PICTURES of Original 33 Willys PICTURES of 33 Willys RESTORED
A HISTORY OF THE HILL BROS.with exerpts BY KEN "The Wild Man" Kull |
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The Hill Bros started out racing a 40 Willys coupe.
By this time, in early 1967, the Hill Bros. had hooked up with Chuck Finders, the famous chassis builder. They built the RED BARON
Pete Hill sent this note to Ken about the letter below: This is a letter of apology to all those fine AA/GS cars from the
West Coast. My brother, Bill, and myself are embarrassed and ashamed of ourselves for the way we USED you boys. Taking such a fine name as Kohler Bros. and grinding their names in the asphalt. By blowing their doors in at six, yes, six different strips, week after week after week. Not to mention poor Ray Cook, of the famous Stone, Woods & Cook team. He took up leaving on the second yellow, even though we were embarrassed to tears, Pete Hill drove by on the other end. Imagine the shame we put him through. Ron Mondello, of Shores & Hess, flew his engine builder from Hawaii, to Raceway Park, New Jersey with a new Rat Motor. After beating him two straight in Connecticut the Sunday before, this was his chance (Quote Drag News: "Shores & Hess were no match for the Hill Bros.). Think of the red faces and embarrassment when once again, Pete Hill soundly and firmly blew the trick Anglia away. Think of the torment and sleepless nights, Jack "The Bear" Coonrod suffered after soundly defeating him on five occasions, two of those times his driver was so beside himself, he couldn't find the parachute ring and ran off the end of the strip! Perhaps he was just trying too hard. Now, they're going West where they can hide their heads and tell their friends and families, "East Coast strips are bad and that's why Hill Bros. did this thing to them." Perhaps they will all build Funny Cars like George, that's what he did to escape a terrifying gasser. But, before you resort to anything as foolish as that, we want to show our apologies by coming to the West Coast on November 1, where, on your strip there will be no excuses, like Ray Kohler's "missed a shift," or Ray Cook's "no bite," or that old favorite of Ron Mondello's "wrong jet."
Pete and Bill toured the country and raced the Red Baron for another year and 1/2 or so. Pete pretty much took care of the driving/tuning end and Bill was in charge of the business/promotional end. When the Gasser Wars were fizzing out, they decided to try their hand at the flip top scene. They had a glass flip top '33 Willys, and Bill Hill promoted a four car show that they toured the country with. While it put on a great show, it wasn't all that successful in the long run because they couldn't keep them off their lids. By the seventies, Pete and Bill got into the funny car craze. They had a couple cars, and drove them very successfully, but never went further west than Indy, so they just didn't get the coverage they deserved. Pete was a natural driver, and everyone that saw them race said that they put on a great show. |
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The Hill Bros. Red Baron ~ Restored |
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The Hill Bros. Red Baron ~ Restored |
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The awesome power of the 426 Hemi did its share of damage at that King of Kings meet and many thereafter. The car set many local and national records, some of them which it still holds today. It was raced until late 1969, when it was sold and did some bracket racing under another name for a few years. The car than sat in a garage for close to thirty years.
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