WICHITA FALLS (KFDX/KJTL)—After building his own race car and entering his first drag race back in 1955, Eddie Hill knew what his calling was, and that calling was to go fast, and even after several gut-wrenching crashes, Hill is still racing to this day.

Hill was named the Legend of North Texas on October 12, 2022. Seats were filled by county leaders, Hill’s family, friends, and even his old pit crew, so for Hill, it was a reunion of a lifetime.

The fastest man on land and water was honored during a ceremony today, guest speakers reflected on the journey Eddie Hill has been on throughout his life, a journey that Hill and his wife Ercie are still adding to.

“We’re still racing,” Hill said. “I won earlier this year and with the trophy that we won this year and the ones we won back in 1949 when I was 13, that’s nine decades that we’ve had trophies, or championships, or awards.”

And in those nine decades, Hill has seen his fair share of serious crashes.

“I’ve been on my head and on fire at 300 miles an hour,” Hill said. “I got pitched out of a boat where they clocked my body going in front of the boat at 166 miles per hour one time and the good lord just keeps pulling me through those deals, my guardian angel is the one with the singed wings and all the bandaids and the bruised knuckles.”

And it’s that drive and dedication to the sport that has Hill named the most current Legend of North Texas.

“Its kind of overwhelming really I guess, it just seemed like an awful lot of fuss just about a kid that likes to go fast in a car but its a great honor and we really appreciate it, and there’s a lot of people that showed up you know and it made me, it made us feel awful good about it,” Hill said.

And when asked about any plans of slowing down any time soon…

“No, why would I do that?” Hill said.

Hill has been inducted into seven different halls of fame but said nothing will beat one memory in particular.

“My first four-second run was very special and spectacular and as I said, this one today means a lot to me because these are all people that know us and they still like us anyway,” Hill said.

And with no plans of hitting the brakes anytime soon, it’s pedal to the metal while leaving everything in the rearview even at age 86. Hill said he has knee surgery coming up in the next couple of days and says once he’s recovered from that, he’ll be back on the track doing what he loves most, racing.