Phil Hill, who died on 28 August, 2008, was the American racing driver who helped popularise Formula One in the States with his World Championship success in 1961.

The United States Grand Prix had a troubled history up until 1961, but Mr Hill's performance and a move to Cameron Argetsinger's Watkins Glen circuit made the American leg of the F1 calendar one of the best attended events of the season for many years.

In seven years in Formula One, Mr Hill raced 48 times, was on the podium in 16 of these races and won three. He remains the sole American-born F1 champion (Mario Andretti, the 1978 World Champion, although a naturalised American citizen, was born in Italy).

He was also a three-time winner of the Le Mans 24-hour race.

Philip Toll Hill Jr was born on 20 April, 1927 in Miami, Florida. He was originally a student of business, but developed an interest in racing and so abandoned his studies to work as a pit mechanic. At 22 he won at Carrell Speedway, California, in his first race, impressing England's Jaguar team enough to earn a traineeship.

Despite this precocious start, his career saw slow progress over the next few years, owing to ill health, the death of both his parents and a natural reticence not in keeping with the braggadocio of most racing drivers. Nevertheless, he continued to get good results on the US and European racing circuits.

In 1955 Ferrari signed him to drive their Le Mans car. He competed in the gruelling test of skill and nerve 14 times, first winning with team-mate Olivier Gendebien from Germany in 1958. In the same year he made his Formula One debut at Reims in France, driving a Maserati. Despite joining the season midway through, he ended with back-to-back third places to reach an impressive 10th in the championship.

At the time Formula One was dominated by Brits like Mike Hawthorn and Stirling Moss, Australian Jack Brabham, New Zealand's Bruce McLaren, and several Americans. However, none of the latter had been able to win the World Championship until, with two seasons of consistent driving under his belt, Mr Hill took the title by a single point over his Ferrari team-mate Wolfgang von Trips after winning in Italy.

However, the victory was spoiled because von Trips had earlier died in a horrific accident that also killed 15 people in the crowd. Hill was so distraught that he was unable to drive at the final event of the season at Watkins Glen, leaving the thousands of American spectators who wanted to see their new champion disappointed.

Mr Hill never really recovered from the tragedy and though he stayed in F1 for a further three seasons, his form suffered. He was part of the 'great walkout' at Ferrari in 1962 and founded the ATS team with Giancarlo Baghetti, but scored only a single point during his remaining two years in the sport.

He went on to race sports cars for Ford and ended his career in 1967 with a victory in a six-hour race at Brands Hatch, driving a Chaparral-Chevrolet. After retiring he became an authority on classic cars, with a restoration business, television commentary and magazine work. He was a frequent judge at Concours d'Elegance meetings and also a popular motor sport raconteur.

He died in hospital in Monterey, California, aged 81, due to complications from Parkinson's disease and was survived by his wife Alma, son Derek (also a racing driver), daughters Vanessa and Jennifer, and four grandchildren.