DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Bob Riley, known for his design, creation and construction of championship-winning race cars, was honored by the Road Racing Drivers Club with the 2023 Phil Hill Award.
The 2019 recipient, RRDC President Bobby Rahal, made the presentation at the annual RRDC members’ dinner on Jan. 24 prior to the 62nd running of the Rolex 24 At Daytona, the season opener of the 2024 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.
The Phil Hill Award has been presented annually since 1993 to the person who the RRDC feels has rendered outstanding service to road racing. The recipient may be a driver, entrant or outstanding member of a sanctioning body.
It is named in honor of America’s first Formula 1 World Champion (in 1961), and is not only a tribute to his masterful accomplishments on the race track, it also recognizes his contributions as a great ambassador for the sport. Hill passed away in 2008.
“Over the course of a 60-year career,” according to The Art of Race Car Design, written by Bob Riley with author Jonathan Ingram, “Bob Riley has been an active participant in events at the heart of American motor racing. From the airport racing era in the late 1950s to the Formula Vee craze of the 1960s to Le Mans, Indianapolis and Daytona.
“Riley emerged from building junkyard hot rods to become one of the most inventive designers at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, then moved to his ultimate specialty of sports prototypes, starting with the front-engined Mustang GTP. “He helped recast American GT and Trans-Am road racing with game-changing designs.”
Since the Riley & Scott Mk. III appeared in the mid-1990s, no individual designer has had more success with sports prototypes, including nine straight victories by the Riley Daytona Prototypes in the Rolex 24 At Daytona.
Riley and son Bill are building a new generation of sports prototypes at Riley Technologies in Mooresville, N.C.
“This is an awesome award and it represents something so special in racing,” said Rahal. “To me, Phil Hill was not only a great driver, he was a true gentleman and a great proponent of the sport. He represented motor racing to the world, especially in this country, in such a manner, such a fashion that is something you had to admire.
“We’ve had a lot of great recipients of the Phil Hill Award over the years, and this year’s honoree is no different. Bob Riley is a wonderful man. He’s not a race car driver — well, maybe he raced a little bit early in his career — but he’s one of the greatest race car engineers, designers in America. His car propelled A.J. Foyt to his fourth Indy 500 win.
“When I first met Bob I felt really stupid because I thought I knew a lot and I realized I didn’t know much at all. He’s a class act. He is super-talented and probably under-rated in many respects, and I can’t think of a better recipient of the Phil Hill Award than Bob Riley.”
Bob Riley was home recuperating from a fall, but sent a video of his acceptance. His son Bill accepted the award on his behalf and was interviewed by M.C. Leigh Diffey in front of a capacity crowd.
“It’s a great honor for my name to be mentioned in the same sentence as Phil Hill,” said Bob Riley, who told a story about watching Hill race at Sebring in 1958. “At the end of the sweeping left-hander there was a jog along to the straightaway.
“Phil Hill came around the sweeper and never touched the brake. He slid the car over to the straightaway without losing any speed. I thought he was going to lose it. Well, he didn’t lose it. He didn’t come close to losing it. He won the race.”
Bill Riley responded on behalf of his dad with, “I think the RRDC has such an enormous range of drivers in it, with all the different talents from all the different periods of racing. For Bob to have been here to get the Phil Hill Award in front of all these racers in the room would have meant a lot. He is very honored.”
Ken Kannard Presented With Mark Donohue Award
Ken Kannard, winner of the 2023 SCCA F Production National Championship, was named the 2023 recipient of the Road Racing Drivers Club’s Mark Donohue Award.
Selected by members of the RRDC each year since 1971, the award recognizes the driver exhibiting the most outstanding performance at the annual Sports Car Club of America National Championship Runoffs in terms of personal spirit and skill behind the wheel.
Originally called the “Outstanding Performance Award,” the honor was later named after Mark Donohue, a former SCCA Champion, an inductee in the SCCA Hall of Fame and past president of the RRDC, following his death in 1975
In his 24th appearance at the SCCA Runoffs in late September at VIRginia International Raceway, Kannard started third in a field of 21 and quickly found himself back to fifth after the start. Coming out of a lap-nine restart, he joined the battle for the lead with past two-time champions Kevin Ruck and Cliff Ira.
On lap 10, Kannard moved his No. 51 Northwest Cable/Hoosier/G-Loc/OPM/JPM Acura Integra to the lead.
“After the restart, I got a good run out of Oak Tree and was able to draft by [Ruck],” Kannard said. “Once I was in the lead for the first time, I was like ‘hey, I’m leading the Runoffs.”
The battle continued for the final five laps, with Kannard maintaining the top spot the final three tours, holding off a charge from Ira to win by 0.123-second.
“The key was focusing on not making a mistake,” Kannard explained. “I didn’t have the ‘national championship’ thing in my head. I was just trying to treat it like another race. The last three or four laps, Cliff [Ira] and I were really dicing it up. I was able to get ahead and if he was going to beat me, he was going to have to earn it.
“I’d been teasing with some of my fellow racers that I’m getting older and if I’m going to win a national championship, I need to get it done soon. After the race, I was just like ‘finally’ It was very satisfying and a bit of a relief.”
Winning his first national championship in his 24th attempt set a new mark for SCCA, breaking the previous mark of 21 attempts. A former karter in the 1980s, Kannard returned to racing in 2000 after building a Datsun 240Z, entering SCCA competition in 2001.
He previously finished third at the Runoffs on three occasions.
Kannard noted that family and friends are an important part of his racing.
“I have to thank my wife, Diane. Without support at home, we can’t do this,” he said. “It’s great to have my daughters join us for the presentation in Daytona. Todd Buras really helped me with setup and data at this year’s Runoffs. I have to thank Tom Fowler and OPM Autosports for the car prep, Bruce Foss and Hoosier Tire for the 20-year relationship, Jesse Prather for great engines over the last 10 years and of course all the SCCA volunteers for putting on the events.”
The unique award has a glass top and sits on a race wheel with a historic provenance.
RRDC member David Donohue, son of Mark Donohue, presented Kannard with the award, which included a wheel donated by Team Penske that was used on the 2023 Indy 500-winning car driven by two-time NTT IndyCar Series champion Josef Newgarden.
“When I received the call from [RRDC president] Bobby Rahal to let me know that I had been selected as the recipient of this award from the RRDC, it was the icing on the cake,” Kannard said. “It’s pretty impressive for an amateur driver like me to be associated with the Mark Donohue Award. A lot of what he developed back then, we take for granted today. He was so smart in development and was so successful driving such a variety of cars.
“It’s really an honor to be recognized by an organization of drivers like the RRDC with this award.”