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: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 U.S. Census population was 93,076. Santa Monica is a popular resort town, owing to ...

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, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

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 the member of an aircraft's flight crew who monitors and operates its complex aircraft systems. In the early era of aviation, the position was sometimes referred to as the "air m ...

B-24 Liberators The Consolidated B-24 Liberator is an American heavy bomber, designed by Consolidated Aircraft of San Diego, California. It was known within the company as the Model 32, and some initial production aircraft were laid down as export models de ...

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 Lance Graf von Haugwitz-Hardenberg-Reventlow, (February 24, 1936 – July 24, 1972) was a British-born American entrepreneur, racing driver and heir to the Woolworth fortune. Reventlow was the only child of heiress Barbara Hutton and her sec ...

, 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, with an eponymous harbor that is a major boating and water recreation destination of the greater Los Angeles area. The ...

. 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 is best known for his involvement with the AC Cobra and Mustang for Ford Motor Company, which he modified dur ...

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 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 thre ...

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, race car constructor, and team owner who reached racing's highest levels starting in 1958. Gurney won races in the Formula One, Indy Car, NASCAR, Can-Am, ...

All American Racers All American Racers is an American 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 as well a ...

(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 American 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 R ...

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 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 sports drama film directed by James Mangold and written by Jez Butterworth, John-Henry Butterworth, and Jason Keller. It stars Matt Damon and Christian ...

'', 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