31 Facts About Richie Ginther

Paul Richard "Richie" Ginther was a racecar driver from the United States.

Richie Ginther competed in 54 World Championship Formula One Grand Prix races and numerous other non-Championship F1 events.

Richie Ginther was born in Hollywood but his family moved to Ohio for his father's work before moving back to California and to Santa Monica, the same Californian town as future Formula One World Champion Phil Hill, and it was through Hill, a friend of Ginther's older brother, George, that he first began to race.

Richie Ginther made his race debut at Pebble Beach in 1951, driving a Ford-engined MG T-type sports car.

However, Richie Ginther's career was put on hold shortly after, when he was drafted for two years of national service during the Korean War.

On emergence from the military, Hill requested that Richie Ginther join him, principally as a riding mechanic, in driving a privately entered 4.1-liter Ferrari in the 1953 Carrera Panamericana.

Nineteen fifty-four was the year that Richie Ginther returned to race driving himself, mostly in a self-prepared Austin-Healey.

Richie Ginther's 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, Richie Ginther got the chance to drive these.

Richie 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 two-liter Ferrari 500 TR in the 1957 Le Mans race.

Also in 1957, Richie Ginther was signed to drive the Aston Martin of Joe Lubin 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.

Richie Ginther triumphed by a wide margin at Pomona at the opening sports car race of 1959, in a von Neumann 4.1-liter Ferrari, and in June 1959, won in a three-liter Ferrari TR in the first Hourglass road races in San Diego, California.

Richie Ginther made his F1 debut at the 1960 Monaco Grand Prix driving for Ferrari, which he stayed with through 1961.

Richie Ginther led from the start until the 25th lap when Hill passed him and led until the finish.

In 1961, Richie Ginther was the No 3 Ferrari driver, behind No 1 Wolfgang Von Trips and No 2 Hill.

On May 14,1961, Richie Ginther finished second to Stirling Moss at the 1961 Monaco Grand Prix, 3.6 seconds behind, a few hundred feet.

Richie Ginther was driving a new rear-engine Ferrari with a 120-degree V-6 which had a lower center of gravity.

Richie Ginther eclipsed the previous course record of 1:39.6, before Moss took pole position the day after.

Von Trips qualified first with Richie Ginther taking the third starting position after Ricardo Rodriguez.

In 1962, Richie Ginther switched to the British-based BRM team to race alongside Graham Hill.

Richie Ginther scored more points than his British teammate over the whole season, but only a driver's six best scores were counted towards the championship.

Richie Ginther averaged 151.7 kilometres per hour over the curving 5 kilometres track in the 65 lap Mexico City event.

Richie Ginther led in Italy before his car crashed into a retaining wall and he broke his collarbone.

Richie Ginther signed with the Eagle F1 team in 1967 and raced in the Race of Champions.

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

Richie Ginther appeared in an uncredited role in the 1966 film Grand Prix as John Hogarth, a driver in the Japanese funded "Yamura" team.

Richie Ginther acted as one of the technical racing advisors for the movie.

Richie Ginther participated in a rally with sixty-five other competitors, including actor James Garner, in June 1969.

Richie Ginther managed a Porsche 911S with two American drivers during the 39th 24 hours of Le Mans, in June 1971.

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

Richie Ginther was inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 2008.