On 29 November 1975, former Formula One champion and team owner Graham Hill died when the Piper Aztec light aircraft he was piloting crashed near Arkley in Hertfordshire, United Kingdom, while on approach to Elstree Airfield. The other five passengers on board, forming the core of his Embassy Hill Formula One team, were also killed.

Norman Graham Hill was a British racing driver and team owner, who was the Formula One World Champion twice, winning in 1962 and 1968 as well as being runner-up on three occasions. Despite not passing his driving test until 1953 when he was already 24 years of age, and only entering the world of motorsports a year later, Hill went on to become one of the greatest drivers of his generation. Hill is most celebrated for being the only driver ever to win the Triple Crown of Motorsport, an achievement which he defined as winning the Indianapolis 500, the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and the Formula One World Drivers' Championship. While several of his peers have also espoused this definition, including fellow F1 World Champions Jacques Villeneuve, and Fernando Alonso, the achievement is today most commonly defined as including the Monaco Grand Prix rather than the Formula One World Championship. By this newer definition, Hill is still the only driver to have ever won the Triple Crown, winning at Monaco with such frequency in the 1960s that he became known as "Mr. Monaco". Hill crashed at the 1969 United States Grand Prix and was seriously injured, breaking both his legs and ending his season. Although he recovered and continued to race until 1975, Hill's career never again reached the same heights, and the Monaco Grand Prix victory earlier in 1969 was his last victory in Formula One.