PHIL HILL: Yankee Champion

Despite the fact that Mr. Hill will almost surely have been dethroned as world driving champion by the time this is published, he is a skilled and outstanding competitor in a great and dangerous sport and he deserves better treatment that Mr. Nolan has given him. This is less a biography than it is a record book. Over more than 15 years Nolan apparently has not missed a race in which Hill drove. At times the congestion is so great that he ticks off three races in a single paragraph. Fact triumphs totally over flavor, which is a pity. Grand Prix racing has gorgeous color and a deadly charm as men pit skill against skill, car against car-- and both against the inexporable realities of the course. Hill's quotes, which were recorded on tape, are employed so awkwardly that they seem as out of place as a fish hook in a souffle. May both author and subject have better luck next time around.