari	LOM	GLV	PAU	BRX	VIE	AIN	SYR WD	NAP	LON	SIL	SOL	KAN	DAN	MOD	FLG	OUL	LEW	VAL	RAN	NAT	RSA
1962	Owen Racing Organisation	BRM P578	BRM	CAP	BRX	LOM WD	LAV	GLV 10	PAU	AIN Ret	INT Ret	NAP	MAL	CLP	RMS Ret	SOL	KAN	MED	DAN	OUL Ret	MEX	RAN 15	NAT 3
1963	Owen Racing Organisation	BRM P578	BRM	LOM 5	GLV Ret	PAU	IMO	SYR	AIN 4	INT Ret	ROM	SOL	KAN	MED	AUT	OUL 2	RAN
1964	Owen Racing Organisation	BRM P261	BRM	DMT WD	NWT	SYR	AIN DNS	INT WD	SOL	MED	RAN
1966	Stirling Moss Racing Team	BRP	BRM V8	RSA Ret	SYR
	Cooper Car Company	Cooper T81	Maserati			INT Ret	OUL
1967	Anglo American Racers	Eagle Mk1	Weslake	ROC 10	SPC	INT	SYR	OUL	ESP

Footnotes

1. Up until 1990, not all points scored by a driver contributed to their final World Championship tally (see list of points scoring systems for more information). Numbers without parentheses are Championship points; numbers in parentheses are total points scored.

References

1. Richie Ginther Enters Times Grand Prix, Los Angeles Times, September 13, 1960, Page C1
2. Roebuck, N. 1998. Legends: Richie Ginther. Motor Sport. LXXV/3 (March 1999), 16–17
3. 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
4. "Richie Ginther". Grand Prix Racing. Retrieved 2007-08-20.
5. Ginther To Drive In Paramount Race, Los Angeles Times, February 26, 1957, Page C2
6. Ginther Wins Race Feature, Los Angeles Times, June 9, 1957, Page D2.
7. Ginther in Car Victory at Pomona, Los Angeles Times, February 9, 1958, Page C2.
8. Ginther Bags Sports Car Victory, Los Angeles Times, April 13, 1958, Page C8.
9. Ginther and Drake Win At Pomona, Los Angeles Times, February 2, 1959, Page C2.
10. Ginther Drives Ferrari TR To San Diego Race Victory, Los Angeles Times, June 22, 1959, Page C6
11. "The Racing Career of Paul Richard Ginther". 95 Customs. February 1, 2015. Retrieved January 10, 2016.
12. Phil Hill, in Ferrari Wins Monza Grand Prix, Los Angeles Times, September 5, 1960, Page C6
13. Ferraris Pace Dutch Trials, Los Angeles Times, May 22, 1961, Page 43.
14. Ferrari Has Enviable Problem; Who on His Team Should Win, New York Times, July 2, 1961, Page 58.
15. Moss May Be Tough, Lincoln Evening Journal, May 15, 1961, Page 14
16. Ginther Sets Monaco Record, Los Angeles Times, May 13, 1961, Page A3
17. Italians' Ferrari Takes Auto Race, New York Times, August 16, 1961, Page 27.
18. Grand Prix Trials Paced By Ginther, New York Times, September 9, 1961, Page 25.
19. Ferraris In Sweep, New York Times, September 10, 1961, Page K9
20. Von Trips and 11 Spectators Killed in Grand Prix, New York Times, September 11, 1961, Page 1.
21. Top Drivers Arrive For Grand Prix, New York Times, October 10, 1961, Page C4.
22. Ginther Takes Mexican Grand Prix, Fresno Bee, October 25, 1965, Page 18.
23. U.S. Grand Prix, Fremont Argus, September 30, 1966, Page 9.
24. Motor Sports Today, Van Nuys News, April 14, 1968, Page 36.
25. Unique Blind Rally Set Saturday, Valley News And Green Sheet, June 19, 1969
26. Porsche Team Choice To Wim At Le Mans, Hamilton, Ohio Daily News Journal, June 12, 1971, Page 23.

External links

• Biographical article and video on The Speed Blog
• Richie Ginther | #18 of top-20 non-WDC F1 drivers