Phil Remington

(1921 - )

Phil Remington has been involved with many highly famous cars and teams over the years such as Scarab and Shelby. Although he will most likely call himself a fabricator, he has proven to be a better practical racing engineer than most who have had formal training.
His contributions to the Shelby Cobras and Shelby GT-40 program are the stuff of legend.

Born in 1921 in Santa Monica, the cradle of hot rod civilization, Phil served as a flight engineer in the South Pacific in World War II. After the war, he started racing hot rods on the Dry Lakes. A severe motorcycle accident, which almost cost him a leg, finished that career and launched another. Phil found out what he could do with his hands, a hammer and a piece of metal! And he could do it faster and better than anybody else alive.

And so the journey began which took him around the world with the greatest racing teams of the day. He was with Lance Reventlow in Monte Carlo when he ran the first American F1 car, he helped the Ford Shelby Cobra Team win the sports car war against Ferrari, he was in the pits when Dan Gurney and AJ Foyt won Fords greatest victory at Le Mans, he joined Holman and Moody on the Southern Circuit, led an endurance test for Ford Motor Company through hazardous Afghanistan and was at the Speedway when the Gurney Eagles dominated the Indy car scene. He finally saw Bobby Unser drink that precious bottle of milk when he won the Indy 500 in a car which Rem helped to build at AAR and naturally he was there at the Daytona 24 Hours, at Sebring and Watkins Glen when the GTO and GTP Eagles started their winning streaks.

Phil raced his #14B dry lakes modified roadster from the 40s for several years, in different configurations at the dry lakes after World War II and set many records. He went into the service and his parents sold the car It was later destroyed in a drag racing accident!

From the All American Racers website:

"In 33 years at AAR, nobody remembers Phil missing a day of work. His ability as a fabricator, designer, draftsman, engineer and all around problem solving genius has inspired 3 generations of racers behind the wheel, at the track or at the shop at home base. A huge number of alumni of the AAR Remington university have gone on to establish their own formidable careers in the motor racing industry.

Born in 1921 in Santa Monica, the cradle of hot rod civilization, Phil served as a flight engineer in the South Pacific in World War II. After the war, he started racing hot rods on the Dry Lakes. A severe motorcycle accident, which almost cost him a leg, finished that career and launched another. Phil found out what he could do with his hands, a hammer and a piece of metal! And he could do it faster and better than anybody else alive.

And so the journey began which took him around the world with the greatest racing teams of the day. He was with Lance Reventlow in Monte Carlo when he ran the first American F1 car, he helped the Ford Shelby Cobra Team win the sports car war against Ferrari, he was in the pits when Dan Gurney and AJ Foyt won Fords greatest victory at Le Mans, he joined Holman and Moody on the Southern Circuit, led an endurance test for Ford Motor Company through hazardous Afghanistan and was at the Speedway when the Gurney Eagles dominated the Indy car scene. He finally saw Bobby Unser drink that precious bottle of milk when he won the Indy 500 in a car which Rem helped to build at AAR and naturally he was there at the Daytona 24 Hours, at Sebring and Watkins Glen when the GTO and GTP Eagles started their winning streaks.

Handsome to this day, modest, outspoken, politically incorrect, proud, enthusiastic and full of a wicked sense of humor, Rem is the highly respected and beloved elder statesman at All American Racers. He lost his wife Joy two years ago, but shuns talk of retirement, though he allows some hours on the weekend to spend with his daughter Katie, son-in-law Dave, and his two baby grandsons, Tynan and Brady.

Dan Gurney, his boss and friend for more than three decades, calls Phil Remington AARs Rock of Gibraltar. He is a marvel, an old salt, and an inspiration to young and old. I know, it is a clich, but when they made old Rem, they threw away the mold.

Phil turned 83 last January 22nd and was principally responsible for the engineering on AAR's new bike, the Alligator. I had spoken briefly with Phil at the unveiling ceremony - one of the greatest pleasures of this hobby is talking with those who were "there" and really know what the deal is. Seems like there is plenty of spark left!

Rem was the father of the Sunbeam Tiger.

Ian Garrad, the west coast manager for the a hot little British sports car called the Sunbeam Alpine Tigers. The Tiger was a sports car in need of a bigger engine. As a race car, it needed more horse power to compete with the MG's and Triumphs. Garrad saw what Shelby was doing with the AC Cobras and wondered if the same magic would work with the Tigers. He convinced his company, Rootes, to talk to Shelby. Rootes offered Shelby $10,000 to work on shoehorning the 260 Ford small block into a Tiger. Shelby gave the project to Phil Remington . The V8 Tiger was born. Now the competition was Jaguars, Corvettes and even Cobras.

He was also instrumental in constructing the little known early 1950's Edwards-America sports car (one of the very first fiberglass cars).

Phil figures prominently in several books such as "The Cobra Ferrari Wars" by Mike Shoen, "Shelby GT-40" by Dave Friedman, and "The Cobra Daytona Coupes" by Brock/Friedman/Stauffer to name a few.