Philip F. Walters (April 20, 1916 – February 6, 2000) was an American racing driver, who won both the 12 Hours of Sebring and Watkins Glen Grand Prix twice.
[3][4][5] Following those injuries sustained during the war, he adopted a smoother, less forceful driving style and found this faster, and well-suited to sports car road racing.
After a short while, Phil became the general manager of the B. S. Cunningham Company, who built the first post-war American cars to race at Le Mans.
Walters, by now Managing Director of Cunningham formed a new driver partnership with fellow American, John Fitch, ran as high as second before finishing 18th.
They finished the race at an average speed 8 mph faster the winning Mercedes-Benz 300SL the year before, but the disc brakes in the Jaguars gave them an advantage and the Cunningham C-5R took the bottom step of the podium, before two C-Types and just ahead of another.
Walters also won the 1953 12 Hours of Sebring with Fitch, against the European factory teams, in the inaugural race of the World Sportscar Championship.
The Cunningham team contested the SCCA National Sports Car Championship series in the US, and here Phil won many races, including the Watkins Glen Grand Prix.
However, just before joining the Italian marque, he was the first witness the horrendous tragedy at Le Mans, in which the Mercedes-Benz 300SLR of Pierre Levegh went into the crowd and killed 85 spectators.