50 Facts About Eddie Hill

Eddie Hill was born on March 6,1936 and is an American retired drag racer who won numerous drag racing championships on land and water.

Eddie Hill raced at open competitions and Top Fuel events from 1955 until he retired in 1966.

Eddie Hill started racing drag boats after attending a drag boat event in 1974 and he won championships in all of the major boat drag racing sanctioning bodies.

In 1993, Eddie Hill became the NHRA's oldest Top Fuel champion.

In 1947,11-year-old Eddie Hill won the Tri-State Motor Scooter Flat Track championship in Shreveport, Louisiana.

Eddie Hill's entered his first drag race at the Flying Fish Lodge in Karnack, Texas in 1955.

Eddie Hill drove his home-built hot rod to the track and won the event.

Eddie Hill won his first national event in 1959 in a Hot Gas race at an American Hot Rod Association national championship event in Great Bend, Kansas.

Eddie Hill earned $500 for an appearance at Inyokern, California to race Jack Chrisman and his Sidewinder dragster.

Eddie Hill spent four months designing and seven months building another home-built dragster called the Double Dragon.

Eddie Hill used four rear racing slick tires in open competitions for faster passes, and two rear slicks in match competitions to produce smokier passes.

Eddie Hill built his first Top Fuel dragster in 1963 using a Pontiac engine.

Eddie Hill had nearly completed a jet-engine powered ultralight dragster in 1963 when the NHRA outlawed all aircraft engines.

Eddie Hill built two more Top Fuel Hemi-powered dragsters before he had an engine fire at Green Valley Race City in 1966.

Eddie Hill had been using the Double Dragon to win matches, which were used to finance his Top Fuel dragster.

Eddie Hill stopped racing and opened a motorcycle dealership in Wichita Falls in 1966.

Eddie Hill soon wanted to race again, so he built his own motorcycle and began racing as a 30-year-old.

Eddie Hill raced in numerous types of motorcycle racing: cross country, drag racing, hare scramble, motocross, road racing, and short track.

Eddie Hill continued to race motorcycles and in 1972 and won the Texas state road racing championship.

Eddie Hill attended his first boat drag racing event in 1974 at Austin, Texas.

Eddie Hill thought the drivers were "crazy" after he saw a driver being thrown from his boat during a crash.

Less than a month later, Eddie Hill had stopped motorcycle racing to drag race boats, despite not being able to swim.

Eddie Hill raced an all white blown-fuel hydroplane from 1978 to 1984.

Eddie Hill captured four American Drag Boat Association championships and was the SDBA top points earner in five consecutive years.

Eddie Hill set speed records that year in the SDBA, ADBA, and International Hot Boat Association.

Eddie Hill became the only racer to hold records in all four associations simultaneously.

Eddie Hill won the NDBA Nationals four times including three straight from 1982 until 1984.

In 1983 and 1984, Eddie Hill won the World Series of Drag Boat Racing championship.

Eddie Hill spent five days in the hospital and was not fully recovered for a year.

Eddie Hill decided to come back into drag racing for 1985.

Eddie Hill purchased Dan Pastorini's Top Fuel car and salvaged the drag boat engine from the bottom of the lake.

Eddie Hill joined one of the most underfunded and least competitive Top Fuel teams.

Eddie Hill would have quit early in the 1986 season had he not gotten some tuning advice from a competitor that helped make his car more competitive.

Eddie Hill made it to the final round of competition, losing to Larry Minor when he lost reverse after his burnout.

Eddie Hill won the first of his thirteen NHRA national events when he beat Joe Amato in final of the 1988 Mac Tools Gatornationals.

Amato and Eddie Hill met in four final rounds that season, with Eddie Hill winning three.

Eddie Hill set the record as the oldest Top Fuel champion when he won the season championship as a 57-year-old.

Eddie Hill finished in the Top 10 in Top Fuel points for all but one of the years between 1987 and 1995.

Between 1994 and 1999, Eddie Hill won his final two events in seven finals.

When Eddie Hill won the 1996 Mile High Nationals, he set the record for the oldest Top Fuel event winner at age 60.

Eddie Hill continues to race competitively to this day at age 86 in open wheel racecars at Hallet Motor Racing Circuit in Oklahoma.

Eddie Hill was qualifying for a 1997 event at Sonoma when his car suffered severe vibration as he crossed the finish line.

Eddie Hill had two broken toes and a shoulder contusion, which were not serious injuries.

Eddie Hill introduced the aerodynamic front wing to dragsters and charcoal masks for driver safety.

Eddie Hill had several roles during his career, including team co-owner, starting line navigator, record taker, pit crew member, business manager, marketing, and public relations.

Eddie Hill has written about drag racing in National Dragster, AutoWeek, and Christian Motorsports magazines.

Eddie Hill has a daughter named Sabrina and a son named Dustin.

Eddie Hill was inducted in the NHRA Drag Racing Hall of Fame in 1978, and the Texas Motor Sports Hall of Fame in 2007.

Eddie Hill was inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 2002.

In 1988, Eddie Hill was selected by Car Craft magazine, Hot Rod Magazine, and the International Hot Rod Association as the Person of the Year.